AWARDS and end-of-year fun filled the Myall River Hawks JRLC annual Awards Presentation, held at Myall Park on Saturday, 4 November.

“We were worried we’d have to postpone for the big storm, but thankfully the skies cleared,” Hawks’ social media guru Leah Saunders told NOTA.

As players and their families arrived from all around the Myall Coast area, including Tea Gardens, Hawks Nest, Karuah and Bulahdelah, the skies cleared up for an afternoon of presentations and the wet’n’wild kids’ activities, all playing out at the new Sports Complex on the beautiful Myall Park.

Liam Mitchell took ‘Rookie of the Year’, Kyzaiah Simms and Noah Fidden got ‘Best in Defence’, Jaiv won ‘Best and Fairest’, Kade was the ‘Players’ Player’, and Cody and Noah each received the ‘Coach’s Awards’.

Alex Saunders received ‘Best in Attack’, this season he was the Top Try-Scorer and Top Point-Scorer of the U-12s competition.

Alex, Jaiv and Kyzaiah all represented the Newcastle Emus in this year’s Koori Knockout, their fathers Trent Murphy, Ryan Saunders and Brooke Roach having also played together in the same year at the Armidale Knockout with the Newcastle Yowies all the way back in 2009.

The soapy, sudsy slip’n’slide T-ball diamond, as well as a ‘human ten-pin bowling’ lane, saw the kids slide around and knock out the pins and bases in some active, (literally) clean fun.

The pins, however, soon became irrelevant, everyone was having too much fun.

With free sausages and light refreshments for all, the afternoon rounded out with a visit from Hawks’ Seniors President’s Award recipient and fireman Alex Sinclair, who sprayed the kids down with the fire-truck hose, a cheap and effective way spray away the day and clean them up for the long ride home.

“Thank you to everyone involved and all the kids and parents,” was the combined message from the Myall River Hawks’ executive committee.

By Thomas O’KEEFE