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VELOCITY SPORTS NEWS
New contract for Tippett ...
and 4th place in Crows B&F 
Friday, 2 October, 2009
Kurt Tippett has enjoyed a double celebration to close out a brilliant 2009 season with the Adelaide Crows a new three-year contract and an outstanding finish in the club champion award.
The 22-year-old key forward/ruckman, a hot target for the new Gold Coast AFL franchise, put pen to paper this morning on a deal that will tie him to the Crows until the end of the 2012 season.
And this evening, in just his second season in the AFL, he finished equal 4th in a tight Malcolm Blight Medal vote-count won by Bernie Vince.
Vince, celebrating his 24th birthday, polled 43 votes, breaking clear of runner-up Jason Porplyzia (41), captain Simon Goodwin and Michael Doughty in the last game of the season.
Only five votes separated the top six players. Goodwin (39) finished third and Doughty, Graham Johncock and Kurt Tippett locked together on 38 votes.
But the big news of the night for the Adelaide media was the retention of Tippett in the face of a reported approach from the Gold Coast.
The crowd of 900 at the Adelaide Convention Centre cheerly loudly as Tippett's re-signing was announced by Crows Chairman Rick Chapman.
Adelaide Football Operations Manager John Reid told the Adelaide Advertiser the Crows had not "sacrificed our soul" to keep Tippett.
"There is always an inflationary effect to player salaries when new teams are introduced to the league, particularly if they have a bigger salary cap than the rest of us," Reid said.
"We haven't sold the farm to keep Kurt. We would not have done the deal had that been required because we will respect the salary cap and our other players.
"Now, we've needed to put up a few bales of hay to keep Kurt but we've also kept the farm; we've certainly not sold our soul."
Tippett was contracted to the end of the 2010 season, but had been a primary target for the Gold Coast under a concession allowance that gives them access to one uncontracted player from each of the 16 clubs.
His retention was the big news in a re-signing package which also included captain Simon Goodwin, 300-gamers Tyson Edwards and Andrew McLeod, Brett Burton, Trent Hentschel and Brent Reilly.
Tippett kicked 55 goals this year including four in both finals and has played 43 AFL games for the club. He was selected at pick 32 in the 2006 national draft from Gold Coast club Southport
Vince clinched his first Malcolm Blight Medal and Gold Jacket with 43 votes, breaking clear of runner-up Jason Porplyzia (41 votes), captain Simon Goodwin and Michael Doughty in the last game of the season.
Only five votes separated the top six players. Goodwin finished third on 39 votes and three Crows Doughty, Graham Johncock and Kurt Tippett all received 38 votes.
It all came down to the finals after Porplyzia led the poll with 37 votes after the home-and-away season. Vince's maximum four votes against Essendon and three against Collingwood in the semi-final settled the count.
Vince was not among the leaders at the halfway mark of the season but by the end of the minor round he was one of seven Crows within four votes of the lead, held by Porplyzia. He then received the maximum four votes in the elimination final win over Essendon and three votes in the knock-out MCG semi-final.
Other 2009 award winners were:-
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Best Team Man - Brad Symes
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Members' Most Valuable Player Bernie Vince
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Coach's Award - Jason Porplyzia
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Mark Bickley Award - Patrick Dangerfield
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Emerging Talent Award - Andy Otten
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Leading Goal-Kicker Jason Porplyzia
CLUB CHAMPION VOTING
43 - Bernie Vince
41 Jason Porplyzia
39 Simon Goodwin
38 Kurt Tippett
Michael Doughty
Graham Johncock
36 Scott Thompson
30 Tyson Edwards
Andrew McLeod
29 Chris Knights
28 David Mackay
27 Ben Rutten
25 Andy Otten
24 Nathan Bock
Nathanvan Berlo
23 Brad Symes
21 Scott Stevens
20 Ivan Maric
19 Richard Douglas
Brent Reilly
17 Patrick Dangerfield
13 Robert Shirley
9 James Sellar
Taylor Walker
7 Brett Burton
6 Brad Moran
5 Jared Petrenko
4 Trent Hentschel
2 Jonathon Griffin
Brodie Martin
1 Nick Gill
Rory Sloane