NEWLYN'S Nathan Blomeley ended a memorable football year last night when he was named the Central Highlands Football League Rookie of the Year.
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Blomeley was presented with the award at the monthly meeting of the Sportsmen's Association of Australia Ballarat Branch.
Blomeley played in last year's Newlyn under 17.5 side that was defeated in the grand final and this year immediately made the step up to senior football with apparent ease, winning the player of the pre-season night competition.
He also played for Victorian Country at the Australian Country Football Championships and was named in his side's top three players.
Blomeley was modest when asked about his future aspirations in football and said that he didn't have high hopes of playing AFL football.
He said he gained valuable experience at the Australian championships.
"Playing with a lot of different players, I learnt a lot," he said.
CHFL president Reg Haintz said the SAA evening was one of the highlights of the year for the league.
"This year I think the rookies have shown outstanding skills and it was not an easy task picking a winner from a very talented group of footballers," Mr Haintz said.
Blomeley was awarded a $200 gift voucher from Sportzbiz.
CHFL clubs nominated one player each for the rookie of the year award and other nominees were: Justin Fenwick (Ballan), Chris Drew (Beaufort), Mick Kersley (Gordon), Gary Byers (Hepburn), Michael McKinnon (Learmonth), Clint McLean (Bungaree), Billy Innes (Buninyong), James Featherston (Clunes), Kai McPhee (Creswick), Paul Phillips (Dunnstown), Simon Quinlan (Springbank) and Brad Molloy (Waubra).
The SAA Ballarat Branch also donated a sports wheelchair in the memory of Frank Dwyer, who died this year, to Wheelchair Sports Ballarat which will allow it to field a basketball team next season.
Amputee swimmer Hannah Macdougall was presented with the David Stevens Wheelchair Sports award for her efforts in swimming and guest speaker Max Kelleher spoke about the difficulties he faced as Chief Executive Officer of the Fitzroy Football Club.
