Bueti shines in league best and fairest

CLEANED UP: International’s Matt Bueti claimed the 2018 Limestone Coast soccer senior best-and-fairest award, while teammate and captain Christian Cella finished runner-up, in a good night for the black and blue on Friday. Picture: JAMES MURPHY

THE Limestone Coast Football Association’s best players of 2018 were named over the weekend, with both the senior and junior league presentations held.

On Friday night International fared well in the senior counts, with both the A Grade and Reserves best-and-fairests coming from the black and blue camp.

Matt Bueti took out the prestigious medal for A Grade, with a solid run home putting him two votes clear of teammate and captain Christian Cella.

For the Reserves Sam Dunn took the honours, with a winning tally of 16 votes, followed by Apollo’s Paul Prentice with 13.

For Bueti, the achievement came as a shock, as he stated he was used to warming up the crowd for Cella.

But instead it was the other way around and there was no denying Bueti had a stellar season.

With 38 goals for the year, he also took out the leading goal kicker trophy, in addition to winning both the minor premiership and the grand final.

Gambier Centrals’ Lewis March started strong in the polling to lead Apollo’s Prentice and Cella on the leader board after Round 4.

The young star maintained his lead after seven rounds, but Cella had narrowed the gap to sit just a single point behind in second.

At that stage Bueti was out of the top six and in Round 8 Cella received three votes against Centrals, while March polled one, handing the lead to the Inter captain.

In Round 10 Bueti polled three votes and began his dash to the finish.

Cella and March sat level on 12 votes heading into Round 11, while Bueti was in sixth on eight, behind Centrals’ Cameron Saint and Blue Lake’s Yuki Akita.

Another three votes in Round 11 to Bueti, with two for Cella, while March did not poll.

Votes also eluded March in Round 12 and 13 and with a bye in Round 14, he was out of the chase.

Bueti polled two in Round 12, which built on the intensity in the room, before three votes in Round 13 put him in an even better position.

Round 14 saw Dan Bronca with the three votes, but Bueti polled two and the result was all but confirmed.

The final standings saw Bueti on top of Cella by two votes on 18 and 16 respectively, while Saint finished third on 15 and March came in fourth with 12.

On nine votes was Akita and Bronca, with Portland’s Michael Phillips, Centrals’ coach Nathan Fleetwood and Blue Lake’s Bryce Strachan all on eight.

In the Reserves count, Dunn was off to a slow start, but made it count in the second half of the season.

After four rounds, he was yet to poll a vote and that remained the case after seven rounds as well.

Blue Lake’s Andy Armandi and Centrals’ Marc Perryman led the way at that point with seven votes each.

But in Round 8 Dunn polled two votes and it was from there the comeback began.

With a bye to Inter in Round 9, Dunn received three votes for his Round 10 clash with Blue Lake, but still remained out of the top six.

He received two votes in Round 11, but it was Prentice who polled three for that match to also look threatening heading into the pointy end.

But with no votes in the following round and three to Dunn, the Inter camp was beginning to suspect he may go the distance.

Round 13 saw Prentice with two votes, but another three to Dunn left many attempting the maths in their heads.

When Dunn received three votes for his Round 14 performance against Portland, cheers were aplenty from the Inter tables.

Prentice failed to poll in the final minor round and Dunn claimed the 2018 Reserves honours by three votes.

The Reserves leading scorer award went to Apollo’s Adam Hodge, after a massive 15 goals in the last two round of the season saw him finish one above Centrals’ Brad Pilven.

Another anticipated announcement of the night was the first of the occasion, which saw the Team of the Year announced.

Inter’s Gareth VonDuve and Centrals’ Fleetwood were named as co-coaches for the side.

The two then selected the team of the year, based on this season’s performances.

The squad was made up of James Kipping (Centrals), Brayden May (Inter), Fintan Cuthbertson (Inter), Craig Wright (Centrals), Ricky McRobert (Inter), Jasper Whitehead (Centrals), Sam Richards (Blue Lake), Christian Cella, captain(Inter), Cameron Saint (Centrals), Matt Bueti (Inter), Dan Bronca (Inter), Lewis March (Centrals), Nick Morony (Inter), Yuki Akita (Blue Lake), Jake Blackwell (Centrals) and Tristan Guess (Blue Lake).

Inter’s Lindy Michielan and Linda McRobert were also announced as manager and trainer of the year respectively.

In the junior presentations, which were held on Sunday afternoon, there was also some close results for the best and fairest across all three grades.

The Under 17 count saw Blue Lake’s Soe Ku take the honours with 17 votes from Naracoorte’s James Zahau on 14.

Centrals’ young gun Diamond Min took home the Under 14 title, also polling 17, while Portland’s Charlie Keiller finished runner-up with 14.

In Under 12’s, Blue Lake’s Jack Latham polled 18 votes to win over Portland’s Brodie Steel with 16.

International’s Robert Vorwerk was announced as Junior coach of the Year.