sport news Top footy players and WAGs stun on the red carpet at one of the biggest Aussie ... trends now
Werribee's Tom Gribble and Essendon's Georgia Nanscawen have taken out the major awards as the best players in the VFL and VFLW took to the red carpet at the Palladium at Crown in Melbourne this week.
It was a welcome return for the VFL/VFLW Awards at a physical venue after Covid forced organisers to make it a virtual event and a host of star players took to the venue to celebrate the finest in state league Aussie rules.
Gribble was named the J.J. Liston Trophy winner for the second successive VFL season after taking out the 2019 award while Nanscawen won the VFLW best and fairest with a commanding 33 votes.
Tom Gribble of Werribee was the winner of the J.J.Liston Medal at the VFL & VFLW Awards
Gribble receives his medal and makes his speech at the return of the physical award night
Southport's Jacob Dawson was named the Coaches MVP for the VFL while Nanscawen was also named the VFLW Coaches MVP.
Young Port Melbourne defender Ethan Phillips claimed the Fothergill-Round-Mitchell medal for the best rising talent under 24 while Casey Demons star Thalia Fellows was named the most promising VFLW talent.
Judith Elliott, Greg Pendlebury and Erica O'Donnell were awarded life membership, Werribee timekeeper Scott Bishop was named VFL Volunteer of the Year and Darebin's Julie Boffa claimed the VFLW Volunteer of the Year medal.
Georgia Nanscawen of Essendon wins the 2022 Lambert-Pearce Medal
Joel Trudgeon, Paddy Dow, Ned Cahill and Will Setterfield of the Blues
Mia-Rae Clifford, Renee Tierney, Amelia Radford, Georgia Nanscawen and Federica Frew
Gribble admitted he had been below his best during the Covid-interrupted 2021 season and had set a goal to step up this season.
'Last year was really challenging for me with the year off and with dad's passing [in 2020],' he said.
'It didn't rock the boat with me but I didn't play as well as I would have liked last year even though it was a nine-game season.
'It spurred me on to get cracking a little bit more early in terms of pre-season. The whips were cracking for me in August because I was a little bit disappointed with how I went as well as the level of expectation to perform.
'It was a challenge but I think it made the fire grow a little bit more to perform and chase that ultimate success of a premiership.'
