PRESENTATIONS | Awards galore as Essendon Royals cap off Season 2019

Season 2019 will be fondly remembered as one of truly epic proportions for the Essendon Royals.

A promotion for the club’s senior women team, the move to Cross Keys Reserve, acceptance into the Junior Boys National Premier Leagues competition and becoming one of the first clubs to gain five-star recognition from Football Victoria were just a few of the massive achievements the club and its members can proudly look back on.

It also marked the club’s 60th anniversary, which was celebrated with a magnificent gala ball held at Hyatt Place, Essendon Fields.

The event itself saw a host of past and present officials, supporters, players, coaches and families come together to celebrate the club’s amazing history, from its humble roots as Triestina to the Goliath of Victorian community football the Royals have become today.

The on-field season came to a conclusion at the start of September, as our various junior teams finished their seasons, followed shortly by our senior men’s, women’s and thirds teams.

The club celebrated its amazing season with a host of Presentation Days and Nights to showcase our fantastic footballing family and community.

Senior Presentation Night

The Royals recognised its most senior teams at Cross Keys Reserve on Saturday, September 14.

The Royals senior women took centre stage as all present celebrated their brilliant season which culminated in the promotion to State League 1 for Season 2020, with coach Johno Clemente and his team of stars receiving many richly deserved plaudits.

Also of note was the Men’s Reserves team, which finished the season in third place in the Men’s State League Reserves competition.

There was also hugely deserved recognition for the Nappo boys, Joey, Max and Roman Nappo (Pictured at the top of this page with dad Frank and Royals president Richie Di Sauro). The boys and their dad Frank have been everpresent at every level of the club in 2019, supporting the Royals senior and junior teams all season long

The senior award winners in full:

Under-20s

Coached by Sanjay Suri, the Royals finished in third place in the Sportsmart Boys’ North-West 20A division.

Taking 10 wins from their 16 games, the Royals only lost three games all season.

Top Goalscorer: Kristian Rizza

Best-And-Fairest Runners Up: Andrew Sant

Best-And-Fairest: Liam Roebuck

Men’s Thirds

The Essendon Royals Men’s Thirds team is home to a number of important former seniors who continue to represent the club in a brilliant fashion.

Co-coached by players Terry Rowan and Ryan Attard, the dynamic duo continues to foster a brilliant atmosphere for the club’s social senior players who represent the club every Sunday and their ongoing support of club events and initiatives should not be understated.

The lads finished fifth in the Metropolitan League 4 North-West, finishing the season with an even ledger of five wins, five draws and five losses.

Top Goalscorer: Ryan Attard

Best-And-Fairest Runners Up: Luke Nightingale

Best-And-Fairest: Luke Mungherli

Men’s Reserves

The Essendon Royals Men’s Reserves provided a fine proving ground for the club’s talented cohort of youth players looking to prove themselves in the senior squad.

Coached by Emmett Sheehan and assistant David Winton, the Royals enjoyed a magnificent season, overcoming all the usual trials and tribulations that come with being a Reserves team to finish third in the State League 1 North-West Reserves competition.

The Royals did not lose a game over the final nine rounds of the season.

Top Goalscorer: Josh Tabone

Best-And-Fairest Runners Up: Alexander Eshak

Best-And-Fairest: Jesse Walker

Men’s Seniors

The Royals senior men’s side endued a tough season in a hugely competitive State League 1 North-West division.

The team put in a number of impressive performances over the course of the year and at times matched the divisions top teams, but were often undone by slow starts which meant the team was often left without reward for their efforts as the games went on.

Top Goalscorer: Joel Nikolic

Best-And-Fairest Runners Up: Jamie Gazzelle & Andre Jannesse

Best-And-Fairest: Graham Kelly

Women’s Seniors

The Royals senior women were well and truly the stand-out performers at the club in the senior set-up during season 2019.

After finding themselves rooted to the foot of the WOmen’s State League 2 North-West table after three rounds, the Royals brilliantly fought their way back into promotion contention during the guts of the season.

They confirmed their promotion to State League 1 with a brilliant performance on the final day of the season - a fitting end to a brilliant season from coach Johno Clemente and his team.

Top Goalscorer: Stephanie Pantazopoulos

Best-And-Fairest Runners Up: Zoe Schaffner

Best-And-Fairest: Michelle Vidanoski

Junior Presentation Days

With so many juniors at the club, presentations for our junior teams were spread over two separate days.

Amongst the highlights were our championship-winning Under-14 Reds who sealed the title on the last day of the season, whilst there were participation awards for all our junior teams, as well as best-and-fairest and coaches honours within each team.

The Royals were home to over 700 players this season and we look forward to seeing everyone back in Season 2020.

