SIMON Goodwin has come third in the AFLCA assistant coach of the year, behind St Kilda duo Adam Kingsley and Danny Sexton.
The Melbourne senior assistant coach, who is set to take over from coach Paul Roos at the end of the 2016 season, made an impression in his first year at the Demons.
The Adelaide great had previously spent four seasons with Essendon as an assistant coach.
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge was announced as the Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year presented by Monjon Australia, as voted by his coaching peers.
Beveridge accepted the award, named in honour of coaching icon Allan Jeans, in front of more than 350 guests at the 2015 AFL Coaches Association Awards Night at Peninsula in Docklands, edging out the West Coast Eagles’ Adam Simpson and Fremantle’s Ross Lyon.
AFL Coaches Association CEO, Mark Brayshaw had nothing but praise for Beveridge, a first-year senior coach awarded the highest individual coaching honour.
“Luke has done a mighty job this year and, whilst he feels a bit embarrassed to have won it in such illustrious company, this is an award voted by his peers, all of whom recognised the challenges he faced when he won the Bulldogs job at the end of last year,” he said.
Several other awards were presented throughout the night, including the Best Young Player Award which went to Western Bulldogs young gun Marcus Bontempelli, who finished the season with 557 votes.
The Best Young Player Award is based on the players’ performance in his first two seasons of AFL football and Bontempelli took out the award ahead of Carlton’s Patrick Cripps (527 votes) and Jeremy McGovern (362 votes) from the West Coast Eagles.
To honour the man who the Senior Coach of the Year Award is named after, Allan Jeans was announced as the 2015 Coaching Legend presented by PwC. His son, Peter Jeans, accepted the award on behalf of the family and Allan now joins such greats as Kevin Sheedy, Leigh Matthews, David Parkin, Tom Hafey, Ron Barassi and John Kennedy Snr on the prestigious list of coaching legends.
In continuation of honouring long-term coaching legends, David Wheadon was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award by Mark Williams of the Richmond Football Club, who spoke about David’s contribution to coaching through initiatives such as the AFL SportsReady Next Coach program.
In a tribute to the late Phil Walsh, the AFL Coaches Association launched the Phil Walsh Memorial Scholarship, an initiative established to honour Phil’s legacy, which will highlight his journey to becoming an AFL senior coach.
The annual award, which will commence in 2016 will be awarded to a member who is committed to developing themselves via study and travel. The scholarship will provide monetary recognition of $10,000 with applications sought over summer and the inaugural winner announced at the AFL Coaches Association Annual General Meeting in March 2016.
The Assistant Coach of the Year Award went to Adam Kingsley from the St Kilda Football Club ahead of fellow Saints coach Danny Sexton, Melbourne’s Simon Goodwin, Sydney’s Stuart Dew and the Kangaroos’ Gavin Brown. Voting for this was 50 per cent from the coaches’ peers at his club and 50 per cent from the players at his club.
The Career and Development Award, presented by La Trobe University, was presented to Paul Hudson from St Kilda by Professsor Russell Hoye from La Trobe University, and for the second year running, the Media Award, presented by Atlantic Group, was awarded to Fox Footy and ABC’s Gerard Whateley by Collingwood senior coach Nathan Buckley.
As announced at the end of the 2015 home and away season, Dan Hannebery from the Sydney Swans took out Champion Player of the Year on 101 votes, one more than runner up Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe (100 votes) and his Sydney teammate Josh Kennedy (87 votes).
While Hannebery wasn’t present in the room, his outstanding efforts this season were recognised on the night. He was named Player of the Year, an award voted by the 18 senior coaches on a 5,4,3,2,1 basis after each home and away game.
AWARD RESULTS
Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year presented by Monjon Australia
1) Luke Beveridge - Western Bulldogs (365 votes)
2) Adam Simpson – West Coast – (305 votes)
3) Ross Lyon – Fremantle (116 votes)
Best Young Player
1) Marcus Bontempelli - Western Bulldogs (557 votes)
2) Patrick Cripps – Carlton (527 votes)
3) Jeremy McGovern - West Coast (362 votes)
Assistant Coach of the Year
1) Adam Kingsley - St Kilda (8.22 of a possible score of 10)
2) Danny Sexton - St Kilda (8.10)
3) Simon Goodwin – Melbourne (7.99)
4) Stuart Dew – Sydney (7.93)
5) Gavin Brown – North Melbourne (7.88)
AFLCA Champion Player of the Year
1) Dan Hannebery – Sydney (101 votes)
2) Nat Fyfe – Fremantle (100)
3) Josh Kennedy – Sydney (87)
4) Matt Priddis – West Coast (75)
5) Andrew Gaff – West Coast (74)
6) Todd Goldstein – North Melbourne (73
7) David Mundy – Fremantle (73)
