Sharpshooter shares top honours

By Lachlan Ellis

Another Darley Devil has been crowned the leading goalkicker for his grade in the Ballarat Football League, tying for this year’s Tony Lockett Medal after a stellar season.

Nick Rodda made it to a league-topping 56 goals in his first Senior season for the Devils, sharing the honour with Melton’s Ryan Carter, who kicked 10 goals in the Bloods’ final home and away match. Rodda only kicked one goal in the final game of the season.

Mr Rodda was modest about the achievement, saying he “probably left a lot of goals out there” and praising his teammates for contributing to a remarkable turnaround compared to last season.

“I’m pretty happy about it, but I was quite inaccurate this year. I was lucky enough to come away with it, equal with Ryan Carter. I’m not sure there’s any secret to kicking goals, I probably should’ve added to the tally through the year, I think I had one game against Ballarat where I kicked three goals eight points or something,” he told the Moorabool News.

“A lot of the younger blokes on the team have really matured and taken their game to another level, they’ve obviously found their feet in senior footy throughout the year. Hopefully that puts us in good stead for the finals.”

The Devils finished in fourth this season, with their ‘Road to Redemption’ campaign after last year’s winless season, taking them to an elimination final against reigning dual premiers East Point.

Mr Rodda said it was rewarding being part of the Devils’ redemption story.

“Hopefully we can give the competition a bit of a shake-up, it’d be good, especially for the supporters after a winless season last year. It’s been something to cheer for for them, and hopefully there’s a few more weeks of cheering ahead for them,” he said.

Mr Rodda had his best game against Lake Wendouree in June, kicking nine goals, and also kicked a bag of eight against Melton South in April. Across the season, he kicked an average of 3.5 goals per game.