The Cobar Camels Rugby Club marked the end of another season on Saturday night with their 2017 awards dinner.
While all agreed it hadn’t been one of the club’s better years, there had however been a number of achievements over the year that had been worth celebrating.
Camels’ 2017 coach Sheldon Wilson said he was disappointed the season had not gone as he had planned.
“I saw something in this group of players and I wanted to get on board their coat tails and ride it to success,” he said.
“We had a goal at the start of the season to make top four.
“But we had a poor season, results wise, and we don’t make any excuses for that,” he said.
Wilson said the team had a lot of talented players but they needed to show more commitment and to develop their leaders.
He asked the players to put their faith in the committee to choose the best coach next season and let the committee make decisions. He also asked them to get in and support the club and help out where they can.
At Saturday’s awards, the club acknowledged two Camels players who were this year selected to represent the region at Country Week, Tristan Schneider (Senior Representative) and Wiaan Oosthuizen (Junior Representative).
This season’s Best and Fairest honour was shared between two players, Tom Wall and Jayden Martin.
Mark Aumua was named the Camels 2017 Players’ Player; Oosthuizen collected the Best Back trophy while Dayne Viant was named the team’s Best Forward.
Travis Schintler received the Most Consistent award; Kody Martin was named Rookie of the Year and Dan Bower was the Most Improved Player over the season; Josh Bain collected the Coach’s Award for his dedication throughout the season. (Bain was the only player who attended every training session this year).
The Camels strapper, Fiona Weaver, was acknowledged for her contributions this season with the Team Support Award.
Drew Weaver was also acknowledged for his input to the club and teams, in particular organising the Second Grade side this season.
His efforts were recognised with the Most Contribution to the Team award.
Playing in only his second year of rugby and carrying an injury for most of the season, Jake Harbison was awarded the club’s Bravery Award.
Referee John Barnes was acknowledged with a Zone Medal for his contributions over the past season.
Jake Harbison was presented with the ‘Mr Rugby’ award which recognises a player who goes above and beyond for his team and the club, both on and off the field.
Dale McLeod won the 2017 Clubman award.
It’s the second year in a row McLeod has received this honour and he was humble in his acceptance speech and said there were others more deserving than him.
