Young captain Duncan Cameron could not believe his ears when he was named the Pascoe Cup’s Player of Year in a surprise announcement at the Football Wagga Gala Night on Friday.
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The Lions leader finished on 19 votes, with Tumut’s Reece Mastellotto, South Wagga’s Nazar Yousif and Cootamundra’s Adam McPhail all collecting 18 votes in one of the tightest races in recent memory.
Cameron, who was the linchpin for a youthful and inexperienced Young side which finished in last-place, said he was in a state of shock when his name was called out.
“I thought it’d be nice to make the team of the year, but I never imagined I’d win this,” he said.
“There was no chance I was doing a speech because I just wasn’t ready for any of this and wouldn’t have known what to say.”
The Lions skipper said witnessing the development of his young side, which features three 15-year-olds and host of players aged 16 and 17, had made it an immensely rewarding season.
“With all the younger fellas coming through, I honestly enjoyed this year more than any other,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tolland’s Bernadette Blake and South Wagga’s Biola Dawa shared the Leonard Cup’s Player of the Year honours.
Blake and Dawa collected 20 votes apiece, with South Wagga striker Anne Noonan and Junee warhorse Ashleigh Goode both finishing on 18 votes.
Blake returned to competitive soccer this season, having taken a break from the game after having kids, and instantly asserted herself as the centrepiece of Tolland’s potent midfield as her Wolves dominated the competition.
The teenaged Dawa propelled South Wagga to a second-placed regular season finish in the same year which saw her compete for CSU in the Southern Inland women’s sevens grand final and break the 100m and 200m records at The Riverina Anglican College Athletics Carnival.
Henwood Park’s Matt Menser and Tolland’s Annette Parkinson took out the men’s and women’s Coach of the Year honours.
Team of the Year
Men
Adam McPhail
Brent Farnsworth
Jake Ploenges
Nathan Trinder
Bruno Andre
Nazar Yousif
Gareth Veitch
Duncan Cameron
Reece Mastellotto
James Goode
Frederick Gardiner
Women
Biola Dawa
Brandy Nicholson
Catherine Fsadni
Anne Noonan
Bernadette Blake
Christina Grauer-Kompos
Ashleigh Goode
Maggie Davis
Jessica Smith
Tanealle Eccleston
Morgan Goode
