The Group 10 premier league battle is heating up in a big way and so too is the race for the competition's highest-individual accolade, with three weeks left in the regular season there's almost a dozen stars looming as contenders to claim player-of-the-year honours.
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Unsurprisingly with their sides at the top of the table the likes of Orange Hawks' superstar captain-coach Willie Heta and Bathurst Panthers' rampaging prop Brent Seager, also the reigning Dave Scott Medal winner, are in the mix.
Heta remains the two blues' linchpin even though he has plenty of star power around him and while Seager controls the middle in a massive Panthers pack, he is their go-to forward, which he's proven again in 2019 by continuing the kind of form which inspired is man-of-the-match award in last year's grand final.
Group 10 revealed the 10 front-runners for this year's gong on Sunday morning in no particular order, and while Heta and Seager headline the group, it would take a brave person to confidently pick the leader considering the shortlisted players' form.
Having acted as Orange CYMS' anchor in 2019 it's no surprise to see nippy dummy-half Ryan Griffin among the contenders, nor is it shocking to see Mudgee captain-coach Jack Littlejohn or star Cowra duo Blake Tidswell and Warren Williams in the mix.
Littlejohn's led Mudgee to the top three in his first season mentoring the Dragons, who missed the finals last season, while with reigning MVP Josh Rainbow forced into retirement and 2017 winner Jeremy Gordon missing for a large chunk of the season Tidswell and Williams have shouldered the load for the Magpies.
Both players will be crucial in ensuring Cowra make a successful late season run after the team's haphazard mid-season form.
Jack Siejka is the other Bathurst Panther among the front-runners while, in his first season in Group 10, boom Hawks hooker Alex Prout has polled well too. Oberon five-eighth Farren Lamb and Lithgow Workies' Cody Godden also feature in the shortlist.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
