Southport captain Danny Wise has capped off a sensational 2010 season by winning the Sharks B&F.
Monday, 4th October, 2010
Southport captain Danny Wise has capped off a sensational 2010 season by winning the Sharks B&F.
It is a breakthrough first B&F for the much-decorated midfield ace, who also made history this year when he was the first QAFL State League player named in the Queensland Team of the Year.
His B&F win comes after he also won the 2010 Grogan Medal, was named captain of the QAFL State League Team of the Year and skippered Queensland to a record-breaking win over Tasmania.
Under a voting system in which B&F votes are not awarded in the finals, Wise stormed over the top of runner-up Darren Pfeiffer and 2008 B&F winner David James in the Round 18 clash with Aspley,
Heading into the final game of the home-and-away season Pfeiffer (104) led from James (100) and Wise (95).
Pfeiffer and James failed to poll a vote in the Sharks’ 31-point win while Wise collected 14 votes for 30+ possessions and three goals.
Team of the Year defender Kurt Niklaus, who had finished 7th and 2nd in the Sharks B&F in his first two seasons with the club, was rewarded for another consistent year with 4th placing on 74 votes and the Coach’s Award.
Ray Hughson Medalist Cleve Hughes (54) finished fifth ahead of prize local recruit Matty Payne (54), while Ben Caputi (40), David Lynch (33), Adam Devine (32), Connor Pettersson and Cameron MacLaren (27)) completed the top 10.
Wise’s popular win completed a stunning CV for the 28-year-old Gold Coaster, whose previous best B&F finishes were 3rd in 2008 and 5th in 2009.
A 1999-2006-2008 Southport premiership player, he has also finished top four in the Grogan Medal four times in the last five years – 4th in 2006, equal 2nd in 2008 and ’09 and 1st in 2010.
He also has won QAFL Team of the Year selection in 2007-08-09-10 – the only player to have been included every year since the introduction of this award.
And this on top of an outstanding 60-game stint in the SANFL with Woodville-West Torrens and North Adelaide, where he played in two grand finals and was third in the 2001 Magarey Medal before rejoining the Sharks in 2006.
In other Southport awards, Adam Devine was judged ‘Most Determined”, James won “Most Consistent”, Jason Bourke was “Most Improved” and Payne claimed “Best Finals Player”.
Tom Daniel, who broke into the senior side in the second half of the season after moving north from Canberra, won the coveted Wally Fankhauser award.
