A Peel Thunder midfielder recognised as the WAFLW team’s best and fairest says her team will work hard to get “back into finals contention” next season after the Mandurah club took home the wooden spoon this year.
Midfielder Ebony Bilcich was named the club’s best and fairest and awarded the Fenton Medal at the awards night on July 12, where her sister Holly was also recognised as the side’s leading goal-kicker.
Runner-up best and fairest went to Evie Cowcher, with skipper Ebony Dowson third. Riley Fisher was named the team’s rising star and Keely Hare received the coach’s award.
Bilcich said she felt “very humbled and privileged” to win, and taking home the Trademark Player award, which was voted on by the players, was also “special”.
“That one is a bit of a special one because the players vote on that,” Bilcich said. “So to be able to be awarded from my peers is a really special feeling and it means that I must be doing something good and something right.”
Although the team notched up only one win this season, Bilcich said the scoreboard didn’t reflect the hard work put in by the players behind the scenes.
“Personally, I believe I had one of my best seasons,” she said. “I think I was able to really work hard on the track in pre-season and increase my fitness,” she said.
“I know that we didn’t win a lot of games, but the group really bought into this season and really pushed to make sure that they were better than what they were last year. So it was really good to see a lot of improvement from a lot of the girls.”
Thunder’s Rogers Cup players were also recognised on the night, with Heidi Ireland named the Paula Barnden Medallist and Jade Bell and Arnya Pickston runners-up.
Gemma Rowley was named Trademark Player by her peers, Nakia Jilley rewarded as leading goal-kicker and Mia Van Kleef recognised with the coach’s award.