Football Victoria (FV) crowned its first joint winners of the NPLM Gold Medal for 18 years on Monday, September 5 with Heidelberg’s Kaine Sheppard and Oakleigh’s Joseph Knowles both finishing on 24 votes at the conclusion of the vote count.
The NPLM Gold Medal was first introduced in 1971 with the match officials voting on each home and away match to decide the best player in the Victorian State League
The crowd in attendance was given updates on the leader board after 10 rounds, 23 rounds, and then then the tension in the room continued to build as the contenders for the award emerged as the final three rounds were revealed before the winners were announced.
Oakleigh’s Joseph Knowles looked ominous early in the count, sitting third after 10 rounds, and then from round 23 onwards, the midfielder was able to hold on after a strong start.
The Cannon's star said being voted the league's best player was "massive" for him, although he was more thrilled with his team's efforts this season.
"It is nice to be rewarded for putting in the hard work over the last year and the last three or four years as well," he said.
"It wouldn't be possible without my teammates, we have had a really strong team this year, everyone pushed each other. It has been a really rewarding year and hopefully, we can go one more."
On the back of a monumental quarter-final Australia Cup victory over Sydney FC, Knowles was hoping his side would be able to ride the momentum and claim the NPLM Final on Sunday, September 11.
“The confidence is very high at the moment, we have been playing that many games,” he claimed.
“We have got our backs up against the wall, but we have held strong.
“We have got a lot of injuries but we have got a lot of players back now and we are looking to finish the season off strong.”
Heidelberg’s Kaine Sheppard finished the season with a wet sail, coming from ninth place after 10 rounds and three votes down with three rounds to go to ensure the NPLM Gold Medal was split between two players for the fifth time.
The Heidelberg forward said he was "very happy and delighted" to claim the accolade.
"This is something I have never won before, despite being a part of these events in the past," he said.
"I wasn't expecting it, congratulations to Joe it is a fantastic achievement for the both of us."
Despite falling agonisingly short of the NPLM decider, Sheppard, who scored 15 goals for the season was proud of his team’s resilience to bounce back after a shaky start to the season.
“The season started pretty rocky for us, we were at the bottom of the table for a few weeks, which wasn’t nice,” he recalled.
“For me personally it was nice to score goals and play games and help the team win.
“We managed to scrape into finals and unfortunately it just didn’t go to plan.”
On behalf of the Victorian football community, Football Victoria congratulates Kaine and Joe on their stellar 2022 campaigns.