Mitch Tenardi has won the prestigious Hayward Medal on Friday night at the Mantra Lighthouse Beach Resort, winning by four votes from Aidan Clarke of Bunbury and Jed Spence of Augusta Margaret River.
Tenardi who has twice been the runner up, scooped all the League awards, winning the Kia Media Player of the Year and the Platinum Supply Player of the Year Award, voted by the Coaches. Tenardi has previously won both of these awards, but the Hayward Medal has eluded him until tonight.
Tenardi polled in twelve of the eighteen qualifying rounds, voted best on ground in six of them.
After seven rounds it would be Jed Spence on top with 16 votes, with last years winner having a stellar start to the season. Dunsborough’s Caleb Stephens had 13 votes as did South Bunbury’s Shaun Crane. Tenardi at this point was fifth with nine votes.
After fourteen rounds, Spence still led with 20 votes, but Tenardi had moved to second with 17 votes and Stephens was still third with 16.
Tenardi took the lead in round seventeen, and after eighteen rounds had 24 votes, four votes clead of Spence and six votes clear of Stephens. Bunbury’s Aidan Clarke made it an exciting finish picking up 3 votes in both rounds nineteen and twenty to get within three votes with one round to go. Tenardi polled one vote in the final round, winning by four, to become the first Busselton player to win the award since Chris Kane in 2015.
TOP TEN
| 1 | Mitch | Tenardi | Busselton | 27 |
| 2 | Aidan | Clarke | Bunbury | 23 |
| 3 | Jed | Spence | AMR | 20 |
| 4 | Connor | Carbone | HBL | 18 |
| 5 | Harry | Creasey | Bunbury | 18 |
| 6 | Ben | McGuire | South Bunbury | 18 |
| 7 | Caleb | Stephens | Dunsborough | 18 |
| 8 | Bailey | Sanford | Busselton | 17 |
| 9 | Shaun | Crane | South Bunbury | 17 |
| 10 | Jace | Cormack | South Bunbury | 14 |
BY CLUB
AMR (45)
Jed Spence 20, Kieran Yakas 13, Sachi Radice 6, Byron George 3, Kaspa Donovan 2, Cody Rodgers 1.
Bunbury (100)
Aidan Clarke 23, Harry Creasey 18, Trae Field 14, Baiden Parsons 10, Mackenna Taylor 8, Jack Gouge 7, Durak Tucker 5, Tyson Wood 5, Jett Woods 3, Haydn Busher 2, Dylan Heasman 2, Denholm King 2, Tom Oliver 1.
Busselton (86)
Mitch Tenardi 27, Bailey Sanford 17, Liam Creighton 10, Tony Notte 10, Kelton Kemp 7, Jalen Hoffman 5, Lucas Kemp 4, Nathan Torre 3, Ryan Ekert 2, Tom Kusal 1.
Carey Park (47)
Kelvin Lawrence 6, Jamie Meade 6, Enrique Aiken-Featherstone 5, Jaxon Bell 5, Harry Jones 5, Connor Gadecki 4, Nicholas Bonomelli 3, Jack DiLallo 3, Zane Verhaaf 3, Brian Hughes 2, Mitchell Russell 2, Jordan Wallam 1, Jake Greenwell 1, Jamahl Mulholland 1.
Collie Eagles (39)
Corey Holmes 6, Adam Justice 6, David Cowan 4, Cameron Davidson 4, Matthew Burton 3, Kristian Caporn 3, Jayce Fontana 3, Christian Mears 3, Odinn Kirk 2, Zac Pilatti 2, Talan Michael 1, Paul Rinder 1, Xavier Stewart 1.
Donnybrook (70)
Jy Bolton 12, Mitchell Kings 12, Sam Perkusich 9, Kristian Cary 8, Cody Leggett 8, Zac Trigwell 5, Ben Frazer 4, Jacob Kendle 3, Michael Battaglia 2, Ben Howlett 2, Colby McDonald 2, Jack Worsfold 2, Clayton Giblett 1.
Dunsborough (40)
Caleb Stephens 18, Matt Russo 6, Bailey Jenkin 4, Darcy Miller 3, Brody Giglia 3, Simon Moore 2, Jake South 2, Jake Green 1, Kane Hughes 1.
Eaton (22)
Marlion Pickett 10, Jason Carter 6, Brendan Stemp 3, Joshua Jones 2, Cody Hill 1.
HBL (57)
Connor Carbone 18, Robbie Turnbull 12, Jack Fletcher 8, Ty Anderson 5, John Manuel 4, Jesse Crichton 3, Ned Gualter 3, Bronson Martin 3, Zavier Williams 1.
Harvey Bulls (11)
Zachary Raykos 5, Spence Wiggers 3, Jacob Orsi 2, Dylan Marino 1.
South Bunbury (77)
Ben McGuire 18, Shaun Crane 17, Jack Cormack 14, Kade Wallrodt 6, Kevin Chitty 3, Toby McGee 3, Bodhi Nordahl 3, Kade Szyszka 3, Jay Wright 3, Blaine Johnson 2, Nathan Murray 2, Thomas Gorter 1, Tyson Lane 1, Owen Scott 1.
Mitch Tenardi with Paul Hayward after winning the Hayward Medal.