DIVISION 2: COACHES’ MVP

by Peter Baird (Twitter: @frostybaird)

Who is the Best and Fairest of them all?

We will find out on Chandler Medal night who is judged by the Eastern Football League umpires to be the Best and Fairest in each division.

Ahead of the Chandler Medal, though, I caught up with each of the coaches from 2013 and asked them to nominate the three players from their division that were the most valuable this season.

These are not the guys the coaches necessarily are tipping to take home the medal on the big night, rather the players that provided the most headaches for opposition coaches, structure to their teams and the ones their own coaches relied upon. These were the players that were the most valuable in 2013.

Each coach was asked to provide three, two and one votes to the three most valuable players from their division.

While Montrose dominated the Division 2 season, it was a Mooroolbark Mustang that dominated the coaches’ opinion of the most valuable player for 2013.

Matt Polkinghorne will be a force to be reckoned with in the count for the Wright Medal, as he polled double the number of votes of his nearest counterpart, big North Ringwood forward Tom Hill, in the eyes of the coaches.

Carl Peterson was a handful in the Doncaster East forward line while Montrose ruckman, Andrew Haining capped off his magnificent home and away season with, not only a premiership medallion, but also the Blue Ribbon Medal in the Grand Final.

Below is the final tally…

Name

Club

Total

Matt Polkinghorne

Mooroolbark

22

Tom Hill

North Ringwood

11

Carl Peterson

Doncaster East

6

Andrew Haining

Montrose

6

Brett Johnson

Montrose

4

Sam Goodman

Montrose

3

Max Melzer

North Ringwood

3

Trent Georgiou

Mooroolbark

2

Mike Smith

Mooroolbark

2

Tim Risely

UFTG

1