BEN Jolley was rewarded for another fantastic season in the Victorian Football League by winning Williamstown’s Best and Fairest on Friday night. Jolley polled 74 votes and managed to hold off James Wall with 55 votes in second while Brett Goodes finished third on 53. The gun midfielder was a picture of consistency throughout the 2012 season, playing in 21 matches for the Seagulls and named in the best players on 16 occasions including all of the club’s finals matches. He also kicked five goals. The awards didn’t stop there for Jolley who also took home the club’s “One Per Centers” Award. Also winning on the night was Matthew Cravino who was named the club’s Development Side Best and Fairest player.
Cravino played in 14 Development League matches throughout the year and was named in the best players on 12 occasions. His consistent manner forced Williamstown selectors to make room for him in the senior side where he went on to play four matches and kick three goals.
THE Western Region Football League has appointed Mark Westgarth as the director of umpiring for the 2013 season. The decision was made as the league aims to sure up its current record number of umpires. Westgarth will take on the role for an initial three-year term, with the key objective of continuing to grow umpire numbers, with an extra focus on retention and training. The league currently has over 300 umpires involved on weekend match days, with a recent increase in junior females taking up the whistle for the first time.
WRFL chief executive officer Bob Tregear said Westgarth’s appointment was another proactive step taken by the league in developing the officiating side of the game. “The league continues to put resources into the recruitment, retention and education of umpires, and Mark’s background in both umpiring and the western suburbs makes him a perfect fit for the role,” Tregear said.
“He has already had a great impact with our umpiring academy at Mackillop College, and through his teaching role at the school he has significant experience working with our key demographic of new umpires – being teenagers.”
“Mark will aim to take the Western Region Football League’s umpires to the next step and beyond, both in professionalism and development.”
Westgath umpired 74 AFL (then VFL) games from 1982-1986, before pursuing a career in education.
He said retention of current umpires would be his initial focus in his first couple of months.
“The WRFL umpiring body has grown significantly over the past three years, and I have be fortunate enough to be involved in that growth with my involvement with the MacKillop Academy,” Westgarth said. “We’ve had over 150 umpires go through the academy in the last four years however we have only retained around 30.”
MELTON Centrals defeated Tarneit in their opening round WDCA A-grade matting clash at Blackwood Reserve on Saturday, winning without the loss of a single wicket. Centrals openers Daniel Vasjuta and Matthew Goatley produced an emphatic unbeaten partnership to chase down Tarneit’s 199 in just 19 overs, with Goatley finishing on 115 and Vasjuta on 70. Tarneit won the toss and chose to bat first, which initially seemed a wise choice with Hardeep Singh (67), Pranav Sood (51) and Rajkanwar Singh Taneja (46) all getting decent starts with the bat. Tarneit’s top order was looking solid, but when Melton Centrals bowler Andrew Zenonos finally broke through with the ball, he managed to snare the wickets of openers Taneja and Singh to finish with expensive figures of 2/65.
Tarneit used eight different bowlers in an attempt to break the Vasjuta/Goatley partnership, but none could break through and all of them struggled to keep the runs to a minimum.
