Lachlan Cassidy was watching the Henderson Medal count in lockdown with his housemates when the occasion started to rise.
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Six rounds in, and the Sebastopol onballer was in the lead.
A quiet patch followed, and competitors stood up.
Two rounds to go, Cassidy had company - five players shared the lead.
Two votes followed in a loss to the Ballarat.
One final round and Cassidy was a vote clear until Melton livewire Jack Walker was named best-on-ground in his side's last game and took the lead.
There was one game left in the count, Sebastopol v Melton South.
The rest is history - three votes entrenched Cassidy in the record books as Sebastopol's first-ever outright Henderson medal winner.
"I don't really know how to feel. It's a bit of a blur, really," Cassidy told The Courier.
"Because it was an online event it didn't really feel proper, just sitting there at home with a couple of mates.
"The boys were there trying to stir me up (with two rounds to go). I was just trying to sit back, relax and watch it pan out."
Cassidy became the third player in Sebastopol's history to win a league best-and-fairest.
Glen Wilkins, who shared the honour with Daylesford's Tim Beacham in 1996, and Terry Howard, who tied with Beaufort's Alan Lynch in 1979, are the club's only other Henderson Medallists.
Cassidy polled in six out of 10 games, including four best-on-ground performances in wins against East Point, Lake Wendouree, Darley and Melton South.
The Burra's history-maker admits it was a tough season with all the COVID disruptions.
"I probably had a more consistent year in 2019. There was probably a three or four game patch where I was a bit quiet, but the rest of the games weren't too bad," Cassidy said.
"(The season was hard) with stopping and starting all the time. I think at one stage, we played two games in eight weeks or whatever it was.
"It was hard to get any consistency as a team as well. We couldn't get any momentum going."
"When we were finally starting to hit our straps later in the year, that's when COVID happened.
"It's a bit annoying, but you can't do much about it."
Cassidy's best performances came in the latter half of the season when his side needed them most.
Sebastopol was languishing on the edge of finals contention, nearly 10 first-grade players were sidelined, including captain Tony Lockyer, and the Burra required a talisman.
Cassidy polled five of a possible six votes in the final two rounds to help Sebastopol go from seventh to fourth and qualify for finals for just the second time since 2001.
"I felt I had to step up a little bit towards the end of the year, especially when Tony didn't play," Cassidy said.
"I was captain those final three rounds, and I feel like you've got to lead by example. You really want to play well when you're captain. You don't want to let the team down."
The state's latest outbreak put Cassidy and the Burra's premiership dreams on hold, but the Henderson Medallist believed a solid foundation had been set for next year.
"It was probably a good thing that they finally called the season. I don't think anyone really wanted to have mixed-up finals series," Cassidy said.
"It wouldn't have been a real premiership.
"Six teams missed out on playing finals, too, so you can't really say that you've been hard done by. Everyone has been dealt the same card.
"I think everyone has signed on for next year, and everyone's pretty committed to try and win a premiership.
"At the end of the day, that's what you want to do - it's a team sport.
"Hopefully, we can do that next year."
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