A frustrating end to Kyabram’s 2024 Goulburn Valley League season for a 200-game rover was a distant memory on Saturday evening after he collected a third club best and fairest title in an exciting vote count at the Bombers’ presentation evening.
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Liam Ogden, who notched his 200th senior game with the club last season after returning from a four year stint with Essendon and district league club Pascoe Vale, won the club champion title by three votes from fast finishing Queensland ruck recruit Marcus Khoo.
Thirty two-year-old Ogden is a triple premiership player (2013, 2016-17), won his first best and fairest as a 22-year-old in 2014, his second in the losing grand final season of 2018 and was the only player to feature in all of the Bombers’ 62-game winning streak that started in 2016 and ended in the 2018 grand final.
Ogden now joins long time teammate Jason Morgan (2011-12-15) as a three time best and fairest winner, an elite club that also includes Chris Atkins and Laurie Casey.
Not that it is a major consideration, but any sort of tilt at a record breaking fourth best and fairest will have to wait until beyond season 2025.
Ogden will be spending the first half of the season travelling in Europe, but said he expected to be “itching to get back” by mid-season.
“We have such a young list, the future is very exciting and through natural development and some recruits to top up our list I believe we will be going very deep into finals next year,” he said.
“I am genuinely looking forward to seeing what we can do next year.”
While Ogden has won four senior club best and fairest awards, the other with with Pascoe Vale, he has also finished second on three occasions in the Kyabram count.
He led the count with 195 votes (by 57) after 12 rounds, but apart from his 38-disposal, 11-clearance, 20-vote game in round 16 did not feature in the final two months of the count. He also sat out the elimination final after injuring his ankle at the start of the third quarter against Shepparton in the final home and away round.
Ogden had collected 15 disposals in the first half of that game, but had just one touch after the long break and sat out the game on the sidelines.
Co-coach Kaine Hebert also had a great start to the season and, after a dozen games, was second in the count behind Ogden and marginally ahead of Anthony Depasquale. At this point Khoo had polled just 69 of his eventual 212 votes.
Khoo was 126 votes behind Ogden after 12 rounds, but polled 23 votes in round 13 when he had 22 disposals, 32 hit outs and 12 clearances (including five centre clearances). He then polled 24, 26, 27, 29 and 14 votes in the last five games, the last of those for his performance opposite the league’s best and fairest winner, Ash Holland, in the final game against Shepparton.
With only the elimination final to be counted, and Khoo on a charge at his rover teammate, he failed to register a vote in the final despite being the second highest ranked player on the ground in that game. He had 17 disposals, 41 hit outs (11 to advantage), seven clearance, five tackles, four inside 50s and a goal in the game against Mooroopna.
Ironically the man who Khoo replaced this season, Zac Norris, won last year’s best and fairest award. Norris spent the season on the sidelines with a shoulder injury.
This year was Ogden’s 12th with the Bombers, having debuted as a 16-year-old in 2008 and been a part of five Kyabram grand final teams.
His consistency has been a feature of his career, a seven-season stretch from 2012-2018 seeing him feature in 143 games and kick 115 goals. That was after a 2010 season where he split his time between the Murray Bushrangers and the Bombers senior team.
Ogden started this year with a 29-disposal, 10-inside 50 game against Mooroopna and had 25 disposals or more in every game up until his back to back lowest returns of the season in rounds 14 (20 disposals against Mansfield) and 15 (19 disposals against United).
He finished 10th for total disposals in the league (475, behind competition leader Adam De Cicco’s 604), was ninth for kicks and centre clearances and also a top 10 player for inside 50s.
In a three-week stretch from rounds six to eight he had 103 disposals, 19 inside 50s and 22 clearances.
His major goal, however, (one which took him until this year to achieve) was playing with his brother again.
The brothers hadn’t played together since Eamonn Ogden was an 18-year-old playing with the Bendigo Pioneers. Eamonn has missed a lot of football due to a pair of ACL injuries and they never played together at Pascoe Vale.
As for one of his major sources of supply, ruckmen, he had this to say.
“I’ve been very lucky. Reeves could take control of the game with his strength and would win a lot of clearances himself,” Ogden said.
“I probably had the best connection with Norris, we linked together really well. For his age Khoo is already a great ruckman - mobile, has great tap work and he created some great clearance opportunities this season.”
He was also complimentary of the players he worked alongside for most of the year in the centre, Josh Dillon, Bailey Tome and Jackson Griffiths.
“They are all great players, Tome is very hard nosed and is what we have really needed the past few years. Every club needs a Josh Dillon, he just crashes in and does some extra grunt work wherever needed,” Ogden said.
“Griffiths is that special type of player that can provide value both inside and outside of the stoppage.”
Ogden’s 215 vote season was almost a carbon copy of his 2014 return. He won the best and fairest that season with 214 votes and it was another ruckman, Jake Reeves, who was runner-up (on 205 votes).
Aidan Robinson, who captained the team for much of the season with Jason Morgan’s frustrating run of injuries, finished third in the count with 206 votes. He accumulated most of those in the first 12 rounds, but polled 35 votes in rounds 14 and 16.
Anthony Depasquale finished fourth on 194 votes, due recognition for his 72-goal season, while Brad Whitford (183), co-coach Kaine Herbert (153), Jackson Griffiths (128), Josh Dillon and Bailey Tome (both 124 votes) finished behind the leading pack.
Griffiths had a great finish to the season, polling almost 50 votes in the final four games of the season.
Another of the Bombers star Mt Gravatt recruits, Bailey Tome, polled 25 votes behind Robinson (27) and Jason Morgan (26) in the elimination final.
Full voting details were: 215 Liam Ogden, 212 Khoo, 206 Robinson, 194 Depasquale, 183 Whitford, 153 Herbert, 128 Griffiths, 124 Dillon, 124 Tome, 113 Morgan, 81 Vick, 62 Torney, 62 Learmonth, 55 Dodos, 47 Parkinson, 44 Jephson, 42 Tom Burnett, 35 Watt, 34 Barnett, 30 Smith, 27 Eamonn Ogden, 24 Golds, 22 Williams, 20 Ironside, 17 Mangan.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor