Ed Curnow has been awarded the Col Austen Trophy at the Box Hill Hawks’ best and fairest presentation night.
Curnow polled in 10 of the 12 games he played for Box Hill before fracturing his leg against Sandringham in round 13, ending his season.
Curnow amazingly polled five best-on-ground efforts in a row, stretching from Round 3 to Round 7.
His 44 votes saw him hold on to a famous victory, with the fast-finishing Sam Gibson (36) and Cam Pedersen (34) rounding out the top three.
Hawthorn young-guns Matthew Suckling (22) and Liam Shiels (21) rounded out the remainder of the top five in the Col Austen Trophy voting.
Col Austen’s son Grant was on-hand to present the trophy to Curnow and urged him to follow in Sam Mitchell’s footsteps to forge a successful AFL career.
After polling 13 votes in the JJ Liston Trophy (the VFL’s best and fairest) to finish third, Curnow has attracted strong interest from AFL clubs as he looks to reignite his career after a stint with the Adelaide Crows as a rookie in 2008.
Gibson and Pedersen have also attracted interest after terrific seasons where both players made the VFL state squad along with Curnow and Hawthorn-listed Luke Breust.
Awards presented on the night
Col Austen Trophy (senior best and fairest): Ed Curnow
Runner up: Sam Gibson
Development squad best and fairest: David Mirra
Runners up: Jayden Hoegel and Liam Tobin
Leading goal kicker: Seniors Sam Gibson (31)
Leading goal kicker (development squad): Chris Hoegel (53)
Best in Finals (seniors): Jordan Lisle
Best in Finals (development squad): Dylan Van Unen
Most improved: Ben Fagan
Most courageous: Luke Andrews
Best first year player: Jayden Hoegel
Team first award: Kris Nye
50 game milestones: Marco Bello, Robert Campbell and Cam Pedersen
Ron Dickinson Trophy (best clubman): Sam Gibson
Ron Gibbs Memorial Trophy (outstanding service): David and Phillip Behan
President’s perpetual shield (most votes in Liston): Ed Curnow
Ed Curnow is presented with the President’s perpetual shield.
Jordan Lisle with his best in finals trophy.
Best first year player Jayden Hoegel with senior coach Brendon Bolton.
Colin ‘Col’ Austen played for the Hawthorn Football Club from 1941 to 1943 and then again from 1946 to 1949.
In 1949, he won Hawthorn’s best and fairest award and tied with South Melbourne’s Ron Clegg for the 1949 Brownlow Medal.
Finally, he went to Box Hill in the VFA as captain/coach in 1956 and as a non-playing coach from 1957 to 1959, coaching the Mustangs to their first ever finals appearance in 1956 and again in 1958.
