Federal’s Abe Ankers and Alana Chalmers win big at CAFL medal count
Federal’s bid for men’s and women’s premierships was kickstarted with a successful night at the CAFL best and fairest where one of their own made history with his fourth Minahan Medal.
Federal’s bid for men’s and women’s premierships was kickstarted with a successful night at the CAFL best and fairest where one of their own made history with his fourth Minahan Medal.
Abe Ankers created a league record with his 15-vote win, securing his fourth league best and fairest award from teammate and club captain Braydon Weily.
It meant Ankers moved past three-time winner Lance White from Pioneer as the only four-time winner of the prestigious Minahan Medal, named after Alice Springs businesswoman Lisa Minahan.
Ankers added the 2025 medal to previous wins in 2016, ‘20 and ‘23, stamping him as the greatest player of his era.
“It’s a massive honour, you never play footy to win individual accolades, although it’s really nice when they come, especially when it’s something I didn’t really expect or plan for,” Ankers said.
“I never thought I’d win any award growing up, I just wanted to play footy as best I could, so to win the medal once, then twice and now four times is just amazing.”
Ankers did not rate his chances coming into the count, pointing to the depth of talented players in the league and the real possibility of teammates at the unbeaten Federal pinching votes off him.
The Demons have a week off before next week’s grand final, watching from the sidelines while Pioneer and Rovers clash in the preliminary final.
“A premiership was the goal at the start of the season and while the medal’s great to win, there’s another one we all set out at the start of the season and it’s a goal we’re all focusing on,” he said.
The Federal invasion continued in the Senior Women when Lady Demons midfielder Alana Chalmers (17 votes) won her first Margaret Liddle Medal in a thrilling count from Rovers pair Doreena Hansen and Brylee Kerrin, who each polled 14 votes.
Preliminary finalists Pioneer got a share of the silverware on offer when first year spearhead Wes Steele won the league goalkicking with 38 majors in his first season in a green and gold jumper.
Alkamilya’s Regan Maher-Moldrich won the Senior Women’s goalkicking, booting 33 goals from the key forward post to be a major force in her side’s push for another top four finish.
Meanwhile, reigning men’s premiers Pioneer will have to face Rovers for their shot at a grand final berth after Federal turned a two-goal deficit into a 19-point win in the major semi final.
Their coach John Glasson, in his first season at the helm after taking Rovers to the finals in 2024, said his side had refocused at halftime after going into the break two goals down.
“Finals footy is the start of another challenge and we knew we had to match everything Pioneer threw at us,” he said.
“We made five changes to the side and all of the players contributed something to the win in what was on paper our best team of the year.”
Pioneer joint coach Steven Hayes said a mistake riddled third quarter had cost his side after a first half when he felt his players controlled the game.
“We played our brand of footy in the first two quarters and were doing well when half-time came around, but a lot of mistakes and a bad run with free kicks we thought we’d earned worked against us.
“But we earned the double chance and we’re keen to bounce back and get another crack at Feds in the grand final.”
And the Fred Campbell coached Rovers led all day to end South Alice Springs’ season with an authoritative 14-point win in a game where their midfield players dominated.
In the Senior Women, Rovers remain on track for back-to-back flags after a gutsy 27-point win over the dangerous Alkamilya in the elimination first semi-final.
The Double Blues booted goals in every quarter while keeping Alkamilya scoreless until the last quarter when Cyril Rioli’s side kicked a major to close to within a goal.
Rovers coach Anthony McGuire said his side’s defensive work had won them the game, pointing to the commitment of Melanie Churchill, Keialah Satour and Paparauwhare Motuhinau as crucial factor in the win.
“It was quite a struggle to be honest, we had to work hard against a Wests side that kept coming at us and to the players’ credit they did that,” McGuire said.
Federal beat West Alice Springs in the grand final qualifying second semi-final when a Chloe Pitt goal in the second quarter was enough to beat the Lady Bloods in what turned out to be a four-quarter struggle at league headquarters.
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Federal skipper Krydence Schwalger said the players were thrilled to be in a grand final in only their third season in the Senior Women’s competition.
“We’re so excited to be there after a very good season, but the game went back and forth for a long time before we finally got there,” she said.
“It was very windy out there and hard to get hold of the ball but we did enough to win and go into the GF, which is great credit to the players and the coaching staff.”
Originally published as Federal’s Abe Ankers and Alana Chalmers win big at CAFL medal count
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