2023 Col Austen Trophy

The Box Hill Hawks celebrated the 2023 VFL and VFLW seasons at Thursday night’s Col Austen Trophy, with Cal Brown and Jordan Mifsud taking out the top honours.

In all, there were 20 awards handed out on the night shared among 17 very worthy winners.

Cal Brown capped a sensational debut season at Box Hill City Oval to claim the Col Austen Trophy, leading home Cal Porter and Ed Phillips in second and third, respectively.

The evergreen Damian Mascitti was just three votes off another podium finish in what was his final VFL season, while VFL Team of the Year nominee Ned Long was a further three points adrift in fifth place.

First-year Hawks Josh Bennetts and Bailey Macdonald should be well pleased with their tallies, while Lachy Bramble’s ninth place finish is particularly meritorious when you consider how many matches he featured in.

Having won the Liston just last week, Mifsud was a deserving winner of the Club’s VFLW Champion Player award, claiming the honour by 10 votes from the second placed Grace McRae.

First year player Matilda Van Merkel finished in third place, while skipper Nicole Garner finished in fourth a further four votes back of the podium. Further, Garner won acclaim as the VFLW program’s best finals player.

In other awards, Bennetts and Van Berkel were crowned Box Hill’s best first year players, Cal Porter’s excellent finals series saw him recognised as the Club’s standout contributor in September and, unsurprisingly to anyone with a stats sheet handy, the exciting Jaylon Thorpe took home the Paul Bolton Trophy as the Hawks’ leading goal kicker. 

3WBC, Box Hill’s community radio partner, handed their outstanding player of the year awards to Ed Phillips and Akayla Peterson, while the A.P. Dickinson Memorial Trophy for best club-person went to Amanda Tessari and James Parsons. 

The President’s Trophy, awarded to the player or players who poll the most votes in the JJ Liston Trophy fell to Cal Brown and, of course, joint-Liston winners Peterson and Jordan Mifsud. 

The David Banfield Development Award was taken out by Kye Agosta, while the VFLW equivalent was deservedly won by Annie Muir. 

Lastly, the Ron Gibbs Memorial Trophy, given by the board of directors to a volunteer who displays wonderful service to the Club, went to Jordan Oliva. A volunteer for the past two seasons and an integral member of the Hawks’ media and content team, Jordan’s match day photography unlocks the VFL program’s content and his tireless commitment to attending match days never foes unnoticed or unappreciated. 

Final Leaderboard

VFL

74 – Cal Brown
64 – Cal Porter
57 – Ed Phillips
54 – Damian Mascitti
51 – Ned Long
50 – Josh Bennetts
49 – Bailey Macdonald
44 – Cooper Stephens
43 – Lachy Bramble
43 – Max Ramsden

VFLW

68 – Jordan Mifsud
58 – Grace McRae
49 – Matilda van Berkel
45 – Nicole Garner
44 – Akayla Peterson
39 – Ellie Mclinden
39 – Maddie Boyd
38 – Nadia von Bertouch
34 – Cassie Davidson
32 – Emerson Woods

Winners

VFL

Col Austen Trophy: Cal Brown
Runner-up: Cal Porter
Third Place: Ed Phillips
Best First Year Player: Josh Bennetts
Paul Bolton Trophy (Leading Goal Kicker): Jaylon Thorpe
3WBC Most Outstanding: Ed Phillips
Best Finals Player: Cal Porter
President’s Award (most votes in JJ Liston Trophy): Cal Brown

David Banfield Development Award: Kye Agosta

VFLW

Club Champion: Jordan Mifsud
Runner-up: Grace McRae
Third Place: Matilda van Berkel
Best First Year Player: Matilda van Berkel
Leading Goal Kicker: Maddie Boyd & Mietta Kendall
3WBC Most Outstanding: Akayla Peterson
Best Finals Player: Nicole Garner
President’s Award: Akayla Peterson & Jordan Mifsud
Development Award: Annie Muir

A.P Dickinson Memorial Trophy (Best Clubperson): James Parsons & Amanda Tessari|
Ron Gibbs Memorial Trophy: Jordan Oliva