End of Season Awards Night – Wrap Up

The LA Dragons finished the season in style with the annual Awards Night at Santa Monica’s Daily Grill on Friday, November 30th. The evening included the AGM as well as a formal awards ceremony for both men’s and women’s sides.

Awards Recap

Lachie “Red” Macpherson took home his first Dragons Best & Fairest award, running over the top of fast starter Julian De Vizio and fast finishing Pat Nicholls (tied runners-up). Other major award went to Nick Shuttleworth (Nationals MVP) while Coach Pat Nicholls was the team’s leading goalkicker. The Americans at the club took home their fair share of honors, too, including Donny Waechter (best first-year player), Rick Shaibani (most improved), Bill McGovern (coaches award) and Will Crandall (most courageous).

As for specific positions, Chris Bagot earned Best Backman, while Freddy Schulin received Best Utility. Aussie vet Paul Jackson earned the coveted Most Consistent award, while the inspirational David Dollar was given the Heart of the Dragon Award. Last (but certainly not least), Dre Jansen was named Wanker of the Year.

The Dragons women also had their own hardware to hand out, as presented by Coach David Morrow. Sara Burns won Rookie of the Year honors, while Delphina Delgadillo received the Coaches Award after taking another big step to lead the Dragons Women backline this past season. Lani Silvio was named Nationals MVP, while Yui Kawakatsu earned her first Best & Fairest Award after an outstanding sophomore season. The Dragons Women are eager to enter 2019 and will be looking to remain one of the best teams in the country.

The final highlight of the night was 4th Inductee into the LA Dragons Hall of Fame. Inaugural Club President Corey Irwin was inducted playing a key role in the establishment of the Dragons in 2010-2014. Corey was also a member of the Division 2 National Championship team in 2014.

The club AGM nominations and positions were as follows:

President	Justin Hall
Vice President	Aileen Yoon
Treasurer & Secretary	Dennis Boyle
Director of Men’s Football	John Fragomeni
Director of Women’s Football	Position Unfilled
Director of Sponsorship	Andrei Jansen
Director of Merchandise	Position Unfilled
Director of Social Events	Srinand Yalamanchili
Director of Facilities & Grounds	Ryan McGettigan
Director of Communications	Lachie Macpherson
Director of Recruitment	Ryan Lorseydi
Director of Operations (Game Day & Equipment)	Adam Gramm

Other “Member at Large” roles include Leilani Silvio (Women’s Football Operations), Trevor Osterholm (Merchandise), Paul Ioakim (New Player Development Committee)

The future is exciting for footy in the City of Angels as the Dragons hope to blaze new trails on and off the field in 2019. After a well-earned break for the holidays, the team will reconvene for regular training in the spring.