Perth's Aidan Tropiano wins thrilling 2015 Sandover Medal countMonday, September 21, 2015 - 10:14 PM - by Chris Pike

PERTH is celebrating its second Sandover Medal winner in seven years with Aidan Tropiano taking out West Australian football's most prestigious individual honour in a nail-biting count at the Crown Perth Grand Ballroom on Monday night.

Perth's last winner was Ross Young back in 2009 and now Tropiano joins him as reward for a strongly consistent season for a Demons team that might have won just two games, but is trying to build something for the future under new coach Earl Spalding.

Tropiano worked tirelessly in the midfield all season long for Perth averaging 32.5 possessions a game and never having an outing of less than 28 disposals, and picking up more than 30 touches on 15 occasions.

In the end, having fewer teammates around him taking votes than the other contenders and his consistency has seen him rewarded with the Sandover Medal for 2015.

Tropiano got off to a flying start with 29 votes in the opening 11 rounds to be the runaway leader, but with two rounds to go he found himself two votes behind Ashton Hams from South Fremantle.

However, Tropiano received eight votes in those last two games, losses to Peel Thunder and East Fremantle, and that was enough to end up on 45 votes and pip Hams by one vote.

The win marks a successful move individually from Tropiano who departed East Fremantle midway through the 2014 season to join Perth, and now a year and-a-half on he has added a Sandover Medal to the Butcher Medal he's also won in 2015 as the Demons' fairest and best winner.

Tropiano won with 45 votes to be one ahead of South Fremantle's Hams with Subiaco's Sam Menegola delivering an astounding second half of the season with 41 votes in 12 matches after not making his first appearance until Round 11.

Hams only missed out by one vote of adding a Sandover Medal to his South Fremantle career that already includes two premierships and two Simpson Medals, and 2015 was likely the best and most consistent of his career averaging almost 30 disposals for the season, and 33 over the final 10 games.

Menegola, meanwhile, joined Subiaco in 2015 after being left of Peel Thunder's list and despite not appearing until Round 11, he immediately showed his quality and ability to dominate games as a ball-winning, hard running and goal kicking midfielder.

He immediately polled five votes in his first appearance and had 23 in his first six games. He then had four more best on ground performances, and another three-vote game in the last eight rounds but it wasn’t quite enough to win what would have been a remarkable Sandover Medal victory.

Swan Districts' Ryan Davis wasn’t far behind with 37 votes while last year's winner from West Perth Aaron Black polled 37 votes.

Menegola's Subiaco teammate Chris Phelan polled 35 votes as reward for his consistently strong season with East Perth ruckman Paul Johnson recognised for another terrific year with 33 points.

Swan Districts midfielder Matt Riggio also had 32 votes, East Fremantle's Liam Anthony 31 and Claremont's Ryan Neates 30.

Neates' teammate Corey Yeo also had 29 votes while Peel Thunder's leading poller was Connor Blakely with the first-year Fremantle player ending the count on 28 votes along with West Perth's Shane Nelson.

Other awards presented on the night saw East Perth's Stanley Wright presented with the Jack Clarke Medal as the colts fairest and best, East Perth's Tom Shanahan receive the Prendergast Medal as the reserves' fairest and best and Subiaco's Jarrad Schofield take out the JJ Leonard Medal as the Coach of the Year.

Subiaco also received the Rodriguez Shield as the best performing club in the WAFL in 2015 while another Lions player, Shane Yarran, was presented with the Bernie Naylor Medal as the WAFL's leading goal kicker for the season.

Scott McPhee also received the Montgomery Medal as the best umpire of 2015 just ahead of his fellow grand final field officiators Stuart Parry and Matt Adams.

TOP 10 SANDOVER MEDAL VOTE WINNERS
Aidan Tropiano (Perth) – 45 votes
Ashton Hams (South Fremantle) – 44
Sam Menegola (Subiaco) – 41
Ryan Davis (Swan Districts) – 37
Aaron Black (West Perth) – 37*
Chris Phelan (Subiaco) – 35
Paul Johnson (East Perth) – 33
Matt Riggio (Swan Districts) – 32
Liam Anthony (East Fremantle) – 31
Ryan Neates (Claremont) – 30 

CLUB BY CLUB
CLAREMONT
Ryan Neates – 30
Corey Yeo – 29
Tom Ledger – 20
Jack Bradshaw – 13*
Keifer Yu – 11*

EAST FREMANTLE
Liam Anthony – 31
Brock O'Brien – 16
Jamie McNamara – 14
Cameron Eardley – 13
Rory O'Brien – 8

EAST PERTH
Paul Johnson – 33
Brendan Lee – 21
Brant Colledge – 19
Steven Payne – 11
Kane Lucas – 10

PEEL THUNDER
Connor Blakely – 28
Jacob Ballard – 26
Brendon Jones – 22
Leroy Jetta – 17
Tendai Mzungu – 16

PERTH
Aidan Tropiano – 45
Liam McKenna – 16
Jarryd Morton – 5
Dene White – 4
Michael Sinclair – 4

SOUTH FREMANTLE
Ashton Hams – 44
Ryan Cook – 15
Haiden Schloithe – 11
Blayne Wilson – 8
James Sellar – 7

SUBIACO

Sam Menegola – 41
Chris Phelan – 35
Leigh Kitchin – 25
Brett Robinson – 21
Shane Yarran – 16

SWAN DISTRICTS
Ryan Davis – 37
Matt Riggio – 32
Aaron Elari – 21
Adam Faulkner – 17
Justin Simpson – 9

WEST PERTH
Aaron Black – 37
Shane Nelson – 28
Andrew Strijk – 22
Marcus Adams – 14
Rohan Kerr – 9

Hear what Aidan Tropiano had to say after he was named the 2015 Sandover Medallist.