ADCA 2025-26: Awards galore for young Collingwood Park star as Buddy Robinson steals the show on awards night

Buddy Robinson, Collingwood Park’s star all-rounder, stole the show at the Albany and Districts Cricket Association awards night on March 14, picking up gongs galore after a super A-grade season. He was named player of the year by the umpires, received the Syd Harper award as the under-21 player of the year and was the Mike Storm Memorial winner as the best all-rounder of the year. That was just the start, as he topped the batting aggregate to claim the Brian Woods award with 813 runs and also claimed the average with 101.63. It has been a breakthrough season for the 18-year-old who has just finished at Albany Senior High School. “It’s obviously team first and the goal was to make finals having finished rock bottom last season,” he said. “We did that — though we didn’t go far — but it’s not all going to happen in one year. “Personally I felt I improved a lot over last season. “I made my first hundred and played at the WACA during country week, so that was pretty cool.” The brilliantly talented right-handed said he would like to take his cricket as far as he can and was heading towards specialising as a batter despite winning the Mike Storm Memorial trophy as the best all-rounder — the honour he said he valued most in his haul. Also on the cards is a season in England, very possibly at the invitation of Collingwood Park’s wicketkeeper import Oli Clark, whom Robinson said would be returning in Park colours next season. While Robinson was cleaning up on the batting front, the bowling aggregate honours for the Joe Menegola award were shared by Royals’ Jack Hastie and Railways’ Coen Marwick, with 26 wickets apiece, while Matt France’s 25 wickets at 12.68 earned another honour for the flag winners as the best average. In B-grade, the umpires decided Owen Smith, of Manypeaks, should be their player of the year — a fair call as he also dominated bowling honours, the batting aggregate and was the Keith Kinnear all-rounder of the season. Smith’s batting average was 68.86 from his 482 runs but he was pipped in the aggregate stakes by Narrikup’s John Miell who clocked up a mammoth 625 overall. There was no matching Smith with the ball, as he took 26 wickets at 9.08. In the C-grade roll of honour, Graeme Weinert headed the ranks in batting and was named umpires’ player of the year and the best all-rounder. His 454 runs, averaging 113.5, topped the aggregate and average table while Peter Owen’s 20 wickets at 9.3 for Manypeaks earned him both bowling gongs. The under-17s awards were shared between players from Manypeaks, Royals and Railways. Peaks’ Oskar McSweeney’s 323 runs clinched the batting aggregate with Royals’ Patrick House earning the best average with 290 at 36.25. Ambrose Clayton’s 16 wickets won him the bowling aggregate award while Cameron Hooper earned a double triumph, clinching the bowling average with 15 wickets at 8.73 and the all-rounder of the year title. The swathe of country week awards were probably topped by the acknowledgement of Weinert’s 30 years and 150 games and Robinson’s collection of the ADCA representative award. Denmark’s Jake Schwarzbach earned the F-grade award.