Doyle tops count in Geelong best-and-fairest

THE GEELONG Netball League’s best-and-fairest is a sharpshooting Swan in 2022 with South Barwon shooter Ellen Doyle taking out the A Grade medal at tonight’s GFNL Awards Night.

Doyle, whose 892 goals led the competition in scoring by a whopping 195 goals, tallied 22 votes on the night and edged out St Joseph’s attacker Emma Buwalda by two votes to become the first Swan since Sascha Veldhuis attained the honour in 2003.

Doyle struck the count early with two votes in South Barwon’s Round 1 contest against Grovedale but would not poll again until her best-on-court performance against St Mary’s in Round 4.

Doyle added to her votes tally in Rounds 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 15 and once more with three votes in Round 18 to put the count beyond reach.

Buwalda, a fellow Geelong Cougars teammate, polled two votes in Round 19, but only to minimise the final margin to two, finishing the night with 20.

Fellow Joey Elli Leydin secured a third-place finish with 17 votes, while Colac Tiger Brooke Allan and Newtown & Chilwell’s Danielle Mather rounded out the top five with each notching up 16 votes.

Doyle led the Swans to a third-seeded finish in the season but assisted in putting up the highest-ranked offences in the competition with 1067 goals across the entire frontcourt (ranked second in the league).

St Joseph’s Laura Bell was named B Grade best-and-fairest, Geelong West’s Holly Fenton attained the C Grade honour, Newtown & Chilwell’s Cassidy Moore and South Barwon’s Nneka Ononye shared the D Grade award, and Newtown & Chilwell’s Myah Linton acquired the top gong in E Grade.

The top 10 vote-getters in the Geelong Netball League:

1 Ellen Doyle (South Barwon) – 22 votes
2 Emma Buwalda (St Joseph’s) – 20 votes
3 Elli Leydin (St Joseph’s) – 17 votes
4 Brooke Allan (Colac) – 16 votes
5 Danielle Mather (Newtown & Chilwell) – 16 votes
6 Madelyn Gray (St Albans) – 14 votes
7 Uneeq Palavi (Newtown & Chilwell) – 14 votes
8 Alahria Smith (Geelong West) – 13 votes
9 Jessie Lang (Colac) – 13 votes
10 Michelle Svetnik (South Barwon) – 13 votes

The Geelong Netball League Team of the Season was also named, led by Newtown and Chilwell coach Jason Woolley:

• Goalers: Julia Woolley (Newtown & Chilwell), Zanna Woods (Newtown & Chilwell), Ellen Doyle (South Barwon)
• Mid Court: Elli Leydin (St Joseph’s), Zara Walters (Colac), Ally O’Connor (Bell Park), Vanessa Augustini (Newtown & Chilwell)
• Defenders: Tori Honner (St Joseph’s), Brooke Allan (Colac) and Indya Forde (Colac).