Sometimes, you just can’t split the two best players in the league, and such was the case in Sunday’s vote count for the Clyde Baker Medal for the best and fairest player in the Ovens and King’s senior football competition.

North Wangaratta midfield superstar Zak Sartore and Greta mid-forward titan Cody Crawford shared the league’s top honour in a thrilling vote count, each polling 25 votes over the course of the year.

Heading into the count, honours had also been split, with Sartore named the Rising Star, and Crawford voted Player of the Year by opposition coaches.

Sartore had polled six votes after round five, second overall, while Crawford wasn’t in the picture until after round 10, by which time Sartore had a three-vote lead on top of the leaderboard.

After a slow middle of the year, Sartore’s lead was pegged back, with Crawford consistently polling to sit neck-and-neck with the Hawk on 22 votes apiece heading into the last two rounds.

Crawford polled three votes in his round 19 match while Sartore failed to register, while the script was flipped in round 20, with Sartore’s dominance over Goorambat in the last match of the year seeing him square the ledger.

Moyhu’s Paddy McNamara (22 votes) picked up his second consecutive runner up trophy, with Whorouly’s Jessie Smith (20) a close fourth.

After playing in 2025 at Wodonga Saints, Sartore said he initially was going to take a year off footy, but soon found his place at North Wangaratta

“Coming from not playing this year to getting dragged in and having a good season with the boys, it means a lot,” he said.

“I didn’t really have too many expectations, but I knew the boys were hungry for a finals campaign, and I know the club has been starved of a lot of it for a few years.

“I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know where I’d be playing, half-back, midfield, but I’ve got a really good ruckman in Aaron Cheong to tap it down my throat every week.

“It’s helped a lot, and I’ve taken a lot more of a role in the midfield and the leadership, which is good fun for a young fella.”

For Crawford, the offseason moves at Greta have allowed him to take a more dominant role on the field, no matter where he’s playing.

“I was a little nervous, I don’t really like talking in front of other people a lot of the time, I just like doing my own thing - I just try my best every week and see how I go,’ he said.

“The change in the midfield about two years ago now has helped me a lot with my football.

“Last year when we were playing all together in the midfield it was really good, but this year where it’s me, Al Jacka and Kyle Collisson, it’s a bit different, but it’s still working out very well.

“I’d rather play midfield, but if I’m a little bit buggered, I’ll drift forward and try and kick a few goals.

“We’ve had a lot of people who have played minimal games this year due to injury and stuff like that, but if we can get our best team on the park I think we can go all the way.”

There’s no rest for the league’s top players, with Sartore’s Hawks and Crawford’s Blues set to face off in an elimination final this Sunday at Whorouly, where the joint Clyde Baker Medallists will no doubt be giving it all to keep their seasons alive.