Annual Report 2010
This is the 12th Annual Report of the Sydney Women’s Australian Football League (SWAFL)
The 2010 Executive Committee was President:
Roslyn McMahon-Bostick
Vice- President:
Sarah Court
Treasurer:
Karen James-Lawson
Secretary:
Olivia Hall
The 2010 General Committee was Footy Operations Manager:
Richard Anderson
Umpires Coordinator:
John Van Den Ham
Sponsorship Manager:
Tracey Kick
Events Manager:
Jemma Still
Equipment Manager:
Sarah Court
Website Manager:
Lancelot Yu
The League would like to thank all the committee members for their time, enthusiasm and ideas to make the league work. In particular, we thank those members who will not be continuing. All responsibility is taken by the Editor - Lancelot Yu for the content in this annual report. Front Cover Photo: Hannah Strong (Wollongong Saints) kicks the ball while Annie Rose Phillips (Bondi Shamrocks) is on the mark. Round 17 Wollongong Saints vs. Bondi Shamrocks at University of Wollongong No. 3 Oval. Photo by Simon Kent. All other photos are provided by their respective clubs.
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Table of Contents Message from the SWAFL President
Page 4
Treasurer’s Report
Page 5
Footy Operations Manager Report
Page 9
Event Manager Report
Page 12
Umpires Report
Page 14
State Team and Talented Player Program Report
Page 14
Club Reports
Pages 16-31
1. Balmain Dockers 2. Bondi Shamrocks 3. Easts Stingrays 4. Macquarie University Warriors 5. Newtown Breakaways 6. Southern Power 7. Sydney University Bombers 8. Western Wolves 9. Wollongong Saints Sponsors Page
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President’s Message This year SWAFL has been very successful both on and off the field. The league had nine teams competing and for the first time we introduced a non Sydney team in the form of the Wollongong Saints. We had a team compete in the NAB tri series in the ACT & saw the Balmain Dockers travel to Western Australia to play in a curtain raiser. With the continuing hard work of some very dedicated committee members SWAFL secured two sponsors, the Warren View Hotel and of course the NAB. I would like to thank all the committee members of SWAFL, NSWACT AFL and of course the players, supporters and officials of every club in the league for your help with the success of SWAFL this year.
Roslyn McMahon-Bostick President
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Treasurer’s report on the 2010 results The League’s financial performance was strong in 2010, returning a bottom line profit of $11,442 before write downs. After deducting the 2009 income and expenditure and the revenue collected for the Talented Player Program, the 2010 season produced a profit of $9,436. The budget for the financial year was a profit of $2,783. Several factors contributed to the strong operating results which I will detail below. Registration Fees In 2010 the SWAFL Committee approved a registration fee increase of $500 per team to $3,250. This increase was necessary as the incremental cost of going from 8 to 9 teams including insurance, ground hire, umpires, footballs and medical was estimated at $5,164. As new teams are added to the competition the number of matches played increases exponentially. As each team in the competition benefited from additional matches, it was determined fairest if the cost was spread evenly between all teams. Sponsorship In 2010, led by Tracey Kick, SWAFL achieved unprecedented success in gaining new sponsorship arrangements. The Warren View Hotel came on very early in the season as SWAFL’s major sponsor for $2,000. Later in the year, NAB Inner West confirmed their involvement in the SWAFL NAB Finals Series with sponsorship of $4,000. SWAFL was also the recipient of a government equipment grant of $1,989 which has enabled SWAFL to purchase a marquee, PA system, storage cupboards and an urn. Major Raffle The format of the major raffle was revamped in 2010. Each team was given 25 books to sell and half the proceeds from those sales were returned to each club, provided they owed no money to SWAFL. Where a club owed money to SWAFL the proceeds were deducted from the amount outstanding. Ticket sales were also encouraged with a $200 seller’s prize. Each player received an entry in this mini raffle for every full book of tickets sold. There were 87 entries. The raffle generated an outstanding $10,342, with approximately $5,000 paid back to clubs. Medical Assistants SWAFL was unsuccessful in securing the assistance of St John Ambulance again in 2010, thus saving $3,040. Medical support continues to be a priority for SWAFL and it will remain in the budget in 2011. 5
Umpires The strong financial position of the League allowed the Committee to increase umpires fees from $40 per match to $50 per match towards the end of 2010. In 2011, depending on the number of matches played, the umpire expenditure will increase by approximately $1,700. Sevens Carnival, League Development & TPP Lisa Roper ran a pre-season Seven’s Carnival in March 2010, generating about $800 for League Development. This revenue was spent on new footballs for the TPP. The sponsorship money received from NAB allowed SWAFL to film the Finals series for the first time at a cost of $1360. Players who participated in the TPP were requested to pay an entry fee of $130. As at balance date approximately 25 players had paid their fees. This money is set aside for use in 2011. Overall SWAFL finds itself in a strong position for the 2011 season. Karen James Treasurer
Preparing before the game. Wests co-coach Richard Anderson outlines the game plan at Mahoney Park.
