ALBURY Thunder lock Luke Ingram is in contention to become the Group 9 club's first Weissel medallist since Lou Goodwin in 2014.
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Ingram has polled 20 votes in the opening eight rounds to be sitting two behind star Gundagai hooker James Luff.
"It was a surprise to me," the Bombala recruit said.
"I've just tried to be consistent.
"I've been pretty happy with my form but I'm just trying to do my bit for the team."
Temora coach Sam Elwin and Tumut's Tom Warner are running third on 19 votes, one clear of Southcity star Kyle McCarthy.
Thunder coach Adrian Purtell said Ingram deserved to be near the top in the voting.
"He's started the year off really well," Purtell said.
"Like the side though, I still think he has improvement left in him."
Ingram missed the chance to pick up votes in Albury Thunder's last match against Young when he was forced from the field early with a leg injury.
He is confident of playing against Kangaroos at Greenfield Park on Sunday.
"I saw a physio today and they said I should be right," he said.
Thunder forward Brad Nicholson has also started the season strongly polling 13 votes while teammate Joe Lumb has 11.
Luff is no stranger to accolades, having claimed the 2015 Weissel Medal and last year's Jon Hill Medal for man of the match in the grand final.
The 25-year-old is happy to be back at the top of his game after an injury-interrupted 2018 season.
"I'm pretty happy, I've had not a bad start to the year and I think that's because I'm finally back into it after the knee reco," Luff said.
"Having half a season under my belt last year helped and I'm back into it now, which is good. I think the biggest thing was getting a pre-season under my belt, a bit of fitness.
"At the same time, we've got and have always had a good forward pack, which gets you going forward and it's easier to play off the back of that.
"I'm really more worried about how Gundagai is going though and we're firing. It's nice being up there and individual recognition is always good but it's second on the list behind winning the comp."
Meanwhile, Purtell is desperate to finish the first-half of the season on a high note against Kangaroos.
Thunder is sitting in fourth spot with a 5-2-1 win-loss-draw ratio.
"Kangaroos will be a good test for us," he said.
"We don't want to lose any momentum."
Weissel Medal leaderboard
22 - James Luff (Gundagai)
20 - Luke Ingram (Albury)
19 - Sam Elwin (Temora), Tom Warner (Tumut)
18 - Kyle McCarthy (Southcity)