GSFL 2023: Railways’ Jayden Scott holds narrow lead with five rounds left in Advertiser Footballer of the Year

Railways inside midfielder Jayden Scott is a slender leader in the 2023 Albany Advertiser Footballer of the Year Award after 10 rounds of the Great Southern Football League season. A brilliant start to the season landed Scott in front and he briefly relinquished the lead in the award to Albany star Isaac Baum. Scott polled two votes in his side’s win against the Sharks in round nine to move to 14 votes. Baum and Scott failed to poll in round 10 but the pair are separated by a single vote with five rounds left in the regular season. Voting for the major award will go silent for the final three rounds of the year. Remarkably Scott collected three consecutive best-on-ground performances in round one, two and three and polled 12 of his 14 current votes in the opening five rounds. After five rounds Scott had 12 votes to lead by one from Baum while Mt Barker’s Daniel Patching was back in third on six. Baum hit the front after two votes in round six with Tigers forward Joel Want joining Patching in equal third place. Patching collected top votes in the Bulls’ win against Denmark-Walpole in round right while Sharks defensive gun Kane Pinney continued his move up the leaderboard. Tigers midfielder Logan Stubber claimed top votes in round nine and 10 to join Patching in equal third place. Scott (14 votes) holds a slender lead over Baum (13) while Patching and Stubber are locked together on 10. Sharks ball winner Bryce Blaszkow and Want are next with nine while Pinney and Tiger Kane Shephard have enjoyed strong seasons and have seven votes to their name. After each league game Advertiser journalists covering that game give 3-2-1 votes for the award, which is presented at the Kleemann Medal. Tigers star Matt Palfrey won the award with 20 votes last year, edging out Bulls’ Zach Jackson by two. 2023 Albany Advertiser Football of the Year - Leaderboard 14: J Scott (RAIL) 13: I Baum (ALB) 10: D Patching (MB) L Stubber (RAIL) 9: B Blaszkow (ALB) J Want (RAIL) 7: K Pinney (ALB) K Shephard (RAIL) 6: J Beeck (ALB) B Ewen (RAIL) 5: S Beal (ROY) B Parker (ROY) J Woods (NA) D Wallinger (MB) L Pavlovich (MB) M Orzel (NA) 4: R Lee (ALB)