By JARROD POTTER
A SINGLE vote in the last round of the season proved enough to place Montrose ruckman Andrew Haining into Eastern Football League (EFL) history.
Haining, 24, from Montrose, was named a joint-winner of the Chandler Medal – the EFL’s Division 1 league best-and-fairest award – at the presentation held on Monday night.
With his booming hit-outs and ruckwork a significant feature of Montrose’s success this year – Haining’s efforts did not go unnoticed by the umpires as he tied on 22 votes with Vermont’s three-time league best-and-fairest Ryan Mullett.
He had to do the counting towards the latter rounds to confirm he was level with the Eagles legend though as he could not comprehend he was going to win the prestigious award.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Haining said. “In the end I started counting each round and he was one in front of me going into the last.
“I pick up that one vote and then I was even with him and I thought he would have gotten votes in the final round – so I couldn’t believe it when we tied.”
Earning his medal-winning vote in the EFL’s last round, after the Demons pumped the Falcons by 79 points, Haining became the first Montrose player to ever win the award to highlight the upwards trend the club has gone through in the last few years.
It caps off a tremendous first season for the club in the EFL’s top division – following Montrose’s 2013 premiership victory over Mooroolbark where Haining was also named grand final best-on-ground.
He has relished the step-up in standard in the top grade of the EFL – and especially Montrose earning two finals appearances – and hopes the club can stay there for a long time yet.
“We were talking about that last night and it’s only about our third or fourth season in first division – first one and hopefully first of many seasons for the club,” Haining said.
“We had a very good year – went in with no expectations and took the monkeys off our back and we all enjoyed it.
“It didn’t end the way we’d like – losing the two finals – but now we know where we need to be.”
Haining has been a loyal clubman at the Demons since he was 14 and has signed on again for next season with his beloved Montrose.
He was named on the interchange alongside Montrose coach Brett Johnson (rover) in the EFL Division 1 Team of the Year.
In Monday night’s vote count, Haining’s Montrose team-mate Michael Edwards won the Division 1 Reserves best-and-fairest, as he shared the accolade with Norwood’s Evan Johnson.
In other local results from the Chandler Medal presentation, Coldstream’s Bayley Fristch was named the 2014 EFL Division 3/4 Young Gun.
EFL DIVISION 1
EFL CHANDLER MEDAL – TOP 10
ANDREW HAINING, MONTROSE, 22
RYAN MULLETT, VERMONT, 22
Alex Frawley, Rowville, 18
John Holmes, Norwood, 16
Brent English, Norwood, 14
Renny Watts, Balwyn, 13
Jason Eagle, South Croydon, 13
Marcus Hottes, Lilydale, 12
Sam Goodman, Montrose, 12
Craig Anderson, Noble Park, 12
Brett Dore, Noble Park, 12
Rhett Jordon, Norwood, 12