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Attached are the Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss Statements for the 2010 season.
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Footy Operations Manager’s Report How times have changed. In eleven years SWAFL has gone from a ‘park football’ competition, to a nine-team competition with 18 rounds. Apart from the increase in participation, the skill level has improved each and every year placing pressure on the traditional top teams. 2011 is set to be another hard season for all clubs. The Draw The setting of the draw this season seemed to drag on for some time. As an encouraging and inclusive league, I believe it was in the best interests of SWAFL that every opportunity be forwarded to Simone Faulkner and UTS to enter a 10th team into the competition. Although this didn’t eventuate, I’m pleased that those women that did put their hands up to play were absorbed into other teams. With Wollongong entering the competition, teams were required to travel much further than in previous years. I would like to thank Dawn Giffin for being so hospitable to the travelling teams throughout the season, and in particular for holding a complete round at North Dalton Park at Towradgi early in the season. Juggling your Youth Girls responsibilities as well as running the Wollongong Saints was a big effort. Well done and we look forward to seeing you around the traps in 2011. Mahoney Park Due to its soil composition and excellent drainage, Mahoney Park is often one of the last fields to be closed after heavy rain. Many other councils choose to close their fields after a short downfall during the week causing games to be either moved (which is often difficult) or worse, cancelled. I have often received phone calls from other competitions requesting to use Mahoney either before or after SWAFL games in bad weather. The AFL (NSW/ACT) and SWAFL have gone to great lengths to secure Mahoney Park as an AFL field and more importantly a ground that SWAFL can predominately use. With the proposed works to be done to the field and its surrounds by Marrickville Council, in consultation with SWAFL, the use of the ground should not be taken lightly. In light of this, it is regrettable that some have formed the opinion that the use of Mahoney creates ‘…a carnival…’ atmosphere. Apart from the work that has gone into the securing of the ground, it also encourages clubs to watch other matches and get more involved in SWAFL. It would be more beneficial to both themselves and SWAFL for those people to offer a hand in assisting the league to grow, rather than sit on the outer offering unwanted criticism.
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Sporting Pulse The bane of my existence this season was Sporting Pulse, the SWAFL laptop and a simple checkbox. First of all, my deepest apology to all clubs for the lack of draw and competition updates throughout the second half of the season. In light of the SWAFL laptop’s motherboard being unrepairable, I was forced to re-enter all of SWAFL’s information into a new system. The 513 participants in SWAFL 2010 took the longest, closely followed by the re-entering of team sheets and match results. Most clubs were very supportive in providing me with player registrations, team sheets and match results. I thank you for your patience and support. Although we had the hiccup this year, I believe the Sporting Pulse system actually does work well. It would be wise to continue with this system, as I would be hard pressed to find too many valid reasons to change back to the paper system. Although there is a place for a backup system of paperwork, I feel the constant web updates of the draw and match results is much more fluid with Sporting Pulse. Thanks I would like to take this opportunity to thank the SWAFL President, Ros McMahon-Bostick. Your support throughout the year is appreciated. SWAFL would benefit greatly with you once again at the helm. Thanks to Karen James Lawson. Again your counsel on interruptions of rules, regulations and by-laws has helped me deal with seemingly difficult situations. As always you have been an excellent Treasurer. Thanks to Jemma Still. On a number of occasions this year you have lightened my workload. Setting up the Canteen roster, as well as a number of other small jobs has helped me tremendously and has not gone unnoticed. Thanks to Committee Members, Team Representatives, Team Managers and the Umpires. Let’s face it without all of us there would be no SWAFL. If your team/club doesn’t thank you, I will. I hope you are all enjoying the off-season. Recommendations Club nominations are made at the SWAFL AGM and a draw be set up as a result of those nominations. Alterations can then be made to individual rounds so as to fit in with clubs requests.
Season 2011 should not include Friday night matches. It places too much pressure on clubs to organise players after work.
Introduce Sunday games. If there is going to be 10 clubs in the 2011 season there will be a need to spread out games. 8am games are not acceptable. Another solution would be to introduce twilight games on Saturday.
