Denmark football star Parris Laurie wins two awards after superb season for Wembley in Perth Football League

Denmark’s Parris Laurie has capped an outstanding season for Wembley, snaring two honours at the Perth Football League awards night on Monday. The 28-year old was named the coach of the year as well as claiming the A-grade Women’s best-and-fairest award. She was a clear winner of the coveted award with 37 votes. Her nearest rival Amber Ugle-Hayward from Curtin Uni-Wesley finished on 27 votes and University’s Tayla Hepburn (23 votes) rounded out the top three. After a strong career with West Coast, the ruck-forward surprised many when she retired from the AFLW in 2022 but has continued to shine in the football sphere. Laurie cited a desire to pursue a coaching career following her retirement last year and has since tasted plenty of success. The double win caps a whirlwind year for Laurie, who was the PFL State women’s coach in May for the second consecutive year. Wembley won 13 games across the 2023 season, capping their minor premiership with flag success on Saturday as they claimed a 1.7 (13) to 1.4 (10) victory over Curtin Uni Wesley last week. Laurie said winning the premiership was a significant moment in her illustrious football career. “Being a player-coach was definitely harder than I expected but worth it none the less,” she said. “I absolutely loved coaching and playing with the Chickpies. “To go from C to B to A grade in three years and win the A-grade premiership, it just shows what a special group the Chickpies are. “It was a football fairy tale for me this weekend.” Albany youngster Angus Bowles was also among the award winners on the night, taking out the CTF Brett Jones Colts Medal, awarded to the best-and-fairest player in the PFL colts competition. Bowles tallied 19 votes for University with Kalamunda’s Sam Dhungana (12) and North Beach’s Tom Caiacob (11) rounding out the top three.