AARON BLACK CLAIMS WEST PERTH'S FIRST SANDOVER MEDAL IN 21 YEARS

WEST Perth has its first Sandover Medal winner since 1993 with 21-year-old premiership star and rising midfielder Aaron Black taking out WA football's most prestigious individual award on Monday night.

And not only did Black end West Perth's drought of not having a winner of the WAFL's fairest and best player since 1993, but he very nearly shared the award with his premiership teammate and old school friend Shane Nelson who only finished one vote back.

Black finished the Sandover Medal vote count on 47 votes to be one ahead of Nelson who polled 46 votes.

Claremont's Luke Blackwell also finished on 46 votes with Subiaco's Kyal Horsley ending up on 45, East Fremantle's Bradd Dalziell 43, East Perth's Craig Wulff 35, Claremont's Ryan Neates 34, Swan Districts' Ryan Davis 33 and last year's winner Rory O'Brien 31.

It was a remarkable finish to the Sandover Medal count with Black having 32 votes up until the end of Round 19 with Nelson ahead of him on 35, Horsley on 37, Blackwell on 39 and Dalziell on 40.

Black picked up three votes in Round 20 and four in Round 21 but still had Nelson one ahead of him on 40, along with Dalziell while pre-count favourite Blackwell was four clear on 44.

Black then picked up another five votes in Round 22 for his 36 possessions against Claremont with Nelson polling one to mean that Black had 44 votes, Nelson 40 while Dalziell was still on 40.

Blackwell was still leading, though, on 46 votes heading into the final round but he failed to poll a vote in Claremont's win over West Perth while Black received three for his 39 disposals against Perth and that was enough to get him to 47 votes and to win the Sandover Medal.

Nelson racked up 52 possessions against the Demons and deservedly got the five votes to end up equal with Blackwell on 46 votes.

By winning the Sandover Medal, Black becomes the first player to do so from West Perth since Neil Mildenhall in 1993 who made it back-to-back wins for the Falcons after Robbie West took out a Sandover Medal in 1992 as well.

At just 21 years of age, the Sandover Medal continues Black's incredible journey as one of the brightest stars in the league and somebody who certainly deserves a chance to be looked at closely by AFL clubs.

Despite not turning 22 until Christmas Day this year, he has now already played 85 matches for West Perth since making his league debut in 2010.

He had a superb 2013 season playing State football and being a key contributor in West Perth's premiership, but he took his game to another level again in 2014 averaging 30.3 disposals a game and never having a game few than his 22 touches in Round 18.

His hard-running saw him endlessly find space throughout the year with him taking an impressive 143 marks while his skill level also took another step forward throughout 2014.

Not only did Black take out the Sandover Medal on Monday night at the Grand Ball Room at Crown Perth, but for the second straight year a West Perth player won the Prendergast Medal as the fairest and best player in the reserves.

Aidan Lynch had an outstanding season in the reserves for the Falcons with the 19-year-old midfielder a major factor in West Perth getting back to a second straight reserves grand final this Sunday against Subiaco. He also made his senior debut with the Falcons in the Foxtel Cup.

THE TOP VOTE WINNERS
Aaron Black (West Perth) – 47 votes
Luke Blackwell (Claremont) – 46
Shane Nelson (West Perth) – 46
Kyal Horsley (Subiaco) – 45
Bradd Dalziell (East Fremantle) – 43
Craig Wulff (East Perth) – 35
Ryan Neates (Claremont) – 34
Steven Payne (East Perth) – 34
Ryan Davis (Swan Districts) – 33
Rory O'Brien (East Fremantle) – 31
Ashton Hams (South Fremantle) – 30*
Haiden Schloithe (South Fremantle) – 29
George Hampson (Subiaco) – 29
Tim Kelly (South Fremantle) – 28
Brendan Lee (East Perth) – 25
Callum Sinclair (East Perth) – 24
Aaron Elari (Swan Districts) – 21
Ryan Cook (South Fremantle) – 20
Rohan Kerr (West Perth) - 20

WEST PERTH'S VOTE WINNERS
Aaron Black – 47
Shane Nelson – 46
Rohan Kerr – 20
Anthony Tsalikis – 12
Marcus Adams – 5
Jay van Berlo – 5
Matthew Johnson – 4
Chris Keunen – 4
Laine Rasmussen – 4
Luke Tedesco – 4
Nick Rodda – 3
Andrew Strijk – 2
Kris Shannon – 2
Dan Hunt – 1