Sport
12 October, 2023
Wattles to Drop Curtain on 2023 – who will be player of the year?
Local league heroes the Wattles Warriors will gather on Saturday evening to celebrate their 2023 season at the club’s annual banquet and presentation function at Clifton’s F. E. Logan Hall.
Club President Amanda O’Halloran is expecting a bumper crowd given the Warriors’ success in the past Toowoomba Rugby League season, “to have had all three teams contest the finals series is an amazing accomplishment”.
Wattles’ paramount playing award is the Clifton Courier Shield for the
‘Player of the Year’, introduced in 1975 by newspaper owners Mick and Gloria Grayson.
The tradition has been proudly continued by current owners and Wattles Club sponsors Ted and Mim Rogers.
The initial winner was gifted five-eighth Michael Ryan, and the list of season top players since includes some of the more outstanding to lace on a boot in the TRL.
Sensational former Queensland Rangers half-back Matt Duggan can take some ownership of the award having won on six occasions (2013, 14, 15, 19, 21 & 22), with champion five-eighth Cameron Hamblin a five-time winner.
Other multiple winners include half-back Sam Achilles (3), former International back-rower Greg Platz (2), Michael Ryan (2) and Luke Baker (2).
Former Newcastle Knights debut season five-eighth and later club Chairman Robbie Tew was player of the year in 1983, and former Brisbane Bronco Tony Duggan, who tasted great success playing in the United Kingdom, was honoured with the Shield in 2000.
Forty-nine players have been presented with the shield, with joint winners in 1978 in Barry Glass and John Bradfield and Aaron Scheid with Luke Baker in 2011.
The award was not presented in the 2020 COVID cancelled season.
Numerous awards, many
synonymous with the club’s name and awarded over many years, will be presented on Saturday night recognising the efforts of those who turned out in green and gold throughout Wattles’ 58th season.
To win the Clifton Courier Shield is a much sought after honour for all Wattles players.
Who’s a front runner you might ask?
Players of the calibre of team captain Ty Gardner, utility player Nick Van Der Poel, half-back Braydon
Paix, full-back Matt Christensen and forwards Jordan Crocker and Tyson Stevens have all had impressive seasons, but
given Wattles’ season
exploits and finals appearance many other names are in the mix.
The 2023 season has thrown up many contenders but we can be sure that whoever accepts the Shield will maintain the standard of the outstanding line-up whose names decorate its face.
Wattles will draw its major season fund raiser at the banquet, the art union boasting a prize of a 2023 Toyota Rav Hybrid GXL 2WD valued at $48,000.
Tickets are still available by contacting Amanda O’Halloran on 0407 663 270.
For those with an interest in attending Wattles Banquet, message or book online on the Wattles Warriors Facebook page.
- Glyn Rees
