Tuesday 28 September 2010
Prolific ball-winning midfielder has Rory Lake won his second Mt Gravatt club champion award in three years, sharing the spoils with QAFL Team of the Year defender Jake Furfaro.
The two 25-year-olds polled 87 votes to tie for the Jim Fletcher Medal ahead of Mick Hamill (76 votes).
Josh Vearing, who started the season in sensational fashion before breaking his wrist, was next with 63 votes.
Teenager Damien Steven finished fifth on the strength of a number of outstanding performances late in the season.
Lake, who won his first medal in 2008, was 20 votes in front of Vearing and the remainder of the field after 13 rounds.
He then missed two games due to a health scare while Furfaro hit top form, with the former Brisbane rookie list player having overtaken Lake going into the final card of the night.
Lake, one of the few Vultures players to perform in the big first semi-final loss to Southport, then tied the count in an exciting finish.
He polled in 11 of the 18 games that he played, while Furfaro polled in 14 of 20.
Hamill polled in 12 games and Steven 11.
The three members of the Vultures coaching panel each cast 5-4-3-2-1 votes for every game.
Furfaro improved on his fifth place last season, having been a reliable performer since returning from an extended stint in the VFL.
Hamill was his side’s best player across their two finals and finished third in the best and fairest count for the second year in a row.
The 22-year-old former Western Magpies junior finished fifth in 2008, highlighting his consistency.
The ever consistent Adam Tarrant, also a member of the Queensland Team of the Year, finished sixth with 55 votes.
PNG utility Amua Pirika won the Vultures Rising Star Award, Ash Evans was the Most Committed Vulture, key forward Michael Schultz was Most Improved, the brilliant Dean Pate won the Coaches Award, and Nathan Gilliland claimed the leading goalkicker award after heading the goal tally for the third consecutive season.
Joe Murphy won the reserves best and fairest.
Vultures Clubman of the Year was Peter Jamieson for his outstanding service at the club in 2010.
