SMJFL Celebrates Umpiring Achievements at 2026 Umpire Presentation Night
The South Metro Junior Football League hosted the annual Umpire Presentation Night on Wednesday the 2nd of September, celebrating the success of the TLC Healthcare SMJFL Umpire Academy in 2026, and recognising standout personal achievements.
Emceed by SMJFL Head of Umpiring, Portia Ronsberg, the evening recapped the year including initiatives such as Welcome Back Week, Auskick opportunities at the MCG and Marvel Stadium, training at Hawthorn Football Club's Kennedy Community Centre, Development Pathway Squad, and Grand Final appointments. We also celebrated the growth of the TLC Healthcare SMJFL Umpire Academy to 1048 umpires, including 164 women and girls, signifying an increase of over 3.5%. This makes the TLC Healthcare SMJFL Umpire Academy the largest in Australia for the third consecutive year.
We also had the pleasure of hosting a panel with three current AFL umpires; Simon Meredith, Peter Bailes and Rob O'Gorman. All three of these umpires had their start in the SMJFL, and provided insights in their journey in pursuing umpiring to the highest level.
The SMJFL extends its congratulations to all award recipients, and we look forward to seeing you back on the field next year!
Anthony Chen
Brooker/Burstin/O'Meara Training Group Award: Anthony Chen
Mann/Pate/Donlon Training Group Award: Agatha Beare
Beer/Zhou Training Group Award: Millie Marshall
Mohammad Bangash Memorial Award: Bailey Calleja
Tremigliozzi/Perdon/White Group Training Award: Lucie Kitzis
Cole/Kennedy/Smith Group Training Award: Dishen Mishra
Peter Bailes Most Improved Field Umpire Award: Victor Brown
Lachlan Menara Most Improved Boundary Umpire Award: Max Kennedy
Olivia Grcic Best First Year Boundary Umpire Award: Reggie Nirens
Eddie Griffin Memorial Award: Tal Butbul
SFNL Pathway Award: Liliana Jackson
Rob O'Gorman VAFA Pathway Award: Hamish Meredith
Sam Ritchie Women and Girls Empowerment Award: Julia Daff
Manning Family Recognition Award: The Hampel Family
Chris Donlon Recognition Award: Joel Lefkovic and Brendan Serle
Simon Meredith Most Outstanding Umpire Award: Mitchell Spence
Mitchell Lea Most Outstanding Umpire Award: Naithan Matthews
We also took the opportunity to recognise Amelie O'Meara, Patrick Lynch, Damian Cole, Xavier Tremigliozzi and Zack Tremigliozzi who were selected to attend the V/Line Cup in September. Amelie and Damian were also selected for the Next Step Program, allowing them to join a VFL development squad for 4 to 8 weeks.
A number of umpires were also recognised for reaching significant milestones in their number of games officiated.
50 Game Milestone Umpires
50 Games
Will Ongarato Jake Liberman Ava Gray Taylor Hampel Millie Marshall Mitchell Spence Dan Pickett Finn McCann Hugo Garnsworthy Asher Gordon Joel Liberman Jake Lichtenstein Seb Bardwell Hamish Child Will Calman Yonatan Ayzelman Olivia Susman Atto Patterson
100 Games
Bailey Calleja
Jack Forster
Michael Hegan
Zac Saunders
150 Games
Shaun Kwong
200 Games
David Smith
250 Games
Joel Lefkovic
300 Games
Brendan Serle
350 Games
Tim Beer
Peter Martin
