Welcome
all members and supporters to the halfway mark of the 2010 season. Reflecting on the first half of the season
saw the introduction of the Gold Coast into the VFL competition and the Bendigo
Bombers not fielding a reserves team. These changes have already impacted on the competition as we continue to
evolve and retain the status as the best competition out side the AFL.
There
are numerous challenges we are facing both as a Club and also the competition
as a whole, I along with all the other VFL Presidents are holding the
management of the VFL competition accountable in retaining and building on the
creditability of the competition. On the
23rd June the VFL Presidents are meeting to ensure we have the right
strategies in challenging the CEO Grant O’Reilly, his Board, Peter Schwab and
the VFL management team to ensure that the competition remains the number one
Tier 2 competition in Australian.
At
the start of the season I reminded the Sandringham Football Club 2010 playing
list of the proud history of our Club. Including the significance of wearing the jumper, our history and the
representing our proud Club both on and off the field. I emphasised that whilst the players need to
carry the awareness and tradition forward in 2010 they need to strive for their
own success and make their own history. As a group they need to add to our tradition and success of the Club.
The
SFC Board and management led by John Mennie have worked hard with our Coach
Andy Lovell and his team of coaches to select a new list of players who are the
foundation of taking our Club forward in 2010 and beyond. All the 2010 listed
players have prepared themselves for a tireless effort and dedication to strive
for success. As we sit back and reflect
at the halfway mark of the season we see of senior side sitting in 9th
position just out of the eight whilst our reserves side is sitting in 3rd
position. The senior team got off to a
flying start winning the first 4 games before losing the next 5 games however
we believe our next game against Geelong
at home will get our next win and our season back on track. Both teams are well
positioned to play in the 2010 finals. Our reserves have 6 wins and 4 losses and are in 3rd spot
with some fantastic new talent coming through and are not far away from making
their debut or regaining their spot in the seniors. We have a fantastic list of young players
coming through who are going to ensure that we are a strong, powerful and
successful club into the future.
This
is also the second year of our alignment with our AFL partner St Kilda and may
I say I am extremely pleased with the alignment both on and off the field. We have a strong connect both on and off the
field which will see the success of both Clubs prosper in 2010 and beyond both
on and off the field.
I
would like to acknowledge our Captain Nick Sautner on achieving another mile
stone adding to an impressive list of achievement in playing his 250th
VFL game. All going right Nick will play
his 200th Sandringham game against
Port Melbourne at home. Nick is our games record holder and 5 times premiership
player at the Club. He is also won the
Frosty Miller goal kicking award for the VFL competition 9 times.
The
opening of our new social club on the 2nd June sees our Club with a
modern facility that we as a Club are proud of and will ensure our long term
financially viable now and into the future. Once again I take this opportunity
to thank all our sponsors and individual members who have assisted both financially
and in kind in getting us where we are today with our Social Club. We still have a lot of work to do in
finishing off all the works within the Social Club and I ask anyone who is able
to assist both financially and in kind to come forward and help us in any way
the can. In closing I ask everyone to get behind us in the second half of the
season to ensure that we are successful in both the seniors and reserves and
that both are competing in the 2010 finals. Stay safe and lets all get behind
our players and Club ensuring success in the second half of the 2010 season.
Gerard
Ryan – President, Sandringham Football Club.