Broken Hill AFL presentation night wrap
It was a historic night in Broken Hill football as North Broken Hill’s Jayden Kelly set records, winning his third straight Lionel Johnston Medal in front of a packed crowd at the Entertainment Centre.
Kelly stormed to victory with four Best On Ground performances in the first six rounds and by round 12 he was over the line.
His 30 votes put him 14 votes clear of 19-year-old South Broken Hill sensation Marc Purcell, with West Broken Hill’s Johno Naden finishing third.
Johnston, now 89, was on hand to present the medal after spending the day on a lawnmower at Jubilee Oval preparing his ‘MCG’.
Kelly thanked Johnston, AFL Broken Hill, his club, teammates and his family as well as congratulating Purcell on an outstanding year for South and Broken Hill.
But Purcell was not left without an award and capped off a year of fantastic personal achievement with a runaway win in the Mail Medal, which is voted by the umpires
The top vote getters in the 2012 Mail Medal were:
Marc Purcell (South) 30 votes
Jayden Kelly (North) 20 votes
Justin Heath (Central) 16 votes
Brett Johnson (North) 15 votes
Johno Naden (West) 15 votes
Codie Howard (North) 13 votes
Brent Rose (West) 13 votes
Michael Westley (South) 9 votes
Bill Dolan (South) 6 votes
Matt Nelson (West) 6 votes
Paul Christie (Central) 5 votes
Phil Neal (South) 5 votes
On a night full of celebrations, the inaugural Jan Corey medal was also presented for the women’s competition, but not without a little drama.
Organisers were left in a flap with neither of the joint winners in attendance before the medal presentation. Amy Richards was working 450km away in Cobar and Erica Schmidt had advised Central Broken Hill she could not attend as she was off work sick.
A SOS was made to Schmidt who showed the great leadership qualities that made her Broken Hill’s captain for a representative game at AAMI Stadium in August; and she was quickly on hand to receive her medal.
Schmidt is a fearless midfielder for Central Broken Hill and was at the very first training session 12 months ago that was the basis for the success of women’s football in Broken Hill.
Richards is a dashing attacking midfielder who loves a goal. With a background in soccer, Richards has quickly embraced the sport and loves the rough and tumble of AFL football. Her medal will be presented after the Women’s Grand Final this Saturday.
