The Deniliquin Rovers Football & Netball Club was awarded the 2025 Champion Football Club and 2025 Champion Netball Club awards at Monday’s night’s Picola League Senior Awards.

The honours came after 25 Rovers players placed in the top 10 best and fairest counts across seniors and juniors.

All the club’s football and netball sides also made finals this year, with six netball teams and one football team still in the hunt for premiership glory in the grand finals at Deniliquin tomorrow.

The A-grade, B-grade, under-15s and under-13s sides, are defending their titles from 2024.

Two local senior players were also recognised as league leaders at the presentation evening, held in Moama.

This included the Rovers’ senior grades only best and fairest winner from this season, Abby Whitehorn who was declared the league’s best in the C-reserve netball.

Whitehorn took out the count with 27 votes.

She won by a margin of six votes after a stellar undefeated home and away season, and was a picture of consistency, polling votes in 12 out of the 16 matches she played in.

While it as not a Deni Rovers player who claimed the top award in A-grade, the winner does have a Deni connection.

Former Murray League and Deniliquin Rams player Rhiannan Maxwell plays for Tocumwal this year, and won the Picola League Lukies Medal.

Maxwell, who netted the 2023 Murray Netball League A-grade best-and-fairest while plying her trade for the Rams, laid claim to the PDFNL equivalent with 29 votes, winning by four votes following a standout year for the gun goaler.

It’s the second Picola League Lukies Medal win for Maxwell, who won the award in 2018 while playing for Blighty.

Maxwell aided her Tocumwal side to an improved fourth place finish and a semi-final appearance.

Outside the best and fairests there were several prestigious league awards won on the night by local players.

Deni Rovers netballer Hazel Glowrey was awarded the 2025 Netball Rising Star after also being nominated in 2024.

Rovers A-grade netball coach Carissa Bulmer won the 2025 Senior Netball Coach of the Year, helping guide her side to another minor premiership and grand final finish.

The 2025 Netball Rising Star Umpire of the Year went to Amy Holloway, acknowledged for growth in skills and contribution as an umpire throughout the year.

In the vote counts, other high placing finishers for the district included Mathoura’s, Katrina Fisher who finished equal runner-up in the B-grade netball best and fairest count with 23 votes.

Khayla Chester was the other Mathoura top 10 best and fairest finisher, placing eighth in the A-grade netball.

In some more standout results for Rovers, Britt Kirby finished equal runner-up in C-grade and Sienna Jenkins finished equal third in the B-grade netball.

In the C-Reserve netball, Deni’s Elly Blake was outright third, seven votes behind Abby Whitehorn in first.

In football, Rovers’ Cameron Wills led the way for the district, as fourth in the seniors.

In the reserves, Deni’s Harry Turner and Ben McCalman placed fourth and fifth respectively, both polling in the same match five times throughout the season.

Players from local clubs with top 10 finishes are as follows:

Football:

Seniors: Cameron Wills (Deni Rovers), 4; Waylon Johncock (Deni Rovers), 10.

Reserves: Harry Turner (Deni Rovers), 4; Ben McCalman (Deni Rovers) 5.

Netball:

A-grade: Natalie Sampson (Deni Rovers), 5; Hazel Glowrey (Deni Rovers), 6; Khayla Chester (Mathoura), 8; Chrissy Hurst (Deni Rovers), 9.

B-grade: Katrina Fisher (Mathoura), 2; Sienna Jenkins (Deni Rovers), 3; Georgia McCulloch (Deni Rovers), 6.

C-grade: Brittany Kirby (Deni Rovers), 2; Caitlan Lewis (Deni Rovers), 5; Ava Robinson (Deni Rovers), 8; Paige Brown (Deni Rovers), 10.

C-Reserve: Abby Whitehorn (Deni Rovers), 1; Elly Blake (Deni Rovers), 3.

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Sunday, 4th December 2022

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