By David Nagel
SEFNL GRAND FINAL – BEST ON GROUND
Relief and immense satisfaction were etched on the face of Berwick’s champion midfielder Madi Andrews after the inspirational skipper had led his side to the most dominant season in the club’s history on Saturday.
And Madi’s season – well it wasn’t that far behind!
In fact Andrews created his own slice of history, becoming the only player in the 13-year existence of the Casey Cardinia-South East Football Netball League to back up a league best and fairest award with a best-on-ground display in the Wickers 47-point triumph over Narre Warren.
The 26-year-old’s impact on Berwick is profound.
His two Norm Walker Medals for best player in the league have both coincided with premiership seasons for his club – you don’t get much bigger than that. But, as usual, the affable skipper was far more excited about talking his team up than taking individual plaudits.
“Seriously, it doesn’t compare, this is what I play footy for and always have,” Andrews said from the heaving middle of Holm Park Reserve.
“It feels great, you work hard for it and it’s been such a good year for the club and it’s really nice to cap it off with a premiership. Our work ethic just continues to grow and that’s something we pride ourselves on and it is nice to get the ultimate reward. We were just relentless, and that was our thing today, if we went harder for longer we knew we’d get the job done.”
The former Dandenong Stingray and Sandringham Dragon said he enjoyed sharing the last-quarter experience with some of the players that he started his footballing journey with.
“Obviously when you know the game is locked away it’s pretty nice to run around and absorb everything that’s going on,” he said.
“It doesn’t happen often so it was really great to enjoy that experience. I put a lot of my heart and soul into the club so it is nice to actually get some reward. These are the guys I grew up playing footy with and that makes it feel even better.”
Coach Stewart Kemperman said Andrews was thoroughly deserving of his very-high standing at the club, singling him out first as a key player on the weekend.
“Let’s start with the skipper; in my opinion one of the greatest this club has ever seen, if not the greatest player this club has ever seen … he was enormous,” Kemperman said.
Let’s just leave it at that!
