Following a remarkable season with Caroline Springs George Cross Michael Tzoutzidis capped off the year winning Football Victoria’s longest running individual honour.
It was a season to remember for both George Cross and Michael Tzoutzidis. Following their promotion from VPL1 last season, the Georgies were valiant in their first season in the NPL and earned a tight seventh place finish, narrowly missing out on finals on the last day of the season.
Tzoutzidis put in spectacular performances season long for George Cross and was recognised as the July Player of the Month as voted by the commentary team prior to being awarded his most recent award.
The Bill Fleming Medal was introduced in 1954 originally dubbed “The Argus Medal” for the Victorian newspaper of the time. It has been awarded to numerous Australian football legends such as Jimmy Rooney and three-time winner Frank Micic.
Tzoutzidis joins the exclusive list of Caroline Springs players to win the award, which includes Football Victoria Hall of Famer John Gardiner and two-time winner Fred Falzon.
Looking back on his season, Tzoutzidis is “humbled and privileged” to win the Bill Fleming Medal.
“From an individual standpoint it’s very special to be able to win an award that dates back so many years.
“As a collective, we fell just short at the end but still incredibly, incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to do as a team and how far we were able to take our season.”
Tzoutzidis remained a stand out for his side, featuring in every game bar one due to suspension this season. The centre back got on the scoresheet once this season, grabbing the match winner against Avondale in round 24, an important goal that opened up the finals race.
Caroline Springs were in the box seat to secure finals in their first season back in the NPL, however a stoppage time loss to Hume City would put an end to those dreams and leave them one point off sixth place Preston Lions.
Going further into his sides season as a whole, Tzoutzidis is proud to say The Georgies proved a lot of people wrong.
“I think before the season had started there was a bit of negative energy around us, as in the narrative that as a team we weren’t good enough and were going to go straight down," he said.
“Over the course of the season, slowly week by week we started to turn a few heads.
“Hopefully now at the end of the season as individuals and more importantly as a club we’ve proven that we do belong at this level and we found peoples respect along the way.”
Being a mainstay in an NPL side hasn’t been easy, Tzoutzidis acknowledges his success this year in the NPL came from his growth as an individual.
“I had a spell in the NPL at Moreland City in 2023 and 2024 where I showed glimpses of being able to belong at this level but I lacked the discipline, mentally I wasn’t strong enough.
“I’ve put a lot of work in individually, both mentally and physically to try and prove that I can play at this level and with the work I’ve put in and the people I have surrounded myself with, I knew it was possible.”
“In the end I always believed I could.”
Looking further back at his career, Tzoutzidis initially came through the ranks at Green Gully before making the move to Moreland, periods both full of challenges that shaped him as a player.
“When I first stepped into the senior environment of Green Gully there was a lack of opportunity and rightfully so, they had some really good defenders in that team.
“As a 17 to 19 year old at the time, getting first team exposure at Green Gully was always going to be really hard so thankfully they helped me find a club and we landed at Moreland City.”
Michael Tzoutzidis joined Moreland City in 2020 however; both the 2020 and 2021 seasons were cut short due to COVID-19 meaning Tzoutzidis would not get his first chance at senior football until age 22, a longer wait than most.
“Being that young boy in that environment at Gully is something I’m really grateful for and after those first tough years at Moreland, it all fell into place perfectly.”
At 26 years old and coming off a remarkable season both as a club and as an individual, the Bill Fleming Medal winner has set his sights high for the upcoming campaign.
“Next year we want to be more competitive, George Cross is a really big club in terms of stature and their ambition is to be competing for championships.
“We want to take it one step further [from this year] and make finals and ultimately we want to win the big one.
“That’s the vision the clubs had for a few years and we’ll do everything we can to get there.”