Gillies claims top Stingray award

By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG defender Tom Gillies capped a breakout season in the TAC Cup by claiming club best-and-fairest honours at the Stingrays’ presentation night last Friday.
Gillies played every game for the Stingrays this year and polled a total of 131 votes to win the count ahead of full-forward and leading goal-kicker Aaron Purves (96).
The 192cm full-back polled in 16 of the 22 games and was rightly hailed as the club’s ‘Mr Reliable’.
Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats – a handy back-pocket with Melbourne in his day – said he was pleased to see a fellow defender get the accolades he deserved.
“Tom was easily our most consistent player,” Yeats said.
“Playing in the last line of defence is an unenviable position and he did it as well as anyone I can recall in my five years here.”
Purves, who was Dandenong’s other representative on the TAC Cup Team of the Year, narrowly pipped midfielders Ricky Ferraro and Ryan Bastinac (both 92) for second place, while gritty defender Michael Hibberd (85) rounded out the top five.
First-year star Tom Scully polled a staggering 81 votes from just eight matches to finish sixth.
Hibberd joined versatile hard-nut Scott Sienkiewicz as Coaches Award winners.
Yeats said they were an obvious choice.
“Michael was one of those guys who worked hard and was always there early in the gym,” he explained.
“He’s not a fashionable footballer, but he’s very effective in his role.”
Yeats said Sienkiewicz’s “selflessness” was his defining trait, having sacrificed his body and his ego in a run-with role for much of the season.
Meanwhile, Levi Casboult was recognised as the most improved player for his stellar season in the first-ruck role.
Yeats said the 2008 crop had been a memorable one, and he is expecting Gillies to lead the Stingrays contingent on AFL Draft day.
Gillies bolstered his chances with a blistering 20m run of 2.94 seconds at the state screening session last week.
That mark would have placed him in the top 10 at the nationwide AFL Draft Camp in Canberra – had he been invited.
“He definitely has the height and the speed to slip right into a defensive role as a medium-sized back (in the AFL),” Yeats said of Gillies.
Fellow Stingrays Ashley Smith won the 20m sprint in Canberra – ahead of likely top pick Jack Watts – stopping the clock at 2.80, thrusting himself into draft calculations.
Yeats also believed that Steven Gaertner would be a wise choice for any AFL club.
The key defender/ruckman was widely tipped to be picked up in last year‘s draft, only to miss out and struggle with form early in 2008.
“I think Steve Gaertner is one of our most exciting players,” he said.
“He’s copped a couple of kicks in the pants, but I think he’s matured a lot and I take my hat off to him.”
Yeats this week confirmed that he would coach on at Shepley Oval next season, so he can look forward to another batch of young guns in 2009.