KEY POINTS:
The Wellington Phoenix's Gold Coast-bound striker Shane Smeltz cleaned up at last night's A-League soccer awards ceremony in Sydney.
Smeltz, 27, took out the Johnny Warren Medal ahead of Scotsman Charlie Miller (Queensland Roar) and Adelaide United captain Travis Dodd.
The Johnny Warren Medal is a peer-voted award named after one of the legends of the game, the late Johnny Warren.
Smeltz also won the Golden Boot Award for the most number of goals scored in the 2008/09 season (12 goals) as well as Goal of the Year judged by national coaching and other technical experts for his round 13 strike against Melbourne Victory.
Smeltz is due to join new A-League team Gold Coast United next season.
In other awards, Miller took new category of Foreign Player of the Year, which recognises the growing number of international players in the Hyundai A-League.
Two players recently rewarded by Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek with a national call-up were also recognised.
Adelaide United 20-year-old Scott Jamieson won the Rising Star Award while teammate, Eugene Galekovic won the Goalkeeper of the Year Award.
Other award winners included Aurelio Vidmar (Adelaide United) as Coach of the Year and Matthew Breeze as Referee of the Year.
The achievements of two other players were also recognised, with Matt Thompson (Newcastle Jets) and Sergio Van Dijk (Queensland Roar) receiving a memento of their respective hat-tricks. Thompson bagged three against Melbourne Victory in round 16 while Van Dijk scored three against Sydney FC in round 20.
- NZPA
