ARARAT and District Junior Football Association president Cameron Evans has congratulated all of the association's players for a fantastic season, which concluded with its Grand Final on Sunday August 18.
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The Warriors and the Mounties clashed, with the Warriors taking home the victory with a score of 10.6 (66), and the Mounties 3.6 (24).
"2019 saw another successful season for the ADJFA," Evans said.
"The Grand Final was a culmination of our 12 round season for the juniors under-13s in Ararat, played between the Warriors and the Mounties.
"This actual league has been going since the late 1940s or early 1950s. We even had a player here on the day that played in 1965 premiership for the Warriors, so he was here as a bit of good luck beforehand.
"All four teams showed good development and provided solid contests each week."
Awards were handed to players after the Grand Final, including the inaugural Ella Wood Award, named after Ararat product Ella Wood who currently plays with the VFLW Western Bulldogs.
"Sonny Kettle was our boy Best and Fairest for the season with Gretta Fennell taking out the our new award for Best Girl," Evans said.
Warriors coach Mick Jennings said his side had a "will to win" the Grand Final.
"The Mounties are probably the biggest rivalry in under 13 footy," he said.
"We played off last year with the Mounties beating us by a point. At all games this year it's been really close.
"Getting today's game, the Mounties did their homework and matched up really well against our top line players.
"It was a really tight tussle in the first half and in the second half, we made some positional changes and we were able to run away with the game.
"But it did take a lot of team work - our top age really kids utilized a lot of our younger players with sharing the ball and doing a lot of one two handballs and I think their will to win today was just fantastic.
"I think that's what got us over the line."
Jennings also emphasized the mate-ship and camaraderie that underlies the league.
"Winning a Grand Final is great but that's not how we see junior football," he said.
"We see junior football as participation and having an opportunity.
"The Warriors boys and girls have led the way in sharing players with other clubs and other teams when they've been a bit short, and I think their sportsmanship on and off the field has been fantastic."
Award winners
2019 Blue Ribbon Foundation Spirit of Sport:
Bombers - Justin Taylor
Warriors - Rueben Sladdin
Rovers - Caleb Summers
Mounties - Tom Kinley
2019 Jack Costello Goal Kicker of theYear
Rovers - Sonny Kettle with 38 goals
2019 David O Jones Mitre 10 Most Valuable Player
Rovers - Sonny Kettle with 30 votes
2019 Richardson Medal
Rovers - Sonny Kettle with 26 votes
Warriors - Jim Jennings with 26 votes
The inaugural 2019 Ella Wood Medal
Bombers - Gretta Fennell
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