Harvey’s Brendan Tingey and Larissa Versaci among leaders on SWFL medal night

Augusta-Margaret River’s Simon Moore and Donnybrook’s Jessica Verbrugge have been crowned the Hayward and Nola Marino medallists for 2021. Moore polled 28 votes to win the award ahead of last year’s winner, Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault’s Brendan Tingey. Tingey finished on 24 votes and said he thought Moore was the favourite heading in to the count. “I felt like I put together another pretty solid season, but I always thought Simon Moore would go pretty close,” Tingey said. “No one likes coming second, but if you are going to, it is satisfactory coming second to a guy like Simon Moore.” The former Peel reserves midfielder had he was thrilled with how his SWFL career was panning out. “I have put together a pretty good career and those rewards are the cherry on top for the efforts I have put in over the past few years,” “It’s an honour that everyone respects me and recognises me as one of the best players in the competition and is a pretty good season. “I love playing in the South West and have a good bunch of mates down their now and it is a great quality competition.” Tingey said his personal success had been soured by the team’s loss to Busselton on Sunday. “I’m extremely disappointed. That’s two years in a row now we have gone out in straight sets,” he said. Bull’s star Larissa Versaci was the highest finisher from both Harvey sides after she polled an incredible 15 votes from just eight games. The East Fremantle premiership player said she has felt right at home since returning to the Bulls. “Coming back down and playing for Harvey brought back that fun where there isn’t a level of expectation,” she said. “You don’t get that at WAFL level, it is very much a SWFL thing. It is a family day out and everyone comes down and cheers on the sideline.” Versaci said the youngsters in the competition kept her fire to compete alight. “Jess Verbrugge and those girls who are only 17, it is pretty scary to think how good the competition will be in two to three years time,” she said. “That makes you want to keep going, you know they make you better but you can help them. “The young ones make it fun because they are exciting and they don’t care if they stuff up.” Versaci said she would be back next year to chase team success. “I would much prefer to be playing in a grand final this week (than winning the medal),” she said. “We didn’t show up (in the semi-final), but it is exciting because when we needed to beat teams (throughout the year), we did. “It is still a bit of a hard one to swallow to be honest, but it is anyone’s game next year.”