Barton medallist to stay a Bushranger
BARTON medallist Cam Fendyk has no immediate ambitions to re-ignite his Ovens and Murray career despite being crowned the Tallangatta and District league best and fairest on Monday night.
The 24-year-old has stamped himself as one of the premier midfielders in the competition over the past two years after also finishing thrid in the prestigious medal last year.
Fendyk had a two-year stint with Wangaratta Rovers in 2016-17 and played 30 senior matches before returning to his junior club.
Arguably yet to reach the peak of his powers, Fendyk said his immediate focus was to help the Bushrangers break their premiership drought which stretches back to 2010.
“I had a crack at the O&M as an 18-year-old but wasn’t fit enough or good enough to be honest,” Fendyk said.
“Right at the moment, I’m really enjoying my footy at Beechworth and have committed to the club for next year.
”Maybe one day I will have another crack at the O&M but not in the short-term.”
In a thrilling final to the Barton medal count, Fendyk polled five votes in the final two rounds to finish on 26 and trump the fast-finishing Zac Leitch (22) and pre-count favourite Ben McIntosh (21).
Fendyk felt winning the medal was reward for effort for the hard work during pre-season and enduring the ‘snow conditions’ at Beechworth in the depth of the winter months.
“It’s a special feeling to win the Barton to be honest,” he said.
”I guess everyone says that you don’t play for individual awards but it is nice recognition for years of hard work.
”Running around in the hot weather during pre-season and just about snow conditions during the middle of winter at Beechworth.
“Heading into the county I thought McIntosh from Yackandandah or (Jack) Haugen from Kiewa-Sandy Creek would win.
”Everytime we played against them this year, they were standouts for sure.”
In a nerve wracking count, Fendyk had no idea he had won the medal until well after the count had finished.
“I didn’t know what was going on because they didn’t update the leaderboard after round 12,” he said.
”So I had no idea who was in front after round 18.
”Then they announced from fifth to the runner-up and when my name wasn’t called out, I thought maybe I had actually won.
”Normally there is a leaderboard after round 16 so everyone knows where they are at.
“It was funny how you overthink things as well.
”When I arrived our table was at the back of the room and I thought to myself they would have sat the winner at the front, so I mustn’t have won it.
“But thankfully I was wrong.”
Fendyk revealed the return of former juniors Brayden Carey and Tom Cartledge as co-coaches two years ago had motivated him to improve his fitness.
“Just getting fitter was the biggest thing that I have done to improve my footy,” he said
“Obviously playing in a side that is a lot more competitive helps as well.
”It’s a lot easier to get a kick in a winning side.
”Tom and Brayden have done an amazing job and you can just see how much they have fast-tracked the development of the young players in our side this year.”
Fendyk has been skipper of the Bushrangers for the past two years and joins Carey (2010) and teammate Brenton Surrey (2011) as winners of the prestigious medal.
“I remember when I was playing fourths, having a kick with Brayden at training sometimes but that was a while ago now,” Fendyk said.
”But I’ve looked up to both Brayden and Brenton since I was a kid coming through the junior ranks.
”They are both like me and not overly tall or possess a great amount of leg speed but just know how to find the footy.
”So it is a bit of an honour to get my name alongside them on the Barton honour board for sure.
”So it is pretty cool to join them.”
Despite missing three matches last year, Fendyk has been ultra-consistent over the past two years to poll 26 votes two years running.
The Bushrangers ball magnet felt he had a better season this year after simplifying his preparation.
“I did miss three games with injury last year so it was nice to play a full season this year,” he said.
“I never went into a match sore and was right to go every week.
”This year I was a bit more relaxed compared to last year.
”If I played a good game last year, I would try to replicate what I did before with my preparation.”
”So my rituals were getting a bit out of hand and I was overthinking everything.
”I’ve dialled right back on that this year and just tried to keep things simple.”
Fendyk was also grateful for the support of his parents and junior coaches who had helped shape his career.
“One year I played juniors at both Beechworth on the Saturday and Corowa-Rutherglen on the Sunday so my parents had to give up a lot of their weekends to cart me around.
”Obviously a big commitment.
”I had some good coaches growing up as a kid as well in Andy Malsem and Anthony Mihaljevic,
”So I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without their influence as well.”
Reference: The Border Mail (August 29, 2023)