See the full list of best-and-fairest and coach award winners below:

8 Boys Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Simon Pham 

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Matthew Dimovski 

Coaches Award: Stefano Care 

8 Boys Gold

Best-And Fairest: Christian Puopolo

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Luka Jovanovic

Coaches Award: Noah Farrugia

8 Boys Red

Best-And-Fairest: Chase Basitan

8 Boys White

Best-And-Fairest: Lucas Micevski

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Reno Magnacca

Coaches Award: Michael Cvetkovski

8 Boys Black

Best-And-Fairest: Benjamin Blewett

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up:  Elliott Hislop

Coaches Awards: Mason Manganaro, Saif Al Araj, Julian Prus

9 Girls Gold

Best-And-Fairest: Matilda Ball

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Hannah Moore

Coaches Award: Sara Dos Santos

9 Boys Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Xavier D’Agostino 

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Alexander Minichiello 

Coaches Award: Liam Kilner

9 Boys Red

Best-And-Fairest: Noah Ravida

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Callan Gardiner

Coaches Awards: Anthony Lo Giudice & Theodore Torosidis

9 Boys White

Best-And-Fairest: Luke Ito Cannon.

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Anthony Baldassarre.

Coaches Award: Oskar Parker.

9 Boys Black

Best-And-Fairest: Hugo Carson

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Liam Tran

Coaches Award: Ethan Bourne

9 Girls White

Best-And-Fairest: Natalia Marcaccio

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Sienna Ciavarella

Coaches Award: Luca Bode

10 Boys Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Oscar Di Genova

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Koray Avci

Coaches Award: Zac Monfries

10 Boys Red

Best-And-Fairest: Cristian Evans

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Oliver Ball

Coaches Award: Alexander Parissi

10 Boys White

Best-And-Fairest: Darci Corp

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Zia de Vos

Coaches Award: Kharanshu Choppakatia

11 Boys Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Lucas Caputo

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Nicholas Bui

Coaches Award: Orlando Perilli

11 Boys Red

Best-And-Fairest: Brendan Nguyen 

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Zach Bates 

Coaches Award: Donal Healy 

11 Boys Gold

Best-And-Fairest: Joey Nappo

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Jeremy Macauley

Coaches Award: Luca Cristiano

11 Boys Black

Best-And-Fairest: Alex Campbell

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Archer Mazza

Coaches Award: Daemon Basu

11 Boys White

Best-And-Fairest: Sebastian D’Urso 

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Luke swales 

Coaches Award: Akitha  Gamakumara 

11 Girls Gold

No individual awards were awarded. Congratulations all participating players.

12 Boys Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Jessie Paladino

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Mushahed Sawiz

Coaches Award: Finley Howland

12 Boys Red

Best-And-Fairest: Cooper Di Florio

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Orlando De Luise & George Warren

Coaches Award: Ram Vanapalli

12 Boys Gold

Best-And-Fairest: Patrick Cox

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Sean Sinclair

Coaches Award: Xavier Cox

12 Boys Black

Best-And-Fairest: Matthew Loprete

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Steven Iliopoulos

Coaches Award: Luke Soumalias

12 Girls Red

Best-And-Fairest: Eva Chopin

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Scarlett Moger

Coaches Award: Grace Wirth

13 Boys Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Gianluca Guglielmino

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Valentino Molinaro

Coaches Award: Joseph Scerri

13 Boys Red

Best-And-Fairest: Zack Minas

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Ethan Haigh 

Coaches Award: Leiam Giouzepos

13 Boys Gold

Best-And-Fairest: Tomy Lloyd

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Julian Marino

Coaches Award: Yianni Artemiou

14 Girls Gold

Best-And-Fairest: Lara Bascetta

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Sienna Athaide

Coaches Awards: Carolina Pizza & Ellie Smith

14 Girls Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Angelique Basile

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Georgia Cullie

Coaches Award: Zara Moutzikis

14 Boys Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Paul La Ferla

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Sam McIlroy

Coaches Awards: Mateus Louloudis & Luca Di Carlo 

14 Boys Red

Best-And-Fairest: Marcus Petrolo

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Yousef Hawli

Coaches Awards: Louis Yates & James Caputo

14 Boys Gold

Best-And-Fairest: Sanithu DeSilva

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Thomas King

Coaches Awards: Francis DiNuccio

15 Boys Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Jacob Rando

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Luca Christofides

Coaches Awards: Leo Park 

15 Boys Red

Best-And-Fairest: Julian Iacobellis

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Christian Loccisano

Coaches Awards: Nicholas FIliopou

15 Boys Gold

Best-And-Fairest: Dejan Dmitrovic

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Chris Hamilton

Coaches Awards: Arda Genc

16 Girls Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Jessica Hrzic

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Shirley Duong

Coaches Awards: Erin Bavage

16 Boys Blue

Best-And-Fairest: Arjin Bagdas and Marcus Medina 

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Phoenix Davey 

Coaches Awards: Jude Hardy

16 Boys Red

Best-And-Fairest: Damian Lauricella 

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Aaron Powell and Peter Ricco

Coaches Awards: Jason Ortiz

16 Boys Gold

Best-And-Fairest: Sam Torosidis 

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Elijah de Wit

Coaches Awards: Matthew Lynch 

18 Boys

Best-And-Fairest: James Romito

Best-And-Fairest Runners-Up: Ricky Tullio

Coaches Awards: Dion Smoljko