Schoolboy awards favourite

It looks set to be a tight tussle for the South Canterbury ‘player of the year’ honours at the association’s prizegiving on Wednesday evening.

Timaru Boys’ pocket rocket and strike attacking weapon Cam Anderson seems favourite for the award on the back of the some outstanding performances for the schoolboys and dominating some teams.

Anderson however has competition in the form of Northern Hearts defender Craig McKie, a veteran of the league.

West End’s Tyler Cox, who was named his club’s ‘player of the year’ is also in the running, having controlled their midfield with great responsibility as they surged to their first South Canterbury Football league title in 18 years.

Meadowbank’s Darrell White is another up for the top award but is unlikely to claim it as he plays in a lower division. Despite that he was still a key player in Oamaru side this season.

Another couple of players who could have easily been up for the award but are not on the list, include West End’s Connor Allnutt, who has been outstanding in his first season in goal for the league champions, while Thistle’s Sean Ferguson is one of their best on a weekly basis.

Paul Holmes fronted week-inweek-out for City, producing some strong showings.

The junior ‘player of the year’ is another category with plenty of interest.

Again Anderson should be favoured to win as he was dominant in a men’s competition and scored more goals than anyone else, while playing for the team that finished bottom.

Hamish Rodgers, of Northern Hearts, has continued to improve each week and produced some quality performances in goal over the back half of the season.

Karma Gyeltshen is a fleetfooted football with plenty of talent, who claimed the award last year despite not playing senior football.

West End’s Callum Bowman is a player of the future and was a fabulous acquisition for the team, slotting into the midfield and forming a strong partnership with Cox and co.

If Anderson doesn’t receive the honour then Bowman would be a worthy winner.

Thistle’s Liam Cotter is also up for the award but probably hasn’t played enough division 1 football to challenge the other finalists but is one for the future.

Timaru Boys’ goalkeeper Mitchell Skudder-Dey is a fabulous shot stopper and despite not being on the list, deserved to be con- also been in superb form scoring nearly 40 goals this year and is a worthy finalist.

Her team-mates Kayleigh Holmes or Ainsley Martin would also make strong cases for inclusion as would West End’s Sian Cox, who banged in 24 goals for the competition newcomers.

‘Coach of the year’ has some good candidates, with Damian Gawne and Shaun Stack likely to fight it out for the top award.

Gawne took West End to league glory for the first time this century, while Stack has taken Geraldine from the second division to a top four team in the premier competition.

Northern Hearts Todd Burtenshaw is also a worthy finalist and helped Hearts to South Canterbury Cup glory.