Jacob Stek (St George) and Will Stratford (Sydney University) couldn’t be separated at the end of a thrilling count for the Under 19 Division One Best and Fairest player.
Both polled 14 votes as they overtook early leaders Jack Erickson from UNSW/ES and Nick Hurrell from North Shore. It was the first tie since Dean Connors and Ed Clarke shared the award in 2002.
Stek, who played his junior football with Bankstown, came home like a runaway train to poll 8 votes in the final three rounds. The diminutive Stek is a classy user by foot and kicked 17 goals from 10 games in the under-age group. He also played Division One football this year after debuting in Premier Division last season.
Stratford was a shining light in the Students side that failed to make the finals. He played 14 games and kicked 19 goals in the grade and led for most of the tail-end of the vote count. The form of the Miranda junior was so good he was called up to the Premier Division side (in one of his three games there this season) to fill the vacant ruck position in the Elimination Final victory against Western Suburbs.
Sydney University has been prominent in the Kealy Medal calculations, with a player from the club having won three of the last five medals on offer.
Last Modified on 16/09/2014 15:37
