HOLWELL WINS WHITLEY IN THRILLER
INSPIRATIONAL Thomson playing coach Reece Holwell polled a vote in the penultimate round to clinch the Whitley Medal in a thrilling count last night.
Holwell, who bids to carry the Tigers to back-to-back flags this September, added the GDFL’s top gong to his burgeoning trophy cabinet with a one-vote win at Buckley’s Entertainment Centre.
He polled 25 votes to secure his maiden senior league best-and-fairest, beating 2018 Whitley medallist and Bell Post Hill ball-magnet Matt James by the barest of margins.
Winchelsea big man and former Geelong premiership player Mark Blake finished tied for third on 22 votes, despite missing two matches, with Inverleigh star Michael Best.
Brad Gerrard was fifth with 19 votes in another outstanding season for Anakie, while Geelong West’s Michael Leamer capped a stunning year with 18 votes in sixth place.
But it was Holwell’s night, collecting one vote in Round 17 to seal victory.
He becomes the fifth player in the club’s history to win the senior league best-and-fairest, with Graham Hood, Tim Gardiner, Luke Forbes and Brent Macleod etching their names in history.
Hood was the first Tiger to win the Division 1 best-and-fairest in 1985, prior to the medal being named in Neville Whitley’s honour in 1992.
Gardiner won in back-to-back years — 1996 and 1997 — before Forbes (2012) and Macleod (2016) triumphed.
Blake appeared on track to claim the top honour when he burst out of the blocks, polling 13 of a possible 15 votes in the first five rounds.
But the votes quickly dried up for the dominant Blue, who missed Rounds 6 and 7.
Holwell grabbed the outright lead in Round 15, but was joined at the top by Panther James in Round 16 with 24 votes. But that’s where it all ended for James, who missed the final two rounds of the season.
Blake and Best were within striking distance — just two votes adrift — but it was Holwell who gave himself an unassailable advantage by earning one vote in Round 17 to win.
Holwell was adjudged best afield by the umpires in five matches, while also earning two votes on four occasions and one vote twice. James scored six beston-grounds, while Blake and Best earned three votes five times apiece.
Holwell capped a stunning season by being named in the midfield in the Team of the Year, with James on a wing, Blake as ruckman and Best on a halfback flank. Holwell also received the honour of cocoach of the team alongside Brent Taylor, while Adam Donohue was named captain.