Sep 30, 2013

DIVISION 4: COACHES’ MVP

by Peter Baird (Twitter:

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.

It was not surprising this season that South Belgrave provided the two most valuable players according to the Division 4 coaches.

Both should figure prominently in voting for the James Medal this year.

Former Heathmont Jet, Leigh Odermatt settled beautifully into his new surroundings at the Belgrave South Recreation Reserve, while former Morrish Medallist, Alex Benbow, was all class for the Saints in 2013.

Not far behind them though, Kilsyth goalkicking machine Jay Sherlock showed his worth for the Cougars with 74 goals for the season, seeing Kilsyth into the finals and getting himself noticed by opposition coaches.

Interestingly, losing Grand Finalist, Forest Hill provided the most number of players nominated by the coaches, with four showing their overall evenness as a team unit.

Below is the final tally…

Name

Club

Total

Alex Benbow

South Belgrave

Leigh Odermatt

South Belgrave

Jay Sherlock

Kilsyth

Nathan Jumeau

Forest Hill