By Hayley Hinze
After a successful season in the green, NEAFL Field umpire Samuel Whetton has received the 2019 Golden Whistle Award as well as a spot on the Senior QAFL Grand Final Panel, at this year’s Grand Final Recognition Awards.
2019 saw Whetton make his debut in the NEAFL, where he was able to develop his skills and gain invaluable experience across the nine games he officiated, while remaining a consistent member of Queensland’s High Performance Group.
The young umpire says the NEAFL experience was a learning curve.
“It was a little bit of a rocky start to begin with, but after getting a bit more experience it really helped my match management and building relationships with players throughout the year,” Whetton told aflq.com.au.
“Then going back into QAFL Senior footy and emulating what I was doing in the NEAFL footy.”
Being appointed in the QAFL Grand Final Panel is another massive achievement for Whetton and he values the effort and support of the umpires he’s worked with along the way.
“It’s really the whole group that comes together and works hard and they certainly push me along to achieve my best throughout the year,” he said.
Nine umpires have been appointed alongside Whetton to umpire the QAFL Seniors Grand Final this Saturday at Metricon Stadium.
Oliver Pye and Sam Ward will join Sam as field umpires, while Ryan Hickey, Nick Mabb, Matt Oliver, Zac Mabb, Tom Sullivan, Kane Miller and Cameron Manthey will form the rest of the panel.
Meanwhile Queenslanders Andrew Adair, Ty Duncan, Joe Spiteri, Jesse Baird, Matt Bridges and James Strybos have been selected for the NEAFL Grand Final.
The QAFL Reserves will be officiated by Luca Bisogni, Jackson Burnie, Jonathan Angus, Garry Dunne, Andrew Jarrett, Delsen Jones, Matthew Atkins, Phil Wilson and Jake Webb.
Selected for the QAFL Colts Grand Final are Jacob Farrell, Henry Harris, Cooper Beaton, Josh Doherty, Joanna Page, Timothy Parsons and Jake Edgar.
Award Winners from the AFL Queensland Grad Final Recognition Award
Coaching Award: Darryll Lyndon-Floate
Coaching Award: Garry Downes
NEAFL Umpires of the Year: Andrew Adair (field umpire), Ty Duncan (boundary umpire) and Jesse Baird (goal umpire).
Best First Year Umpires: Toby Allsop and Barry Morssinkhof (field umpires), Camilo Arango, Trinity Philipson and Nick Williams (boundary umpires), Juliana Magalhaes, Lucas Rielly and Hudson Tolley (goal umpires).
Most Promising Community Field Umpire: Jackson Simpson
Most Promising NEAFL/QAFL Boundary Umpire: Ryan Hickey
Most Promising Community Boundary Umpire: Jack McGill
Most Promising NEAFL/QAFL Goal Umpire: Tom Sullivan
Most Promising Community Goal Umpire: Timothy Parsons
Martin Hopp Academy Umpire of the Year: Mason Wilson
S.G. Doran Most Dedicated Umpire: Jeff Thomson
AFL Queensland Community Umpire of the Year: Lucas Maher
AFL Queensland Community Golden Whistle: Oskar Holmes
AFL Queensland Appointments Board Umpire of the Year: Peter Bock
AFL Queensland High Performance Golden Whistle: Sam Whetton
