Great Southern pair Parris Laurie and Belinda Smith finish in top 10 of Eagles club champion voting

Great Southern duo Parris Laurie and Belinda Smith finished inside the top 10 in the West Coast Eagles club champion award on Friday night, capping stellar seasons in the AFLW competition. A ruck-forward and member of the Eagles leadership group, Laurie was rewarded for a super-consistent 2022 as she finished outright third in voting for the first time. Dashing defender Smith featured inside the top 10 of the club’s top AFLW honour, which was won by captain Emma Swanson with 50 votes. Vice-captain Dana Hooker finished runner-up with 26 votes and Laurie was third with 17, while defender Evie Gooch (16) and midfielder Belinda Lewis (15) rounded out the top five. Laurie had 13 votes in the first five rounds and collected votes in round six, nine and 10 to round out the season. The 27-year-old Denmark product finished equal-third in 2020 and then eighth last season. Smith, who hails from Pingrup, had nine votes at the halfway stage of the count and added single votes in three of the final five games to finish on 12 alongside Mikayla Bowen and Charlie Thomas. Swanson also won the player trademark award, Thomas was named best first-year player and the retiring Andrea Gilmore won the best club person honour.