Winning the Butch Southwell Medal as the player of the Tamworth men's first grade grand final was for Lachie Butler a reward for his persistence and resilience, and the perfect way to cap off what he acknowledges has been his best season.
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It has been a frustrating couple of years for the Workies midfielder with injuries, largely the consequence of growth spurts, hampering his ability to play at the level he would have liked to.
Having seemingly overcome those, this season he has able "to do more at training and push myself". That has in turn allowed him to "really compete more", and he has reaped the benefits on the field, and off it.
He was selected in the Athlete Acceleration Program (AAP) squad and is a finalist for the Northern Inland Academy of Sport Athlete of the Year.
And then there's Sunday.
Butler admits the player of the grand final accolade still feels "very surreal".
"I was completely shocked to be honest," he said.
"We've got some great boys in our team."
It was the icing on the cake after helping Workies crush South United 6-1 to claim their 10th premiership in 11 years.
Butler has been involved in the last two and spoke about what a great team it is to be part of.
This season has seen him perform a bit of a different role in the side, shifting from an outside defensive role to more of an attacking midfielder, which he has reveled in.
Coach Andrew Farmilo noted that Butler has "come on a lot this season".
"He's been fantastic," Farmilo said.
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He did have a couple of issues with shin splints during the middle part of the season but the last month has been "been back to the running and high energy game that he does play".
Sunday was the perfect example of that and, in Farmilo's opinion, his best game of the season.
"His back tackling was fantastic and he put people under pressure," he said.
He was also a key link in attack and got the goal that got them rolling, finishing well on the reverse after a nice one-two with Nick Chaffey.
Butler said he drew a lot of confidence out of getting that, and so did Workies. From there they really took control of the game.
He will be strapping on the shin pads again this weekend with the AAP squad convening for a weekend training session down in Sydney.
Making the squad was a big goal, Butler said.
"I've worked for a couple of seasons to achieve this," he said.
It will be a pretty gruelling weekend but he is looking forward to it.
Coincidentally the NSW Pride play their opening game of the new-look Hockey One in Sydney on Sunday afternoon, and Butler is planning to stay on and watch Workies team-mate Ehren Hazell run around for the Pride.
"That will be pretty cool," he said.
