WJ Hughes Medal Preview

SOUTH Fremantle returned to WAFL finals action in 2016 for the first time since 2011 and as a result the battle for the WJ Hughes Medal as the Bulldogs' fairest and best player looks set to be a fascinating one.

The WJ Hughes Medal dinner will be held this Friday night at Fremantle Community Bank Oval in the Griff John Function Centre.

While Ashton Hams, Haiden Schloithe, Ryan Cook and Kris Miller have been strong Hughes Medallists in the past four years that South Fremantle didn’t play finals, the battle for the club's highest honour for the season in 2016 is set to go right down to the wire.

Those past winners in Hams, Schloithe and Cook can expect to feature prominently in the voting as well, but there are plenty of other players who deserve to be considered in contention.

South Fremantle had standout players all over the field in 2016 starting down back with the likes of Blayne Wilson, Marlion Pickett and Josh Pullman.

Brock Higgins had a big influence in the ruck with Shane Hockey, Tim Kelly, Steve Verrier, Brendan Verrier, Jacob Dragovich and Dylan Main among the other midfielders to rack up plenty of the ball along with Hams.

The Bulldogs' forward-line was also dynamic led by Ben Saunders and Mason Shaw with plenty of help from Blaine Johnson, Ryan Cook, Haiden Schloithe, Steven Edwards and Zac Strom.

With so many players having had tremendous seasons with South Fremantle making the finals and ending the home and away season in second position with 15 wins and five losses, before beating West Perth in the qualifying final before losing to Subiaco and Peel Thunder, any of the above deserve to be right near the top of the leaderboard in the Hughes Medal count.

Not that it's always an accurate guide to the Hughes Medal votes given the coaches can see the roles played by the players vastly different to what the umpires view. But the Sandover Medal votes from 2016 might give some indication of how the fairest and best count might pan out.

Ashton Hams led the way for South Fremantle with 25 votes in the opening 10 rounds but remarkably he didn’t poll a single other vote the rest of the Sandover Medal.

Shane Hockey ended up the equal top vote getter for the Bulldogs with 25 as well ahead of Haiden Schloithe (16), Steve Verrier (14), Ryan Cook (13), Ben Saunders (13), Brock Higgins (11), Brendan Verrier (11), Mason Shaw (10), Tim Kelly (9), Dylan Main (7), Blaine Johnson (6) and Marlion Pickett (5).

Playing the most amount of games often helps in Hughes Medal voting as well with Wilson, Steve Verrier, Marlion Pickett, Cook, Shaw and Strom the only players to play every game while Saunders and Hockey missed just the one match along the way.

The Hughes Medal will be far from the only award presented on the night as well.

Other league awards to be presented include the MacDonald Memorial Trophy as the runner-up in the fairest and best count and the Past Players & Officials Trophy for the third-place finisher.

There will also be the Shearer Family Award for the Best First Year Player, the Culver Family Award for Courage and Perseverance, the Warren Medal as Best Clubman, the S & D Jewellery Award for Outstanding Performance and the John Gerovich Trophy as the leading goalkicker.

On top of that, the reserves and colts fairest and best awards will also be presented along with presentations to other prominent members of South Fremantle's outstanding season in all grades.