Kolts Shine Across a Huge Weekend of Awards and Champions of Champions Football

The regular season may be over, but the action certainly hasn’t stopped at the Kolts.

It was another massive weekend for our senior teams, featuring individual honours, the Red and Black Ball and two thrilling Champions of Champions victories at Bernie Mullane.

Chris Barbera Crowned NWSF MPL Player of the Year and Steph Romeo Crowned HFL WPL Player of the year

The weekend kicked off on Friday night at the North West Sydney Football Awards, where Chris Barbera capped off an outstanding season by winning the coveted Men’s Premier League Player of the Year award.

In our first season competing in the NWSF Men’s Premier League, the Kolts claimed the Premiership with an impressive 12-point buffer.

Chris then added another major honour to the season, finishing six votes clear of second place to claim the league’s top individual award.

Congratulations, Chris. An outstanding achievement in an unforgettable first season with NWSF.

To add to our success Steph Romeo won HFL WPL player of the year earlier in the month and was presented this very prestigious award at the Red and Black. Steph not only won the HFL award but she was also announced as the Julia Jamieson Senior player of the year for all of her great work she does for the Kolts both on and off the field.

WPL player Kevin Opia was also congratulated for winning the prestigious HFL WPL Golden Boot plus Hamish Callaghan winning the HFL MPL Golden Boot all in all it was a super successful year for the Kolts Womens Premier League and the Mens Premier Leagues teams.

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Senior Success Celebrated at the Red and Black Ball

The celebrations continued on Saturday night as hundreds of players, coaches, volunteers and supporters gathered at Rosehill Racecourse for the Kolts Senior Presentation, better known as the Red and Black Ball.

The evening celebrated the achievements of our senior teams throughout an incredible 2026 season and recognised the players, coaches and volunteers who made a significant contribution both on and off the field.

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Congratulations to our major award recipients:

• Players of the Year: Krista Hagan and Chris Barbera
• Coach of the Year: Mike Burton - AAW Division 2
• Julia Jamieson Memorial Trophy - Most Valuable Senior Player: Stephanie Romeo
• Karen Scanlan Memorial Award - Most Significant Contribution to the Club: Dean Brodie
• President’s Awards: Phillip Cairns and Daniel Case
• HFL Women's Premier League Player of the Year: Stephanie Romeo
• HFL Women’s Premier League Golden Boot: Kevin Opia
• HFL Men’s Premier League Golden Boot: Hamish Callaghan

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Bernie Hosts Champions of Champions Thrillers

The weekend wrapped up at Bernie Mullane, with the Kolts hosting a full day of Round 2 Champions of Champions football featuring some of the best teams from across the Hills.

A huge thank you goes to the Kolts committee members who prepared the fields, supervised the matches and helped deliver another successful day of football at Bernie.

The final two matches on Field 1 saw our Women’s and Men’s Premier League teams take centre stage - and they certainly delivered.

Carmichael Double Sends WPL Through

The Women’s Premier League side took to the field first and found themselves trailing 1-0 midway through the second half.

With fewer than 10 minutes remaining, Nicole Carmichael found the back of the net to level the scores and send the match into extra time.

Once again, it was Carmichael who stepped up. Following some excellent lead-up play and high-pressure defending through the middle third, she struck the winning goal to secure a thrilling 2-1 extra-time victory.

Callaghan Delivers a Bernie Mullane Classic

Inspired by the WPL victory, our Men’s Premier League side produced a dominant opening half against Narellan.

Goals from Hamish Callaghan, Lucas Gonzales and Beau Duffy sent the Kolts into the break with a commanding 3-0 lead.

Narellan responded with a spirited second-half comeback, levelling the scores at 3-3 with 15 minutes remaining and setting up a frantic finish.

With fewer than five minutes on the clock, the class of the Kolts rose to the occasion.

NWSF MPL Player of the Year Chris Barbera pounced on an errant Narellan touch and drove towards the 18-yard box. Barbera then drew in three defenders and delivered the perfect pass to beat them, putting the ball into the path of HFL Golden Boot winner Hamish Callaghan. Callaghan produced a classy finish past the goalkeeper to make it 4-3 and send the Bernie crowd into a frenzy.

Kolts win, 4-3!

Both our Women’s and Men’s Premier League teams now progress to the next round of the Champions of Champions.

Congratulations to both teams and to all our outstanding award winners. The regular season might be finished, but the Red and Black are far from done.

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