Cobden flies away with third major trophy on HFNL junior awards night

Josh was a runaway winner polling 24 votes, seven more than his Bombers teammate, centreman Charlie Darcy, who was second.

The Cobden quinella came after clubmates Patrick Smith won the under 14 award and netballer Jacinta Henriksen was a joint winner of the 14 and under netball best and fairest.

Josh, who played all 14 games, received votes in nine matches. He started the count with a best-on- ground performance in round one and finished it with another three in the final home-and-away match. He was voted best player six times and received three two votes.

The key to his victory was a seven-game stretch between rounds five and 11, where he polled in every game, picking up 18 of his 24 votes in a count-winning run.

Josh, a smooth-moving midfielder, kicked 48 goals in his 14 matches, six short of leading goalkicker, North Warrnambool Eagles’ Joe McKinnon, who finished with 54.

Josh’s win in the best and fairest was the first by a Bomber since the league was created in 2005.

“I thought me and Charlie would go OK but I didn’t expect to win,” the 15-year-old said.

“I guess it’s a reward for the hard work I’ve put in. I was with the Geelong Falcons and did most of the pre-season with the under 16s and that really helped me a lot.”

He said he started the season playing deep forward before being shifted onball as a ruck-rover.

Charlie, the Bombers skipper, has watched his teammate’s progress in the midfield.

“I thought he had a really good season and he or some of the North Warrnambool boys would win,” Charlie said.

“I thought Josh would poll really well.”

Charlie and Josh are not only teammates. They are good friends and year 10 classmates at Mercy Regional College in Camperdown.

“We always talk about the weekend (footy) on Mondays,” he said.

He suggested the pair would have plenty more to talk about this morning when the bell sounded for another school day.

“This is a massive surprise to be here,” Charlie said of his runner-up finish.

But he said the focus was on Cobden’s grand final tilt on Sunday. He said the pair would not celebrate the quinella until after the grand final against undefeated North Warrnambool Eagles.

The Bombers, who won the under 14 flag in 2012 before finishing runner-up last year, are keen to go one better on Sunday. They were three goals down at three-quarter-time in last Sunday’s preliminary final against South Warrnambool and won by three points.

Rangy Eagles midfielder/forward Zac Urquhart was a fast-finishing third on 16 votes, one behind Charlie on 17 votes. Zac polled three consecutive three votes to end the season. His teammate Joe McKinnon won the league’s goal kicking award with 54 goals.