Co Captain Brent Doyle capped off a sensational personal season by winning the Clubs highest award by the slenderest of margins from Nathan Wescombe in the Best And Fairest vote count at the tin shed on Saturday night.
Doyles win was his third award in as many weeks after he previously collected the AFL Townsvilles Player Of The Year Award and the League Best And Fairest Award.
The Swans award was counted out of the 15 home and away matches and consists of 3 vote cards per match. Doyle did not poll until round 5 after injuries kept the inspirational leader on the sidelines.
By round 5 Wescombe had polled 9 votes and 18 year old Adam McDonald had bolted to an early lead which he was to hold onto until round 10 when Doyle took over at the top of the leader board.
By the end of the round 11 Doyle had gone 7 votes clear of McDonald and 10 ahead of Wescombe.
A stand out game from Wescombe in round 12 in which he polled the maximum 9 votes for the second time in the count saw Doyles lead cut to 3 with 3 rounds remaining.
Two votes to Wescombe in the next round had Doyles lead down to a single vote.
Enter round 14.
The Day the Swans defeated the Tigers for the second time in a row and on the Tigers turf.
Both players were outstanding in this match and dominated the voting. Doyle picked up 7 votes with 2x2 votes and a 3.
Not to be outdone and to tie the count up with 1 match remaining Wescombe polled 8 votes with 2x3 votes and a 2.
It was now 39 votes apiece with 3 cards to be read.
The first card had Wescombe picking up 1 vote while Doyle name wasn’t mentioned.
The second was the same in reverse with Doyle getting a vote and Wescombes name not called.
One card left and it was 40 votes each.
The tension was high as the final card of the evening was read out.
1 vote to N. Wescombe. 2 Votes to B. Doyle and 3 to D. Bycroft and Doyle had won by a single vote.
Wescombe for his part would have been just as deserved had he won after a sensational season at the Swans in which he also collected the Leagues Runner Up Award and the Swans Players Player.
In the Reserve Grade it was Leo Lahey winning comfortably with 38 votes with veteran Shane Malone getting the Runners Up on 25 votes.
The win for Lahey backs up his winning the Players Player Award giving him the double.
Earlier in the evening the Under 17 count saw David Faulds in a runaway win with 17 votes. Trsitan Dennis and Harold Maroa tied for second.
The Under 17 votes were done on a 1 card per game basis and Faulds polled an incredible 9 times out of 12 games played.
Even more impressive was the fact that Faulds also led the Reserve grade count until round 10.
Click on Best And Fairest Votes tab for counts for each grade.
Last Modified on 14/09/2009 00:33