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If clubs want to have a Ladies day, it should be compulsory for more than 1 game to be played at the venue of choice. Clubs need to understand it is not easy to reschedule games at their request. I understand that clubs want to have an open door to the men’s competition, however SWAFL need to ensure that we have sufficient umpires and that other teams are happy with the change. By having more than 1 game, it will alleviate these pressures.
SWAFL should seriously consider the offer, although not put in writing, from the AFL Sydney to handle all administration matters. I feel the position of Operations Manager is a part-time position and requires constant email and phone contact. Decisions are required to be made on a daily basis, from a player transfer, to organising alternative arrangements for a washed out game.
Richard Anderson SWAFL Operations Manager
An initiative started in 2010 to support charities in particular cancer by wearing specially designed pink socks. The Wollongong Saints liked their socks so much - they will be wearing it as part of their club uniform.
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Event Manager’s Report The Trivia Night was held in August and saw a good representation from most teams, with 15 tables sold for the evening, rising over $1000 for the league. Congratulations to Sydney Uni for being crowned the Trivia Queens of SWAFL and a big thanks to all involved for getting in the spirit of SWAFL vision and dressing up for the theme of “Fanatics”. The Presentation night was another big success, with over 120 guests coming together for SWAFL’s annual awards evening. The event was held at the Bowler’s Club of NSW and hosted by SWAFL treasurer, Karen James. The league congratulates all the players, coaches, umpires and volunteers that were recognised on the night.
Pictured is the 2010 Best and Fairest Winner: Natalie Redford (Newtown)
Winners on the night were: • • • • • • •
Golden Boot – Belinda Pride (Balmain) – a new league record of 112 goals and the first century goal scorer Yvette Andrews Player’s Player Award – Cynthia Dufaut (Wests) Best and Fairest Award (Natalie Redford - Newtown), Runner Up (Natasha Devlin – Newtown) Rookie of the Year – Tracey Robinson (Balmain) Golden Whistle for Umpiring – John Van Den Ham Coach of the Year – Tracey Kick (Balmain) Volunteer of the Year Award – Lisa Roper (Bondi / NSW TPP)
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Umpires Coordinator Report We started the season looking for umpires to accommodate all four games a week. The SWAFL Umpire panel for 2010 was John Freeland, Jemma Still, Joanne Farrell, Victoria Rawlings, Lance Yu, Emma Purcell, Darren Morrow and John Van Den Ham. During the year all umpires did a lot of travelling and clocked up a lot of Km, travelling North and South. This will continue in future years if additional teams are added. The rounds where the majority of games were played at Mahoney were usually easily allocated, however round when teams played at their own home grounds were difficult to fill and often resulted in umpires travelling to grounds between games. Uniforms for most umpires were provided at the conclusion of 2009 by John Freeland. This resulted in all umpires being provided with minimal acceptable uniform for matches. Throughout the year at a SWAFL meeting the umpires received a pay rise which was gratefully received. The year was a success due to all umpires being able to be flexible and thick skinned. During the year there was a lot of backchat from players and club officials which was fixed during the season and after that all were well behaved. The year was a learning experience for the Umpires Co-Coordinator with later changes and late sickness he had to contact other umpires to swap their appointments with others. At the Awards night the Golden Whistle was awarded to John Van Den Ham for the second time. Second was Jemma Still a job well done considering she was also a player and doubled up on many occasions. (Well done Jemma). During the Finals Series all umpires were giving an opportunity to do a Finals game and all umpires did a fantastic job. Grand Final Umpires Victoria, John F and John V did a tremendous job. The two umpires where possible was achieved. Especially ensuring not having umpires affiliated with clubs umpiring their games. We had the three umpire system during the finals which worked well. It was beneficial to be able to review the first final rounds on disc. These games were reviewed by the umpires coordinator with guidance given to each umpire prior to their next match. It is recommended that in future, if any recordings of matches are made, that a copy be provided to the umpires coordinator for match decision reviews and training. The majority of Goal umpires supplied by clubs were not qualified which caused controversy. Next year it is recommended that a briefing sheet be prepared and issued by club officials to each goal umpire. Next year the panel will be reduced due to retirements and overseas trips. So any club that has players or retired players interested in umpiring please contact the coordinator. Thanks for the season.
