MSA AFLW Alumni shine in End of Season Awards

Two former Maribyrnong Sports Academy AFL students have finished on the podium in their club’s Best and Fairest for season 2021.

Monique Conti won her second Best and Fairest award at Richmond after a stella season in the midfield for the Tigers.  Conti averaged over 22 disposals per game this year and received maximum votes from the coaching panel in four of her eight games.

This is Monique’s third best and fairest in four years of AFLW having also won a B and F and Premiership at the Bulldogs in her first season at the top level back in 2018.

First year sensation Ellie McKenzie finished second in the vote count on 15 votes, 1 vote behind Monique and equal with Richmond Captain Katie Brennan.  Ellie was also voted best first year player at the club backing up her AFL Players award for best first year player in the league earlier in the week.

Big weekend for MSA Alumni

Congratulations to former Maribyrnong Sports Academy Athletes Jess Fitzgerald and  Elle McKenzie who made their debut’s in the AFLW over the weekend.  Elle was selected by Richmond with the Number 1 draft back in 2020 and ran onto the Punt Rd Oval as a Richmond player for the first time on Sunday against Brisbane.  Elle had 12 disposals on debut and played alongside fellow Marby Alumni Monique Conti for the Tigers who had a loss to the Lions

 Jess Fitzgerald played for the Bulldogs in their first round loss to the Saints who had Fellow Marby Alumni Georgia Patrikios in their side.  Jess had 10 Disposals, 3 tackles and kicked a point.

Libby Birch played in defence for Melbourne in their 21 point win over the Gold Coast Suns while Aliesha Newman played for Collingwood in the season opener win against Carlton.

Another MSA Alumni Stephanie Banque, a former Golf Student/Athlete at MSA, finished par for the course and 17 shots off the winner in The Players Series tournament played at the Rosebud Country Club. 

Paul Tsapatolis signs with the Geelong Cats

Maribyrnong Sports Academy Basketball student Paul Tsapatolis has signed a Category B contract with AFL club Geelong.

Having last played football for Yarraville Seddon Eagles as a 13 year old in 2015, Paul then concentrated on his basketball skills and captained Vic Metro's underage basketball sides in recent years as well as representing Australia at FIBA Oceania (2019) and Asia (2018) tournaments.

Geelong won the services of the 202cm ruck after interest was also shown by Sydney, North Melbourne and Essendon.  Paul has been working with the Cats in the past year in a series of training sessions in the past 12 months after rediscovering his love for football training with the MSA AFL Program.

MSA AFL High Performance Coach Robbie Chancellor says this is an amazing opportunity for the 18yo Year 12 Student.  “It’s obvious from his achievements that Paul is a talented athlete in another sport (Basketball), but has been able to get himself into a professional football environment.  He is without doubt a great athlete and has given himself a chance of having a crack at Footy.  With a Category B player, the club can take a punt on someone who hasn’t played football for a while and someone who has the attributes to play the game without really knowing if they can at the elite level.  Paul has got himself in the door at Geelong and it is up to him to make sure he makes the most of it now.”

MSA Sports Director Mark McAllion says part of the attraction of a school like MSA is that athlete’s get the chance to see if their skills are transferable to another sport.  “We have had numerous student athlete’s make the transition from one sport to another and Paul is another athlete who has been able to do so.  Monique Conti was in our Basketball Program and made the World Starting 5 at the FIBA U17 Championships before going on to become an AFLW player with the Bulldogs and now Richmond.  Guy Walker was in the high performance pathway for Cricket before being picked up by Melbourne in the AFL while Wilson Berry played VFL football for Essendon and is now a Gridiron College Punter in the States, just to name a few.  Our focus here at MSA is to work with the Athlete and give them the tools to perform at the elite level in their chosen sport.”