SPORTSPERSON OF YEAR
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After her dream signing with Western Sydney Wanderers this year, Michelle Carney is still locked in a battle for a regular start with her W-League club.
There was little doubt about her standing among the public after she won the Illawarra Sportsperson of the Year People's Choice award yesterday.
Carney blasted home 44 goals in the NSW Premier League and took out the league player of the year.
She was among the elite goalscorers on the national scene for the best part of a decade.
She had previously played with Sydney FC.
"It was kind of a shock because I knew I was getting the golden boot and the committee knew we were getting the three awards," Carney said on her winning the player-of-the-year prize.
"To score 44 goals is good and to score in any game once a game is great, too.
"To double the tally of anyone behind me it was a pretty good result."
It was why she was signed as a valuable part of the Wanderers attacking arsenal for this season.
"I just want to enjoy it and hopefully get the results because it is a great club," Carney told the Illawarra Mercury when she signed with the Wanderers, currently sitting mid-table during the Christmas-New Year break.
"We want to go better than last year and hopefully get into the semi-finals, that will be our major goal.
"Obviously we want to win it, so we will be fighting for that."
A school teacher, Carney was the dominant player among the Illawarra Stingrays squad and her 2013 haul made her a finalist in the Sportsperson of the Year award.
Carney was crowned the People's Choice winner with 40 per cent of the vote, ahead of Wollongong-based triathlete Aaron Royle, who is bound for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year.
Royle secured 23 per cent of the vote, with Gerroa surfer Sally Fitzgibbons on 14 per cent and World Cup-winning St George Illawarra winger Brett Morris gaining 10 per cent of the vote.
Congratulations to Joanna Hunter who won the $200 for voting in the Illawarra Mercury People's Choice Sportsperson of the Year award.
