A-League Awards

Joel Griffith was player of the year and Referee of the year was Mark Shield.

Alex Brosque was second. Honest:)

Danny Vukovic has been sent-off twice so he couldn't win anything. Bruce Djite was young player of the year.

JOHNNY WARREN MEDAL WINNER NAMED

The prestigious Johnny Warren Medal, which is a peer award, has been presented to Newcastle Jets’ striker, Joel Griffiths, at the Hyundai A-League 2008 Awards Lunch held in Sydney today.

Griffiths received an overwhelming 394 votes from his playing peers, 140 votes ahead of his nearest rivals Alex Brosque of Sydney FC (254 votes) and Shane Smeltz from the Wellington Phoenix (157).

The Johnny Warren Medal was Griffiths’ second award of the day having earlier picked up the Reebok Golden Boot Award for the 12 goals he scored during the Hyundai A-League 2007-08 season.

Having claimed their first Hyundai A-League Championship Trophy, the Newcastle Jets also picked up two other awards with Gary Van Egmond named the Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year Award, while his team collected the Hyundai A-League Fair Play Award.

Adelaide United’s Bruce Djite received the Rising Star Award for the most outstanding Under-20 player in the Hyundai A-League, and Melbourne Victory’s Michael Theoklitos took out the inaugural Hyundai A-League Goalkeeper of the year award.

Sydney FC’s Brendon Sanatalab won the FOXTEL Goal of the Season award, as voted online by the fans, for his memorable strike against Adelaide United in round 18 at the Adelaide Oval.

Mark Shield was named the Zurich Referee of the Year for the third time in the past three seasons of the Hyundai A-League.