Brown from Hepburn topped the under-18 voting, while Springbank’s Maher won the under-15 award at the CHFL junior best and fairest count at Ballarat and District Trotting Club on Monday night.

Brown’s father Matthew was the 1997 CHFL senior best and fairest, while Maher’s older brother Joel is a past CHFL.under-18 best and fairest.

Brown led the under-18 poll with 35 votes.

Khyal Thompson from Clunes and Daylesford’s Cameron Ralph were joint runners-up on 29.

For Brown, the best and fairest is an early birthday present. He turns 17 on Wednesday.

Brown excelled as a midfielder this year – also winning the CHFL under-18 goalkicking award.

Brown, who started his football with Sebastopol, is in his third year with Hepburn and second year in the under-18s. He also represented the CHFL at under-17.5 level this year.

He put his big year down to a strong pre-season with the North Ballarat Rebels program and natural development in being a year older and as a second-year player in the age group.

Maher, 15, polled 40 votes in a tight under-15 count. 

He was just two clear of Hepburn’s Ned Johns as five players received more than 30 votes in the 17-round season.

Maher said he had been playing with Springbank, where he was one of six brothers who pull on the boots each week, since he was eight years of age and running round in the under-12s.

Maher, who also played five under-18 games for the Tigers this season, said he had always wanted to play with Springbank.

He said an ambition was to one day play in a Springbank senior premiership team.

 LEADER BOARDS:

UNDER-18: Jacob Brown (Hepburn) 35, Khyal Thompson (Clunes) 29, Cameron Ralph (Daylesford) 29, Billy Marshman (Creswick) 28, Brett Maher (Springbank) 23, Justin Dummett (Newlyn) 21, Mitchell Hodge (Creswick) 20, Ben Robertson (Buninyong) 19, Stuart Aberdein (Hepburn) 19

UNDER-15: Kieran Maher (Springbank) 40, Ned Johns (Hepburn) 38, Bradley Castleman (Creswick) 35, Timothy Collins (Dunnstown) 32, Cody Lowe (Learmonth) 32, Brodie Lewis (Carngham-Linton) 28, Jordan Botheras (Ballan) 27, Dean O'Brien (Carngham-Linton) 27, Izaac Grant (Hepburn) 27, Liam Phillips (Skipton) 26, Mitchell Emmlin (Buninyong) 25, Samuel Cashin (Waubra) 23, Hunter Donald (Buninyong) 22

Voting round-by-round and club-by club, pages 27 and 28