Hamish Angus with Ken Catchpole after receiving his award. Photos: www.seiserphotography.com

by Brendan Bradford –

Warringah captain Hamish Angus has been voted Shute Shield player of the year for the 2012 season, with Southern Districts’ lock Jed Holloway taking out the Shute Shield Rookie of the Year award and his club coach, Cameron Blades, receiving the David Brockhoff Medal for Coach of the Year.

Rats’ fly half Angus was awarded with rugby’s top individual prize, the Ken Catchpole Medal, at the Sydney Rugby Union Awards lunch held on Friday at the Manly Pacific Novotel.

Cameron Blades: Coach of the Year.

Having scored eight tries and kicked 31 goals and 29 penalties for his team, he also picked up the Roscoe Fay Trophy for the Shute Shield’s highest points scorer with 189 points over the regular season.

The 22 year old former Australian Sevens representative became the 31st player to claim the title since the award’s inception in 1981.

St. George legend Peter Lucas won the award in 1983 and was part of a three-way tie with teammate David Niu and Eastwood’s Sione Tahaafe in 1986; Mark Catchpole won the award for two different clubs in 1994 (Warringah) and 1998 (Sydney University); and Eastwood’s Scott Fava was victorious in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Despite placing just 14th overall after the first six rounds, Angus was joint top after round 11, earning points in all but one of the intervening matches, including a maximum three in the round nine clash against Souths to sit equal with West Harbour fullback Shaun Treweek on 12.

Shute Shield Rookie of the Year: Jed Holloway.

Further maximum points efforts in round 13 against Gordon and the final regular season match, where he scored a try in the 46-7 win over Penrith, took his final points haul to 18, edging him ahead of Parramatta pair Iese Leota (17) and Andrew Cox (15), who finished second and third respectively, and early contender Treweek whose 14 points saw him finish fourth overall.

Voting for the Ken Catchpole medal was conducted over all 16 rounds of the regular season by the referees on a 3-2-1 basis for the players who most impressed them in each match, giving a maximum possible individual total of 48.

Angus polled points in eight out of a possible 16 matches, an achievement matched only by second-placed Leota. Seven of the 12 Shute Shield clubs were represented by the top 12 players.

Also recognised at the annual Ken Catchpole Awards Lunch were referee James Leckie, who picked up the Dick Byres Medal for Shute Shield Referee of the Year, and Eastern Suburbs’ lock Phil Mathers, who was voted Sydney Rugby Union Representative Player of the Year for his efforts in leading Sydney to victory in the annual fixture against the GrainCorp NSW Country Gold Cockatoos.

For the second year running, Sydney University was presented with the Gregor George Trophy for the 2012 Club Championship and the Eric Spilsted Shield for the Colts Club Championship; and Josh Steward from Tamworth Pirates was recognised as the NSW Country Player of the Year with the Will Tanner Award.

2012 Sydney Rugby Union Awards

KEN CATCHPOLE MEDAL

Shute Shield Player of the Year

18 Hamish Angus (Warringah)

17 Iese Leota (Parramatta)

15 Andrew Cox (Parramatta)

14 Shaun Treweek (West Harbour)

12 Hugh Perrett (Eastwood)

11 Sione Tau (West Harbour)

10 Trent Dyer (Sydney University)

10 Richard Hooper (Manly)

10 Miles McCaffrey (Eastwood)

9 Ben Batger (Eastwood)

9 Matthew Swann (Southern Districts)

Shute Shield Rookie of the Year

Jed Holloway (Southern Districts)

DAVID BROCKHOFF MEDAL

Shute Shield Coach of the Year

Cameron Blades (Southern Districts)

Hamish Angus was also season’s top point scorer.

DICK BYRES MEDAL

Shute Shield Referee of the Year

James Leckie

Sydney Rugby Union Representative Player of the Year

Phil Mathers (Eastern Suburbs)

ROSCOE FAY TROPHY

Shute Shield Highest Points Scorer

Hamish Angus (Warringah)