Newly-crowned Central Highlands Football League senior best and fairest David Benson has given no firm commitments on what his playing future holds beyond 2016.
Benson, a thrilling one-vote winner of the Geoff Taylor Medal on Monday night, is deep into his third campaign with the Demons and has been talked about in league circles as a possible departure from the club at season’s end.
The 29-year-old ruckman admits he has been weighing up his options in recent times, but hasn’t declared what he will do next year.
“Last year I had a pretty injury-riddled season with a lot of issues going on, but because we got knocked out just before the final I was pretty bitter about it and I wanted to come back and have one last crack,” Benson told The Courier.
“I think in my head this is kind of going to be my last season – or that was the plan – or I just go back to my old school club and play for the reserves or do something like that. Just take it all a bit easier.
“But obviously this year I’ve felt great all year, haven’t had any real issues apart from the normal stuff – banged up knees and corkees and all that.
“So going into this season, I was probably almost going to give it up or do something else, but my focus has really just been on getting to the grand final and trying to do well there and then I think I’ll assess it all after that.”
On Monday, Benson became the third Bungaree player to win the league’s best and fairest award and first since Scott Crough’s 2001 success.
Benson is pleased he, as a ruckman, got some recognition in an award generally dominated by midfield players.
“I guess I’m probably a bit biased about the position, but I think it can be one of the key benefits getting your first hands on the ball, giving the midfielders that opportunity to go forward,” Benson, who has traveled to Bungaree from Melbourne this season, said.
“I think it can be really beneficial.”
The medal was a fitting reward for the towering tall, who has been a hit since being lured from Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School to the Demons for the 2014 season.
Benson played in a premiership – and won a best on ground medal in the grand final – in that first year with the club and has been integral in its recent successful period.
“Bungaree was just that perfect fit where they really needed a ruckman and they’d gone really close the year before (I arrived). It did seem like it was just that last piece of the pie that would make the team really complete,” Benson said.
