FMA player of the year - HAL 5

[kevrenor]

Hernandez named Football Media Association A-League Player of the
Year 09/10

Melbourne Victory attacking midfielder Carlos Hernandez has been named the Football Media Association (FMA) of Australia's inaugural A-League player of the Year.

Capping a wonderful season for club and player, Hernandez was voted a runaway winner by the members of the FMA, which comprises a wide cross section of the media throughout the country.  The Costa Rican has had a fabulous season, notching 12 goals - second only to Gold Coast United's Shane Smeltz (19) - and is playing a leading role in Melbourne's charge to this season's A-League grand final.

"We believe that as the A-League has developed so too should a strong and representative association of football media writers, broadcasters and multi-media professionals."  FMA Chairman Steve Dettre said.

"This award is a reflection of a shared view by our members, that skill, flair and goals should always be the focus of the nation's premier football competition."

"We congratulate Carlos and applaud his efforts for the season."

Hernandez's has now claimed two of the biggest individual awards in the local game after he was named Football Federation Australia's A-League Player-of-the-year two weeks ago.  The 27-year-old, who has been capped 30 times (6 goals) for Costa Rica, was a clear winner in the FMA award with 83 points - 23 ahead of Wellington Phoenix striker Paul Ifill, with Smeltz third on 26 points.

This is the first time that the FMA, which was formed in 2008, has initiated an A-League award and we believe it will become an integral part of the A-League landscape.

The top six as voted by FMA members:

83 points Carlos Hernandez (Melbourne Victory)
60 Paul Ifill (Wellington Phoenix)
26 Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast united)
17 Matt Thompson (Newcastle Jets)
15 Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide United)
10 Steve Corica (Sydney FC)

The FMA was founded in 2008 is the national body in Australia that represents all media working in the beautiful game with almost 100 members. The executive committee is Steve Dettre, Ray Gatt, Ezequiel Trumper, Trent Dickeson, Murray Shaw and Michael Cockerill.

For further details contact: *admin@footballmedia.org.au*

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Trent Dickeson (on behalf of the FMA Committee):

Steven Dettre (Chairman), Ray Gatt (Deputy Chairman), Ezequiel Trumper
(Secretary), Trent Dickeson (Hon. Treasurer), Michael Cockerill
(Committee Member) and Murray Shaw (Committee Member)

 

[FFC Mariner]

Obvious choice really.

 

[Jaza_SFC]

Obvious choice really.

Lies. Ifill by a mile.
Without Hernandez, Victory still make the 4.
Without Ifill, Wellington challenge Adelaide at the bottom.
If Ifill played in a better side he'd do unfathomable damage.

 

[midfielder]

Obvious choice really.

Lies. Ifill by a mile.
Without Hernandez, Victory still make the 4.
Without Ifill, Wellington challenge Adelaide at the bottom.
If Ifill played in a better side he'd do unfathomable damage.

Gotta agree

 

[Sym]

I would of voted for travis..

hard to pick out for Hernandez and Ifill though

 

[FFC Mariner]

Obvious in that he plays for either Melb or Sydney. Ifill was never gonna get it.

At least c**tboy didnt win it

And if Fatty wasnt a Tard Jaza?

Travis would have got 1 vote then Sym. Yours lol

 

[marinermick]

i voted in this

hernandez, ifill, colosimo

 

[kevrenor]

i voted in this

hernandez, ifill, colosimo

Me too

3. Paul Ifill (Wellington)
2. Matt Thompson (Newcastle)
1. Carlos Hernandez (Melbourne)

My own organisation's writers voted:
"The BOTN players of the year are:
1st - HERNANDEZ, Carlos (Melbourne)
The other high scorers were:
2nd - IFILL, Paul (Wellington)
3rd - van DIJK, Sergio (Brisbane)
4th - CORICA, Steve (Sydney)
5th - FOWLER, Robbie (Nth Qld)
The other nominees were: Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast), Nick Ward (Melbourne), Craig Moore (Brisbane), Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide), Kevin Muscat (Melbourne), Matt Thompson (Newcastle), Fabio Vignaroli (Newcastle), Jason Culina (Gold Coast), Michael Thwaite (Gold Coast), Archie Thompson (Melbourne), David Williams (Nth Qld), Simon Colosimo (Sydney), Travis Dodd (Adelaide), John McKain (Wellington)
BOTN's HAL football writers were asked to nominate their top 5 players of the season. 19 players have received at least one nomination in the top 5!"

 

[FFC Mariner]

Notes that c**tboy isnt even in the list

HA

 

[Jaza_SFC]

And if Fatty wasnt a Tard Jaza?

Don't get me wrong, I think he's brilliant (and it's he and Ifill by a good margin ahead of Smeltz, Colosimo and co), but I think Ifill was amazing this year. On so many occasions he was the Nix's go to guy, and almost always delivered.

Ifill had Chris Greenacre, Leo Bertos and Tim Brown. Hernandez had Thompson, Kruse, Pondeljak, Ward, and the young kid Dugzandic who I like. So many more options, surrounded by so much more quality. That's not to say he didn't stand out, but it helped his game a lot. Ifill at times looked like the only spark in all of Wellington - and week after week he'd deliver.

I'd f**king kill for Ifill or similar at Sydney next year. Despite losing Colosimo, if we could sign just one player of his quality I'd put my savings on us doing the Premiership double. Look at what Ifill has down to the aforementioend Nix players (who are OK, not great), and imagine what he'd do to better players like we or Melb have.
To me he's the mark of a proper step up in quality in this league. When the cap and the league profile has gone up to the extent that we can have quality CCC players with 3+ yrs left in the game coming here (in the cap, not marquee) instead of taking CCC offers, it says a lot.

I've always written off the theory that "WPFC don't get credit from across the ditch", but the Ifill situation has made me reconsider. Even despite coming 2nd in this and the JW Medal poll, he's barely rated a mention in media circles. That, combined with the English background (which will f**k any good English players in the media for a good many years yet), means he's been criminally underrated IMO.