By Ewen McRae
Newly crowned Western Region Football League division 2 best and fairest Nathan Montague is hoping for some team success in coming seasons.
After several top five finishes in recent years for the Manor Lakes midfielder, the best-and-fairest win came as no surprise to those at the awards night, but the man himself was shocked.
“It was a good night in the end for me, but it was an unexpected win as far as I was concerned,” Montague said.
“I knew I’d had a good year, but so had plenty of other blokes, so to get to the end and win it was a bit of a shock.”
Montague was the runaway winner in the end, polling 21 votes to be eight votes clear of Reece Duffield (North Footscray) and Brandon Lester (Yarraville-Seddon).
He said a revamped training program in the pre-season helped him reach new heights, and allowed him to play some new roles.
“I tried to get fitter so I could run out games better,” he said. “In previous years I’ve run out of steam, so just changed a few things in the off season to build my engine up and it seems to have worked.
“I’ve definitely felt better towards the end of each quarter and it’s also allowed me to spend a bit more time up forward and kick a few more goals.”
Manor Lakes finished fifth on the ladder, but Montague hopes that some key returning personnel and a new coach will lift the side to finals in 2019.
“We had high hopes at the start of the season, but were a bit up and down after a few injuries,” he said. “Hopefully we can turn that around.
“We’ve got Dion Lawson in … he’s a quality coach and player, so hopefully that will help us recruit a few players, keep everyone on the park next year and we should go all right.”
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