Milos Ninkovic from Sydney FC capped off a tremendous season by claiming the Johnny Warren Medal at the gala Dolan Warren Awards, which was held at The Star Event Centre in Sydney on Monday night.
Samantha Kerr from Perth Glory took out the Julie Dolan Medal, the Westfield W-League’s highest honour.
Ninkovic received 44 points from a panel that included former professional players, coaching experts, match officials and media representatives. He was followed by Diego Castro ( Perth Glory – 37 points), Nicolás Martínez ( Western Sydney Wanderers FC – 29 points), James Troisi ( Melbourne Victory – 27 points) and Kosta Barbarouses ( Wellington Phoenix – 22 points).
Kerr received 23 points and was followed by Katrina Gorry ( Brisbane Roar FC – 21 points), Sofia Huerta ( Adelaide United – 17 points), Natasha Dowie ( Melbourne Victory – 13 points), Ashleigh Sykes ( Canberra United – 11 points) and Megan Oyster ( Newcastle Jets – 11 points).
Jamie Maclaren ( Brisbane Roar FC ) was named the Hyundai A-League NAB Young Footballer of the Year for the second time and Remy Siemsen ( Sydney FC ) was the winner of the Westfield W-League NAB Young Footballer of the Year Award. Both Maclaren and Siemsen will receive a $10,000 NAB personal investment portfolio, along with a NAB Private Client Manager to assist with a range of banking and financial services.
Sydney FC Head Coach Graham Arnold received the Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year Award and Bobby Despotovski from Perth Glory was named the Westfield W-League Coach of the Year, as voted for by their peers.
Melbourne Victory’s Besart Berisha and Brisbane Roar FC’s Jamie Maclaren were the joint winners of the Nike Golden Boot Award as the top goal scorers for the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season with 19 goals apiece. Canberra United’s Ashleigh Sykes took out the Westfield W-League 2016/17 Golden Boot Award courtesy of her 12 goals throughout the season while Pierce Waring from Melbourne Victory was the top goal scorer for the Foxtel National Youth League 2016/17 season with 6 goals.
Danny Vukovic from Sydney FC collected the Hyundai A-League Goalkeeper of the Year Award and Lydia Williams from Melbourne City FC received the Westfield W-League Goalkeeper of the Year Award.
Tim Cahill from Melbourne City FC scored the Hyundai A-League the Goal of the Year Award for his stunning 35m strike against Melbourne Victory in Round 2. Samantha Kerr from Perth Glory scored the Westfield W-League 2016/17 Goal of the Year for her 18 th minute strike against Sydney FC in Round 6.
Marc Tokich from FFA Centre of Excellence was named the Foxtel National Youth League Player of the Year.
The Central Coast Mariners won the Hyundai A-League Fair Play Award after accruing the least number of yellow and red card points whilst Adelaide United won the Westfield W-League Fair Play Award with the FFA Centre of Excellence claiming the Foxtel National Youth League Fair Play Award.
In the referee awards, Jarred Gillett was named the Hyundai A-League Referee of the Year award with Kate Jacewicz collecting the Westfield W-League’s Referee of the Year, extending her record winning run to seven titles.
Melbourne Victory received the Community Champion Award in recognition for their community & corporate social responsibility programs and partnerships. The club’s “ Our Game, Our Community” initiative encapsulates their suite of programs delivered in schools, clubs and a number of community events engaging well over 150,000 people and driving membership over 26,000. Melbourne Victory’s Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League players completed 568 community appearances totalling over 1200 hours adding value to community programs and inspiring the next generation of players throughout Victoria. Melbourne Victory has shown the way in the female space engaging 3,440 girls YTD, which is a 32% increase on the previous year. Through their charity partners, Cancer Council Victoria and The Starlight Foundation, Melbourne Victory has impacted the lives of the local community by creating awareness and raising funds to address the effect of all cancers for all Victorians and transforming the experiences of hospitalisation and treatment for seriously ill children and their families.
