Josh Dunkley was on Wednesday night crowned the Charles Sutton Medallist as the Western Bulldogs’ best and fairest for 2022.
The midfielder polled 231 votes to beat fellow mid Tom Liberatore (211), with key forward Aaron Naughton (180) third, captain Marcus Bontempelli (174) fourth and the prolific Jack Macrae (170) rounding out the top five.
Coach Luke Beveridge spoke of Dunkley, who has requested a trade to the Brisbane Lions, at the club’s awards night.
He called for the Lions to “pony up” for the 25-year-old.
“Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way, I said to Josh many weeks ago that whatever happens, whatever your decision may be, you’ve got to see it through with us,” Beveridge said, regarding Dunkley’s attendance on the night.
“Because you’ve invested too much here and we’ve invested too much in you for this to end badly. He agreed that it was important for him. I don’t know whether he made his decision at the time.
“We’ve had a couple of conversations since and the most deflating one one was when he called me to let me know what the decision was. Again we had that chat and I reminded him of his conviction and he promised me he’d be here.
“It’s a real shame. I describe Josh as the glue in our team. He does all the hard team things unconditionally and we’re going to need more of that from his former teammates next year.
“He’s a real diamond that we discovered and pinched from under Sydney’s nose all those years ago.
“It’s difficult to come up and match market value when you’ve got to spread the financial load across your whole group. That’s part of it, but Josh has also made a life decision on where he sees his future and where he’s going to live and what it means to him at this point in time. And we respect that.
“The obvious thing is that the Lions are going to have to pony up. Sammy (Power) is going to go to work on that over the next week or two.
“He’s still with us until Brisbane gets there.”
Dunkley, who is a 2016 premiership player, played 116 games for the Dogs over seven seasons.
Other award winners on the night included Sam Darcy as the Best First Year Player, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan for the Coaches’ Award, Ed Richards as the Most Improved Player, Ryan Gardner as the Best Team Player, Cody Weightman as Most Courageous, Bontempelli as Best Finals Player and Lachie Sullivan who won the VFL Best and Fairest.
Charles Sutton Medal Top 10 for 2022
- Josh Dunkley - 231 votes
- Tom Liberatore - 211
- Aaron Naughton - 180
- Marcus Bontempelli - 174
- Jackson Macrae – 170
- Caleb Daniel – 158
- Ryan Gardner – 151
- Adam Treloar – 150
- Bailey Dale – 146
- Ed Richards – 144