ORANGE Hawks forward Jace Delaney was named as Group 10 under 18s player of the year last night at the Group 10 presentation night at Bathurst Panthers.

Delaney polled 18 votes from 14 games to edge out Jared Brodrick from Orange CYMS by two votes.

The hooker and lock-forward picked up two votes in the final round against Panthers to secure the award after moving ahead of Brodrick in round 14.

Brodrick was then awarded one vote from his round 15 game against St Pat’s to draw level on 16 votes.

Delaney had an outstanding season for Hawks, with his performances in under 18s warranting a call-up to premier league during the season.

He made an instant impact in the top grade, scoring seven tries, including a treble against Cowra.

Orange came close to taking out all three Player of the Year awards, with CYMS second-rower Luke Thompson second in premier league polling and Hawks captain-coach Leigh Robinson also second in first division.

St Pat’s hooker Trent Hemsworth claimed the premier league gong ahead of Thompson, who accumulated 12 votes in an impressive first season with CYMS.

Thompson’s barnstorming ball-running was always a threat to opposition defences and he crossed for 16 tries.

CYMS polled well as a club, with fullback Tim Bassmann (11) and captain-coach Pat Gibson (10) finishing in the top five.

Robinson stormed into second on the first division standings, picking up the maximum three votes from the last two games of the season to finish with 15 votes.