A HAUL of four votes from the final-round clash against Sunshine Coast rivals Noosa has handed a share of the Bill Ryan Trophy to Maroochy-Northshore’s former AFL player Ben Mathews.
Mathews had a strong game in that round-18 clash at Weyba Road – a game Noosa lost – but played so well he just miss the maximum five available votes.
Mathews was four behind Surfers Paradise rover Brad Scalzo (31 votes) going into the final round of votes, but collected sufficient to force a tie with Scalzo for the award, stuck in honour of former Geelong, Coorparoo and Southport star Bill Ryan.
Scalzo played in the final-round match against Burleigh, but left the ground after only 10 minutes as Surfers officials decided against risking a minor injury he carried into the game.
Noosa forward Ryan Jeffrey finished outright third on 28 votes, two ahead of Travis Mills (Maroochy-Northshore and Travis Tamburro (Surfers Paradise).
Other leading vote-catchers were Andrew Housego (Mayne) on 25, James Drake Palm Beach-Currumbin) on 22, with fellow Lion Mikal Bloom, Jay Reynolds (Noosa) and Matt McCormack (Surfers Paradise) next on 21.
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