Lions Reserves Captain Jordan Lisle polled 12 votes to finish eighth in the NEAFL’s most prestigious individual honour, the Grogan Medal, held at the Gabba on Monday night.
Lisle had the honour of being the highest-placed Lions player, which was quite remarkable considering he played just 12 NEAFL matches this season.
The 23-year-old actually led the count after the first six rounds with three best-on-ground performances, before a recall to the senior side in Round 7 saw him subsequently drift down the leaderboard.
He ended up finishing nine votes behind former Lions rookie Haydn Kiel, who was awarded 21 votes for his stellar season with Southport in the midfield.
Kiel was a runaway winner, finishing ahead of NT Thunder star Cameron Ilet (17 votes) and Sharks teammate Jason Burge (16).
Aspley’s Cheynee Stiller, reigning champion Tom Salter from Redland, and Morningside veteran Paul Shelton shared fourth place with 14 votes each, one vote ahead of Broadbeach’s Ryan Pantic (seventh), with Lisle (12 votes), the Cats’ Mitch Brewer (11), and Gold Coast youngster Jack Martin (11) rounding out the top 10.
Patrick Karnezis and Todd Banfield were the next best Lions players with seven votes, while Billy Longer, Callum Bartlett, James Polkinghorne and Josh Green all finished with six.
But it was Lisle who was considered by the NEAFL umpires as the Lions Reserves’ most dominant player this season – despite playing a little more than half a season.
Such was Lisle’s impact up forward, that he ranks equal sixth in terms of total goals this season with 47 from 12 games. His average of just under four goals per game is second only to the NEAFL’s leading goal-kicker Darren Ewing who finished with 94 goals from 19 matches.
Lisle’s best return came in the inaugural ANZAC Day match against Gold Coast in McKay, when he bagged eight goals in a match-winning performance.
Lisle is expected to face Aspley in Sunday’s NEAFL premiership decider now that the senior team’s AFL campaign is officially over.
The full list of Lions vote-getters at the 2013 NEAFL Grogan Medal count is as follows:
Jordan Lisle – 12
Patrick Karnezis – 7
Todd Banfield – 7
Billy Longer – 6
Josh Green – 6
Callum Bartlett – 6
James Polkinghorne – 6
Sam Michael – 5
Jared Polec – 4
Sam Docherty – 4
Richard Newell – 4
Jack Crisp – 4
Andrew Raines – 3
Aaron Cornelius – 3
Rohan Bewick – 3
Ryan Harwood – 2
Nick Hayes – 2
Ashley McGrath – 1
Lisle top Lion at Grogan
Jordan Lisle finished eighth in the 2013 NEAFL Grogan Medal count