Ararat Eagles footballer Jayden Wright capped off a fantastic debut senior season, winning the best under 21 footballer award and finishing equal third in the Mininera and District Football League best and fairest.
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Wright finished the senior best and fairest count on 11 votes, three votes off winner Joshua Brown of Tatyoon.
Wright said he was "pretty happy" he was recognised for his efforts, winning the best player under 21 award.
"It was pretty exciting to see my name come up and I was able to get the best player under 21 which was a bit of a surprise," he said.
"I was super surprised, I am pretty happy to win the award.
"All of the boys got around me, they were all super stoked for me and the club itself."
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Wright said he didn't expect to poll many votes on the night, instead he was cheering for teammate Naish McRoberts who also finished equal third in the league best and fairest.
"I didn't really have any expectations, I was barracking for Naish (McRoberts) on the night," he said.
"I knew he had an outstanding season, he was always a team leader and he led by example by the way he played.
"It was pretty exciting for him and I to both come in the top three, so that was really good for the club."
Wright has come a long way since he started his football journey in under 13s.
"I was just hanging out with a mate and he was like, I have footy training, do you want to come down and I was like, what's footy," he said.
"I managed to play a few games in under 13s and they wanted me to keep coming back.
"I was able to get some outside recognition and play in a few representative games which led to playing for the Greater Western Victoria Rebels."
Wright joined the Eagles from the Ararat Rats at the conclusion of the 2019 season with Naish McRoberts and Jack and Tom Taurau convincing him to help turn the club around.
"I wasn't always going to go to the Eagles, I was intending on staying at the Rats," he said.
"I had pretty good friends at the Rats but then Jack, Tom and Naish came up to me and asked me to be a part of something that could be historic for the club, to help get the club back on track.
"Being in an Eagles orientated family I thought it would be unreal to bring success to the club, that's my main reason for joining the club."
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Wright said he was proud of how the Eagles were able to improve on-field from the 2019 season.
"A personal highlight was obviously being able to get a few wins on the board for the club, obviously we have come from a pretty bad background," he said.
"Being able to get a few wins on the board and jumpstart the club back up was awesome.
"The club is super happy about how we went and we are all super excited to get into next season, to be able to jump our way into fifth spot in the end was unreal.
"We were ecstatic we got there, that was our main goal at the start of the season."
Wright said the Eagles would not settle for anything less than fifth spot next season.
"We are not standing for anything less than fifth, we want to have a proper crack next year and push for both reserves and seniors to make finals," he said.
"Obviously we are a little bit sad to not play finals because we did feel we were clicking really well towards the end.
"We felt like we could have done a fair bit of damage."
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