Juka - we congratulate you

Dean Jukic has become just the eighth player in Moonee Valley’s 50-year history to reach the 300-game milestone.

Playing in the Thirds – fittingly at home – on January 16, Deano put in a typical strong performance to help notch up a convincing win.

A solid batting score and a couple of wickets were more than enough to help the team over the line. Deano also had the privilege of being able to play his milestone game with long-standing club and team mates in Jim Polonidis, Mark Gauci, Ian Denny and Dean Lawson.

At right: Captain Sunny Sharma with a few well-chosen words about the great Dean Jukic's 300th game - and his memento bat to honor the occasion.
A two-time Premiership player, Deano has won four batting and five bowling awards across the grades from the Seconds down since he first pulled on the whites for the Valleys in 1998/99.

He’s now just a handful of runs away from the 5000 mark – ninth on our all-time list – and has more than 360 wickets to be sixth on our table.

He’s been recognised with Life Membership, is the 2019/20 winner of the Sean O’Kane Award for best player across all grades (other than Firsts), and has been selected four times as one of our Wisden Cricketers of the Year.

Deano has been chosen six times in our Wisden Team of the Year.

To top it off, he’s a four-time Most Valuable Player award winner – twice in the Thirds, once in the Fourths and once in the Fifths.

Dean is a bit of a quiet achiever around the club with wife Agatha, quietly putting in and not seeking the limelight as he goes about making it a better place.

He’s earned every accolade that’s come his way across his 300 games, and we all look forward to celebrating his 5000^th run when it inevitably ticks over in the coming weeks.
****For a team photo and other pictures, click HERE

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