O'Brien double act for East Fremantle's fairest and bestSunday, October 5, 2014 - 2:12 PM - by Chris Pike

IT WAS an O'Brien double act at East Fremantle's fairest and best count on Saturday night with Rory claiming a third Lynn Medal just ahead of his younger brother Brock.

Rory O'Brien has now played 88 matches with East Fremantle since joining the Sharks in 2011 and in those four years, he has now won three Lynn Medals as the club's fairest and best player to make it five overall in his career to go with a Sandover Medal and two State appearances.

The 28-year-old claimed the 2014 Lynn Medal as the leading vote winner in the fairest and best count taking out the award ahead of his younger brother Brock with last year's joint winner Andrew Stephen in third place, Bradd Dalziell fourth and former captain Mark McGough fifth.

By winning a third Lynn Medal, Rory O'Brien continues his remarkable career that has him as one of the most decorated WAFL player in recent times.

Before joining East Fremantle in 2011, the diminutive but hard working and prolific ball winning midfielder had amassed 92 matches with Peel Thunder where he also claimed fairest and best awards in 2006 and 2010 either side of a season in the SANFL with North Adelaide.

O'Brien then joined East Fremantle looking for a fresh start alongside his brother in 2011 and in four years, has put together a remarkably consistent run of form leading the midfield that has been rewarded adequately with personal accolades.

He claimed his first Lynn Medal in 2011 in his first season with the Sharks and then came third in 2012 but enjoyed the most team success he's been part of in his career by being part of the East Fremantle side that made the grand final.

It was then a stunning 2013 season for the hard-running on-baller when he not only won a second Lynn Medal that he shared with Stephen, but also won the Sandover Medal as well as representing Western Australia for the second time.

O'Brien was then named captain for the 2014 season and had another terrific year leading the Sharks averaging 29.3 possessions a game and ending up with a third Lynn Medal.

All up, the 28-year-old has now played 180 WAFL matches and won five fairest and best awards while adding a Sandover Medal and representing WA twice.

In four years at East Fremantle, he has now played 88 games, won the three Lynn Medals, the Sandover Medal and throughout that time averaged a remarkable 27.5 possessions.

Rory's 26-year-old brother Brock had perhaps the best season of his 104-game career as well in 2014 returning to the Sharks after taking most of 2013 away from the WAFL.

He did have strong seasons as a forward in 2011 and 2012 where he kicked 94 goals through 40 games, but he was back to his running role off half-back in 2014 where he was able to use his ability to not only find the ball, but use his lethal left boot to full effect.

That saw him a major reason why East Fremantle ended up making it to the preliminary final and only falling short of a second grand final appearance in three years by one goal.

Throughout 2014, he averaged 20 possessions a game off half-back and also got forward to kick eight goals mostly from long range and was rewarded by being runner-up in the fairest and best count.

Stephen had another strong season in defence for East Fremantle a year after sharing the Lynn Medal and the defender again played for WA and still averaged over 18 disposals a game despite being strong defensively.

He even went forward and played a match-winning role in the first semi-final win over Swan Districts and came third in the Lynn Medal.

Dalziell was unlucky to be delisted by West Coast at the end of the 2013 season but he was quick to commit to returning to East Fremantle and he delivered a strong year with the Sharks.

The 27-year-old averaged over 27 possessions a game while kicking 22 goals and put in a host of match-winning performances including in Round 1, Round 4, Round 9, Round 12, Round 15 and Round 22. He ended up fourth in Lynn Medal voting.

McGough has been an outstanding contributor to East Fremantle since arriving at East Fremantle in 2010 and has been consistently high up in Lynn Medal voting, but still yet to quite top the voting with another fifth-place finish in 2014.

He did miss the opening six games following wrist surgery but was outstanding once back in the line-up averaging 25.5 possessions a game and also standing up during the finals being named East Fremantle's Best Player of the Finals.

Cameron Eardley was acknowledged for his first season back with East Fremantle after time in the AFL with Geelong by being named Best First Year Player while James Bayliss and Mitch Boyle split the club's respective Best Clubman awards.

Tom Hooker received the Henry Jeffery Medal as the reserves fairest and best player while Alex Kirk was presented with the Bendigo Bank Community Award.

LYNN MEDAL TOP 10
Winner – Rory O'Brien (398 votes)
Brock O'Brien (344)
Andrew Stephen (333)
Bradd Dalziell (306)
Mark McGough (255)
Steven Dodd (218)
Matthew Jupp (212)
Jamie McNamara (208)
Sam Read (202)
Rob Young (196)

OTHER LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS
Best Player in Finals – Mark McGough
Best First Year Player – Cameron Eardley
Patrons Rising Star – Matthew Jupp
Leading Goalkicker – Brett Peake
Best Clubman – James Bayliss
Leadership Group's Best Clubman – Mitch Boyle
Bendigo Bank Community Award – Alex Kirk

RESERVES AWARD WINNERS
Henry Jeffery Medal (fairest and best) – Tom Hooker
Runner-up fairest and best – Tyler Chalwell
Third fairest and best – Josh Cuneo
Fourth fairest and best – Michael Edwards
Fifth fairest and best – Jake Schleicher
Best Clubman – James Daniels
Best Player in Finals – Danny Chartres

COLTS AWARD WINNERS
Allan Trott Medal (colts fairest and best) – Oliver Parish
Runner-up fairest and best – Fraser Perry
Third fairest and best – Jordan Snadden
Fourth fairest and best – Nathan Morton-Smith
Fifth fairest and best – Jacob Gittos
Best First Year Player – Nathan Morton-Smith
Most Dedicated Player – Nick Menegola
Best Clubman – Tom Bennett
Combined Past Players & Officials Encouragement Award – Connor Hagen