By Ewen McRae
Todd Lawrie may have just claimed his second Ron and Thelma Angwin Medal in the past four seasons, but he’d trade them in for a shot at a premiership.
The Tarneit midfielder recently claimed the award for the best and fairest player in the Western Region Football League’s division three, and said he went along to the awards night just hoping to have a good time.
“I thought I had an OK year, but if you go in expecting something great and you don’t win then it’s no good,” he said.
“If you go in just wanting to enjoy the night and you win you feel a bit more grateful I suppose.
“I thought it was probably one of my better years to date. I’m getting a bit old now so I guess the experience is shining through.
“Personally, it was nice to win this award, but as a team I thought we could have done a bit better. We got bundled out in the first final, and I’d rather win a premiership than the individual stuff.”
Lawrie, 29, last won the award in 2016, and this year finished just two votes clear of Albanvale’s Ricky Cameron.
He said the maturity of the younger players around him helped him to maintain a high standard himself, and also improved the team’s performance.
“I think a lot of the kids are now getting to that stage where they can take some of the pressure off me,” Lawrie said.
“I came to the club as a senior figure, but these younger guys are now taking on that responsibility and it’s freed me up a lot.”
While Lawrie missed Tarneit’s final with illness, he said the group had the talent to push for team rewards, but needed to improve their physicality in the big games.
“We were fairly consistent, obviously good enough to get to finals but not good enough to get the main award,” he said.
“We probably need to harden up a bit as a collective. I think when games got a bit physical we were getting found out a bit, so we need to be better in that regard.
“We’ve definitely got the kids with the pace and the skills, we’ve just got to improve in a few areas, and that will come with more experience and another year of footy.”
