By Justin Flynn
Corio midfielder Matthew James won his second Geelong & District Football League Whitley Medal on Wednesday night.
James crossed over to the Devils from Bell Post Hill this year and caught the umpires’ attention in 14 of his 18 games despite Corio’s bottom of the table finish to the year.
James, 29, polled 30 votes to win from East Geelong star John McIntyre on 23 votes with Werribee Centrals’ Tyler Crennan and Bell Post Hill’s Jack Yates equal third on 22.
It was James’ second Whitley Medal after winning with Bell Post Hill in 2018.
James said he was weighing up whether to keep playing 12 months ago.
“Probably 12 months it looked like not playing again and I met up with (coach) Joel (Bennett) a couple of times and had some good chats and said ‘one more good crack’,” he said.
James said despite the Devils two-and-a-half wins this season, he was confident 2025 would be much better.
“We’ve got a very young team, not much experience but I think next year will be a lot better than this year for sure,” he said.
Former Geelong and current Thomson player Billie Smedts racked up 21 votes by round 13, but was then unavailable for three rounds, but didn’t poll in the final two games of the season.
Belmont’s Ben Evans finished sixth overall with 20 votes and Bannockburn’s Kieran Fulton also looked in contention with 16 votes after Round 13.
He returned from injury with a best on ground performance against Bell Post Hill in Round 18 to finish equal seventh with North Geelong’s Rory Desnoy on 19 votes.
Michael Culliver (17 votes) was the second Werribee Centrals player to finish in the top 10 which was rounded out by first year Anakie star Luke Dahlhaus (13).
In the reserves, Belmont Lions’ Adam Beath polled 16 votes to win from North Geelong’s Luke Parker (13) and Lions teammate Sam Jones (12) for the Ivan Tansing medal.
2024 TEAM OF THE YEAR
B: Toby Bennett (Corio), Luke Bowdern (Bannockburn), Jack Dickson (East Geelong)
H: Finlay Parish (Winchelsea) Stephen Salajan (Thomson) Jaydan McLauchlan (East Geelong)
C: Michael Culliver (Werribee Centrals), John McIntyre (East Geelong, captain), Charlie Donohue (Thomson)
HF: Adam Donohue (Inverleigh), Oscar Barter (Anakie), Jordan Gould (Winchelsea)
F: Carmelo Saliba (Werribee Centrals), Benjamin Evans (Belmont Lions), Herschelle Carr (Corio)
R: Kieran Fulton (Bannockburn), Billie Smedts (Thomson), Luke Dahlhaus (Anakie)
INT: Matthew James (Corio), Tyler Crennan (Werribee Centrals), Ben Crombie (East Geelong), Brad Michell (Belmont Lions)
COACHES: Brent Vermeulen/Andrew Walsgott (Belmont Lions)
