Butters Bags A Hat Trick

Saturday 3th Oct, 2009

A season spent terrorising defenders and attackers alike has culminated in the ultimate vote of confidence for Michael Butters, with the Brisbane Strikers fullback receiving the accolades of his fellow players, his coaching staff and the club’s supporters in winning a treble of awards at the Brisbane Strikers’ presentation evening yesterday.

Twenty-two year old Butters was presented with the “Players’ Player”, the “Brisbane Strikers Supporters’ Association Player of the Season” and the “Player of the Year” awards to add to the Player of the Season award he took out as a member of the club’s all-conquering BPL squad in 2006.

In announcing the “Player of the Year” award, voted upon by senior team’s coaching staff, assistant coach David Large summed up what most people in the room probably would instinctively have thought about Butters, who managed to make himself simultaneously one of the most feared defenders and attackers in the Hyundai QSL this year.

In explaining how he separated in his own mind the claims of ‘three or four’ players for the award, Large said “I kept saying to myself, who’d be the player that I didn’t want against me....if I was coaching a team. There was only one and that was Michael Butters”.

It is likely that opposition coaches and players would have echoed Large’s thoughts. By the end of the season, the right side of the Strikers’ formation had become virtually a no-go zone for opposition wingers and fullbacks as Butters motored up and down the touchline to snuff out threats and both start and finish attacks in relentless displays of fitness, controlled aggression and determination.

Butters accepted his three awards with the quiet bashfulness that characterises his off-field persona, but when asked later how he had felt about his form during the season Butters put the achievement down to that always strived for, but often elusive, quality of ‘consistency’.

“I thought I was pretty consistent all year”, Butters said. “I felt quite happy with the way I was playing, and there was a patch in the middle of the season when I was really happy with the way I was playing, but I thought I kind of tapered off a bit.

“The biggest thing for me is consistency. I didn’t have many games where I was playing below par or a lot below par, and I didn’t have many outstanding games that really, really stood out. I just thought I played at a high level throughout the whole year”, Butters said.

Many people associated with the Brisbane Strikers, and indeed plenty who are not connected with the club, have been astounded that Butters has not yet landed a contract to play at the next level up from the QSL. But Butters, who has been training with the Brisbane Roar in recent months, confirmed that the A-League is in fact his next objective.

“I think in the next year or two I’d pretty much want to be playing A-League, but I think I’d need a bit of luck for it to happen”, he said. “I think the potential is there and I think there may be an opportunity that could arise in the next year. But, for now, I’ve just got to be content with training and doing as well as I can and trying to prove myself over the next six months or so”.

While Butters was the biggest winner on the night, the spotlight also fell on a number of other players for their achievements. Luke Morley was awarded the “Golden Boot” trophy for being the top goal scorer for the senior team, while Seb Bell bagged a personal double in taking out the Under-21s Golden Boot and also being recognised as his team’s “Players’ Player of the Year”. Under-21s goalkeeper Brendan White won the “Star of the Future” award, while midfielder Tom Inoue received the “Player of the Year” vote for the Under-21s.

The Jack Baren award for volunteer services to the club went to John and Michael Hall for their efforts in sometimes testing circumstances as ground officials on game days.