Ringin had only three votes after round 6 before he stormed home with a stellar back-end to the season with the all-rounder a key reason for Naps-Sebas losing just one home and away match since December.

Ringin’s medal triumph came off the back of a stunning run of form between round 7 and 11 where the skipper polled three votes in each of his four matches to shoot to the top of the leaderboard and wrap-up the award with a round to spare.

The dominant four-match stretch saw Ringin average 66.3 runs and take 19 wickets at an average of 8.4.

Ringin was honoured to win the medal, on the same night Edward J Cleary was inducted into the Ballarat Cricket Association Hall of Fame, but he could not help but feel a sense of envy towards the grand finalists preparing to play over the next two weekends.

“Every year you’re striving for team success, you’re striving for a spot in the grand final and to hopefully go on and win it,” Ringin said.

“At the start of the year you don’t set out to win individual awards, it’s obviously an honour to do so, but I’d like to give it up to have a shot at the grand final.”

Ringin entered the night knowing he’d had a good season, but was stoked to win by such a margin in what is his biggest individual honour.

“I knew I’d had a good year, I had an inkling that I’d be there and abouts but it’s obviously an honour to win it...individually it’s definitely the biggest thing I’ve achieved in cricket.”

Ringin notched up 326 runs at an average of 40.8 for the season and was also influential with the ball - taking 26 wickets.

The three-way tie for second was made-up of players set to take part in this year’s grand final.

Darley duo Brad Barnes and captain-coach Heath Pritchard enjoyed strong seasons while Red Caps wicketkeeper and dynamic batsmen Heath Pyke also polled nine votes.

Last year’s winner Nathan Yates polled eight votes on the night.