NSW Rugby hosted their 2017 Awards night on Friday night.
“Gary Owen III” attended the presentation and has filed this report, which outlines the purpose of the ceremony, key messages from NSW Rugby and the award winners.
Thanks “Gary Owen III” and congratulations to all the award winners – well done.
2017 NSW RUGBY AWARDS
by “Gary Owen III”
On Friday night, NSW Rugby hosted their 2017 Awards night at the Homestead in Centennial Park.
This year’s awards were a combined celebration of rugby across both the professional and the community game and represented the vision that Andrew Hore (NSW CEO) and his team have of re-uniting all of NSW rugby under one banner.
The evening saw Waratahs (past and present) celebrating milestones and achievements alongside their community rugby partners whom were equally recognized for their successes over the season. Matthew Burke and Damien Fitzpatrick were the Masters of Ceremony for the night.
The vision
Andrew Hore gave the opening address and explained the vision they have to bring rugby back from some recent dark days.
Their challenge is not a simple one – bringing together the various stakeholders such as the Waratahs, Shute Shield, Suburban Rugby, Country, Juniors, Schools, Women’s and Referees, which have to some extend all been running their own parts of rugby independently.
This vision will require strong leadership and all arms of NSW rugby pushing in the same direction. But it was not a night to dwell on the negatives. He spoke of the such things as the success of rugby at the grassroots level and the wonderful scenes of the Shute Shield Grand Final at North Sydney Oval.
The awards
The night moved onto the Awards part and was intermingled with both Waratahs and Community rugby players and officials being recognized for their exceptional achievements in season 2017.
Presentations were made by rugby luminaries such as Phil Waugh, Andrew Hore, Daryl Gibson, Angus Gardner, Dan Moore, Damien Fitzpatrick, Tim Rapp, Matt Burke, Kerry Chikarovski and Michael Hooper.
Here are the award winners from the night. Congratulations to each of you and thanks for the part you play in making rugby great again.
Source for all photos: NSW Waratahs twitter feed
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NSW Volunteer of the Year (Youth) Rebecca Yeomans (Walgett)
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NSW Volunteer of the Year (Seniors) Ash Miller (Sydney University)
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NSW Girls Player of the Year Layne Morgan (Hunter)
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NSW Boys Player of the Year Harry Turner (Eastwood)
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NSW Colts Player of the Year Edward Gregory (Northern Suburbs)
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Matthew Street Shield, NSW Schools Player of the Year Donny Freeman (Kinross Wolaroi)
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David Dennis Award, NSW U20s Player of the Year Harry Johnson-Holmes (Sydney University)
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Will Tanner Medal, NSW Country Player of the Year Nathan Brennan
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Dan Moore Medal, NSW Suburban Representative Player of the Year Tiger Parker (Drummoyne)
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NSW Womens Player of the year Victoria Latu
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NSW Rugby Community Coach of the Year (Youth) Scott Saunders (Forest)
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NSW Rugby Community Coach of the Year (Female) Marboony Volkman (Sydney University)
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NSW Rugby Community Coach of the Year Scott Coleman (Waverly College)
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NSW Rugby Young Community Match Official of the Year Steven Martin (Sydney West Referees)
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NSW Rugby Community Match Official of the Year Jarryd Logan
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Chris Whitaker Aspiring Waratah Medal Ned Hannigan (Randwick)
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Ken Catchpole Medal, NSW Premiership Player of the Year Tayler Adams (West Harbour)
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NSW Rugby Club of the Year Hunters Hill Rugby Club
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NSW Waratahs, 100 Caps Sekope Kepu
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Matthew Burke Cup, NSW Waratah Best and Fairest Michael Hooper
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NSW Waratahs, Best Back & Best Forward
Israel Folau & Michael Hooper
NSW Waratahs, First Caps / Debutants
Michael Wells, Irae Simone, David Lolohea, Senio Toleafoa, Ryan McCauley, Cameron Clarke, David McDuling, Jake Gordon, Maclean Jones, Harry Jones, Mack Mason, Sam Needs and Andrew Deagan.
Departing Waratahs players were also honoured
David Horwitz, Matt Lucas, Dean Mumm, Will Skelton and Rob Horne.
