Thursday, 8 September 2011 8:48 PM
The 2011 South Melbourne FC Most Valuable Player (MVP) night was held on Tuesday night at Honey Bar in Clarendon Street, South Melbourne. As usual, the event was a success and culminated in Jesse Krncevic and Steven Topalovic being jointly awarded the Theo Marmaras Medal and accepting their medals from President Leo Athanasakis. They join Dean Anastasiadis (2005), Fernando De Moraes (2006 & 2010), Ricky Diaco (2007), Steven O’Dor (2008) and Sebastian Petrovic (2009) as winners of this prestigious award. The MVP was voted on by the coaching staff in 2011.
Topalovic featured in 23 of South’s 26 Premier League matches in 2011 and also played in all of South’s Mirabella Cup and Singapore Cup matches, finishing only behind Kyle Joryeff for most games played in all competitions. ‘Topa’ was constantly a feature in Eddie Krncevic’s side and enjoyed a solid season that unfortunately ended in a serious injury in the Elimination Final against Heidelberg. He was surprised to be awarded the Theo Marmaras Medal and commented that “although it was difficult being played out of position at times this season, I did what the coach wanted me to do and I’m glad the boys rallied to make the finals.”
Krncevic played in 19 Premier League matches in 2011 and scored 11 goals in the process. As well as the Theo Marmaras Medal, he also won the 2011 Golden Boot award that was presented to him by 2010 winner Fernando De Moraes. It was no coincidence that the side struggled when Krncevic was suspended throughout the season. He scored four goals in the last three matches of the home & away season, including a brilliant double against Northcote City in the last round, as South gained the results necessary to qualify for the finals series. Krncevic then scored the decisive penalty in the Elimination Final against Heidelberg that ultimately won the match and sent the club through to the Semi Final against Oakleigh. He was quite humble in reflection, mentioning that “the boys are a tight group and we stuck together when the times were tough and we managed to make the finals as a result. Let’s hope for an even bigger season in 2012.”
There were other awards on the evening, with Senior captain Steven O’Dor presenting each member of the Under 21 Championship team with a medal for their outstanding 2011 season as they made it back-to-back titles. Under 21s coach Gus Caminos and Team Manager Haido Smyrnios also received medals for their enormous efforts throughout the season, as Gus spoke about how proud he was of his team for having such a successful 2011. The Under-21s MVP award quite ironically also featured a tied result, as Matko Budimir and Christian Skok were awarded the medal. Both boys mentioned that the people they wanted to thank the most were their team mates for the outstanding season.
To conclude the evening, a new award was presented. This award was the SMFC Media award, voted on by George Kouroumalis (website), Michael Dimoudis (website), Paul Zarogiannis (SMFC TV Producer), David Henning (SMFC TV host), John Kyrou (SMFC TV Co-Host) and Cindy Nitsos (photographer). The award was voted on a 3-2-1 basis and Carl Recchia was the winner ahead of Jesse Krncevic and Zaim Zeneli. In his speech, Recchia said he was proud of the way the players fought to make it as far as the semi finals and despite being disappointed not to make the Grand Final, he was confident that the club would get there in 2012.
South Melbourne FC wishes to congratulate all winners in what was a fantastic evening.
Theo Marmaras Medal (top vote-getters) 17 – Jesse Krncevic, Steven Topalovic 14 – Daniel Vasilevski, Carl Recchia 10 – Kliment Taseski
Golden Boot Winner Jesse Krncevic – 11 goals
SMFC Media Award (top vote-getters) 14 – Carl Recchia 11 – Jesse Krncevic 10 – Zaim Zeneli
Under 21’s Most Valuable Players Matko Budimir, Christian Skok
