To close the curtain on the 2025 VWFL Season, the Wheelchair Magpies rallied together to celebrate at their end-of-season presentation night.
THE 2025 COLLINGWOOD WHEELCHAIR AWARD WINNERS:
Community Coaches Award – Jack Elliott
Community Player’s Player Award – Jack Elliott
Community Top Goal Scorer – Jack Elliott
Community Best & Fairest Runner Up – Troy Hawkins
Community Best & Fairest – Michael Telban
Championship Coaches Award – Brad Axford
Championship Player’s Player Award – Brad Axford
Championship Top Goal Scorer – Sam Maraldo
2025 Robert Rose Best & Fairest –
To be announced at the 2025 E.W. Copeland Trophy on 3 October, 2025.
Community Player’s Player Award – Jack Elliott
Community Top Goal Scorer – Jack Elliott
Community Best & Fairest Runner Up – Troy Hawkins
Community Best & Fairest – Michael Telban
Championship Coaches Award – Brad Axford
Championship Player’s Player Award – Brad Axford
Championship Top Goal Scorer – Sam Maraldo
2025 Robert Rose Best & Fairest –
To be announced at the 2025 E.W. Copeland Trophy on 3 October, 2025.
Community's Best & Fairest
In his first-ever season of Wheelchair Football, 2025 recruit Michael Telban took out the highest honour of the evening, winning the 2025 Community Best & Fairest Award, presented by Collingwood athlete, Lauren Butler.
"Everyone gets around each other," Telban said during his acceptance speech.
"It's more than a club - everyone just welcomes everyone,"
"It's unbelievable. Never in a million years would I think I'd be winning the Best & Fairest for my club."
The star forward went from strength to strength in his debut season, playing a pivotal role switching between centre and the forward positions in the 21-point win against Richmond.
Telban played all 10 games during the 2025 VWFL Season for the Community Division and scored 15 goals in total.
The Season That Was
Collingwood’s wheelchair football season was a Netflix drama in 10 episodes.
It had a fast start, mid-season adversity, multiple plot twists and a finale where the underdogs nearly toppled the reigning premiers.
Both the Championship and Community Division sides started their season breathing fire against Hawthorn.
Sam Maraldo (9 goals) and skipper Ben Jankovski (8) each enjoyed statement-making hauls.
Reality bit the next week when the Community Division went down to Richmond by 53 points. Meanwhile, the Championship side experienced a gutsy ‘no bench, all heart’ loss against St Kilda.
Incredibly, Maraldo bagged another nine-goal haul, but the Saints were too clean.
Sam Maraldo with quick hands under pressure.
Both sides bounced back in Round 7 against Hawthorn, enjoying 133 and 63-point wins respectively to get their seasons humming again.
Then, Round 8 brought peak drama.
The Community Division finally got the edge over Richmond, thanks to a late match-winning moment from the 2025 Community Best and Fairest winner Michael Telban.
In Round 9, a road trip to Geelong ended in heartbreak against Essendon, pushing the Championship side from second to third on the ladder, where they stayed.
They reset in the final round, when for the first time in VWFL history, both teams scored over 100 points in a fast, high-scoring shootout.
The Community Division finished the 2025 VWFL Season second on the ladder.
Finals Campaign
In a must-win elimination final, the Championship side knocked off Essendon to reach the prelims, while Community also advanced in an upset.
Third time against Richmond wasn’t the charm for the Championship side.
After suffering 52 and 68-point losses earlier in the year, the preliminary final margin was only seven-points in performance that showed a clear step forward for the team.
Community bowed out of the finals to Essendon that same day, losing to the Bombers by 13 after a five-goal surge from Arnold Razon.
WHEELCHAIR FOOTBALL Find out more on the team here.
The Victorian Wheelchair Football League (VWFL) provides Victorians with a physical disability the opportunity to play in a competitive and adaptive version of Australian Rules football.
