The finest young football talent in the region has been rewarded for its efforts at the inaugural South East Juniors/AFL South East Regional Top-Age Awards Night at Bunjil Place in Narre Warren.

The inaugural combined event saw the cream of the crop from the SEJ share the stage with the eye-catching top-age players in the region – consisting of under-17 boys and under-18 girls from both the SEJ and Frankston and Districts Junior Football League (FDJFL).

Season 2019 saw the introduction of the AFLSE Regional Top-Age competition, with the main objective to create sustainable and even competitions that provide an incentive for boys and girls to continue to play football.

Best and fairest winners across 18 divisions were announced, with the top five from each division also acknowledged for their great play throughout the season.

Riley Hilliard (pictured) from Beaconsfield was the biggest winner on the night, claiming the Under 12 Blue Best and Fairest award with 36 votes, enough for a three-vote victory in the much sough-after Lindsay Patching Medal – awarded to the highest vote-getter across all divisions of the SEJ.

And it wasn’t just the players who took centre stage, with clubs, volunteers, coaches and umpires also rewarded for their magnificent efforts across the course of the season.

Narre North Foxes took out the prestigious Best Conducted Club Award, while Shadia Haidar from Noble Park and Mark O’Brien from Narre Warren shared the Volunteer of the Year Award.

Noah Balica from Noble Park won the coveted Young Club Person of the Year.

Craig Talbot (Berwick), Glenn Lyons and Kirsty Lebusque (Pakenham) made a clean sweep of the coaches awards, while Jackson Hamilton, Thomas Kreun and Lachlan Vienna were rewarded for their terrific efforts in the umpiring ranks.

The stage is now set for a bumper SEJ grand final day, where 16 teams will become 2019 premiers.

The grand final action takes place this Sunday at Narre Warren and Pakenham, with the Top-Age preliminary finals to be held at Shepley Oval and Frankston Park.

AFL South East would like to congratulate all award winners and wish all grand final teams the very best of luck.

To purchase photos of last night’s event go to; https://garybradshaw.com.au/portfolio/frankie-photography-2019

LEAGUE BEST AND FAIREST WINNERS
AFL SOUTH EAST REGIONAL TOP-AGE	FIRST NAME	SURNAME	CLUB	VOTES	BEST CONDUCTED CLUBS
Under 18 Girls	Jayde	Smith	Berwick	28
Under 17 Premier A	Declan	Cole	Mount Eliza	20
Under 17 Premier B	Colby	Nayna	Carrum Patterson Lakes	22
Under 17 Premier C	Barkley	Kepae	Pines	16
	Mason	Weiser	Pines	16
Under 17 Division One	Jye	Moli	Langwarrin	19
Under 17 Division Two	Mitchell	Kemish	Lyndhurst	23
SOUTH EAST JUNIORS
McDonalds Under 12 Red	Noah	Morrell	Berwick	25	Berwick Blue
McDonalds Under 12 Blue	Riley	Hilliard	Beaconsfield	36	Noble Park
McDonalds Under 12 White	Tom	Coldebella	Parkmore	17	Berwick Springs Blue
Garrleigh Trophies Under 13 Red	Joshua	Greig	Pakenham	30	Narre North Foxes Black
Garrleigh Trophies Under 13 Blue	Adam	Snelling	Berwick	19	Tooradin-Dalmore
McDonalds Under 14 Girls	Jessica	Pacevski	Narre North Foxes	20	Berwick White
	Elisha	Lane	Berwick	20
	Shanae	Hawker	Pakenham	20
McDonalds Under 14 Red	Jack	Wilson	Narre South Lions	19	Berwick Springs Blue
McDonalds Under 14 Blue	Andrew	Samawi	Beaconsfield	25	Cora Lynn
McDonalds Under 14 White	Jeran	Gunaratnam	Narre North Foxes	25	Narre North Foxes Grey
Totally Workwear Under 15 D1	Jaxon	Binns	Berwick	19	Narre North Foxes Black
Totally Workwear Under 15 D2	Brice	L’etang	Narre North Foxes	16	Berwick Blue
McDonalds Under 16 Girls	Amber	Clarke	Narre North Foxes	33	Cranbourne Blue
McDonalds Under 11 Red					Narre North Foxes
McDonalds Under 11 Blue					Beaconsfield White
McDonalds Under 11 White					Officer Blue
McDonalds Under 12 Girls					Berwick White
Lindsay Patching Medalist	Riley	Hilliard	Beaconsfield	36
CLUB, PEOPLE, COACH AND UMPIRE AWARDS
Junior Coach of the Year	Glenn	Lyons	Pakenham
Youth Coach of the Year	Craig	Talbot	Berwick
Female Coach of the Year	Kirsty	Lebusque	Pakenham
Volunteer of the Year	Shadia	Haidar	Noble Park
	Mark	O’Brien	Narre Warren
Young Club Person of the Year	Noah	Balica	Noble Park
Goal Umpire of the Year	Jackson	Hamilton
Boundary Umpire of the Year	Thomas	Kreun
Field Umpire of the Year	Lachlan	Vienna
Best Conducted Club	Narre North Foxes