It had been twenty years since the Tigers had celebrated a winner. Hayes thought he started the night with very little chance of changing that.

“Coming here tonight I honestly didn’t expect too much,” he said. “We only won the three games as a club so I thought it would be tough to poll enough best on grounds. Luckily the umpires thought I played well and I ended up snatching it.”

Hayes’ polled 18 votes in sevens rounds despite the Tigers managing just three wins on the way to finishing seventh on the ladder.

Heading into the final round Hayes and Minyip-Murtoa’s Kieran Delahunty were tied on 16 votes each, one behind Horsham Saints’ midfielder Sam Clyne.

Warrack Eagles coach Ryan McKenzie and Horsham’s Tyler Blake were two votes further back on 14 at the same stage.

Hayes was the only one of the five to poll in the last round. He had lined up against Clyne in the round 16 encounter and managed to edge in front when the umpires awarded him two votes.

“I thought I played well in that game but I wasn’t sure whether or not I could get in the votes because we did lose and the Saints had some pretty good players,” he said.

“I managed to snag two and get the win though.”

Clyne had polled strongly in the opening rounds of the season and early on looked a chance to win his consecutive Toohey medals.

“I didn’t think I was any chance, I was surprised when I even got the invitation to come,” he said.

“I played on Billy in that last game and he tore it apart so it was a well deserved win.”

Before Hayes, Leonard Clark was the most recent winner of the medal to come from a side that did not play in finals.

When he won the medal in 2010 Minyip-Murtoa finished seventh on the ladder in the nine team competition.

Hayes said there were games early in the season where he missed out on votes despite thinking he had played well but there were other games where he was surprised to poll.

“I think our ruckman, Dan Batson, played a big part in this,” he said.

“He was hitting the ball straight down my throat pretty much every game.

“We’ve got a young side who can move the ball pretty fast and that allowed me to get on the end of some as well. It was good to see Jake Harrap finish on 11 votes as well because he had a good year.”

Hayes thanked the Nhill Tigers for all the support they had given him in his second season at the club.

“Everyone at the club is very welcoming and they are a great bunch of people,” he said.

Billy Hayes, Nhill, 18

Samuel Clyne, Horsham Saints, 17

Kieran Delahunty, Minyip-Murtoa, 16

Ryan McKenzie, Warrack Eagles, 14

Tyler Blake, Horsham Demons, 14

Deek Roberts, Horsham Demons, 13

Damian Cameron, Minyip-Murtoa, 12

Jake Harrap, Nhill, 11

Simon Hobbs, Horsham Demons, 10

John Delahunty, Minyip-Murtoa, 10