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State Team Report This year over the June Long Weekend, the State Team was invited to participate in a triseries against the Australian Defence Force and the ACT down in Canberra. This was an opportunity for some players who hadn’t represented their state to pull on the Blues jumper and know where their potential could lead to. The NSW team was able to win a game against the ADF and lost a game to eventual winners the ACT. The State team thanks Coach Tracey Kick and team manager Lisa Roper for their efforts to pull a team together.
Talented Player Program Coordinator Report This report is submitted by the Webmaster in lieu of a report by the TPP Coordinator. Developed by Lisa “Kiwi” Roper, the TPP is a long-term investment in women’s football. The aim of the Talented Player Program (TPP) are: •
To develop and support identified talented female footballers in New South Wales.
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To develop the participant’s physicals skills and knowledge of the game, whilst continuing to develop personal leadership attributes using various coaching and educational workshop training tools and personnel.
With the National Women’s Carnival now held biannually, this gave the league an opportunity to develop an academy or talented player program on a two-year cycle. This long-term focus provides an opportunity for players to improve their playing skills, leadership, presentation and speaking ability as ambassadors of the TPP. Initially there was a meeting held at the Novotel in Homebush Bay in late 2010 where specially invited players identified by the Coordinator were told the expectations and requirements of the TPP. Thus there is an extensive program for those nominated to achieve the required goals above leading to state selection for the AFL Women's National Championships in 2011 in Adelaide, South Australia. There is a small cost involved, so those players who have been nominated know there is an investment in time and money for their participation in this program.
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Joining the TPP are two people new to SWAFL. •
Jo Grayson, from Northern Districts AFL, has extensive management experience with her club and that region for AFL. She has joined us as the TPP Manger taking care of more the admin side of things now.
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Madison Rutter, who has joined us as our strength and development coach, and will work in with the High performance coaches from the AFL, and help to run our testing days. She is building up her portfolio as an AFL strength and conditioning coach.
The TPP has already had a tangible effect with participants representing the league in function events such as the Michelle Mulholland Charity Trivia Quiz, Youth Girls Finals and Grand Final appearances and participation in the SWAFL vs. NSW GAA Compromise Rules Game. Players in the off-season have now attended a workout session where they were timed in various drills and a collision drill session run by former AFL players. With Nationals less than eight months away, the program is a long-term investment by the league, AFL NSW-ACT to show that elite female football is being taken seriously by all stakeholders concerned.
A majority of the players who represented SWAFL were in the TPP Program for the Compromise Rules game against the NSW GAA held in October. The score was 8 – 119.
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Balmain Dockers The Balmain Dockers had an earlier than normal start to the 2010 season with pre-season starting in January. The Dockers started with some beach sessions to try and fitness levels prior to the official start to the season. This then continued in to the beginning if our normal training starting in February. At the beginning of the season we had a number of new recruits starting with us. Whilst some of these players had strong sporting backgrounds only one of them had previous AFL experience. Plenty for the coach to work with! We continued to recruit players throughout the season and look forward to all these players returning next season with a years experience under their belt. With our new recruits and a strong core group of players returning to the club, the committee, coach and players believed this was to be “the year of the Docker”. We had a fantastic season and went through the minor round undefeated. Additionally our full forward, Belinda Pride was the first SWAFL player to kick 100 goals in a season! The team looked forward to a promising finals series; however this wasn’t to be the case, losing both the first semi-final and then the grand final to our arch rivals Newtown. Our playing group realise they need to put this loss behind them and focus all their energies in to a bigger and better season next year. It was unfortunate we were not able to farewell Chris Matthews off with a premiership this year. Chris has contributed significantly to the club over the last 11 years and announced her retirement on grand final day. Both Natalie Morgan and she were awarded life memberships at our presentation night. Throughout the year the committee and members of the team worked extremely hard to raise funds for our trip to Perth to play in the curtain raiser game to the Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles. The trip was a great success and as a result of fund raising and some 16
additional sponsorships we were able to take a group of 35 to Perth for the weekend. Whilst we lost by a small margin to the Swan Districts team, the experience was a one off for most of the team and the trip away was a real highlight for the team this season. This year’s awards were given to the following players: pl •
Best and Fairest
Jackie Buckthought
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Players' Player
Jackie Buckthought
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Rookie
Rachel Barger
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Most improved
Kate Fitzsimmons
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Coach's award
Hayley Warren
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Dockers award
Pete Hemphill
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Golden boot
Belinda Pride
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Life Membership
Christina ina Matthews & Natalie Morgan
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Bondi Shamrocks After having such a super inaugural season it was always going to be a challenge to maintain that level, or even increase it further. After ‘unveiling’ our Irish AFL jumpers last year, we gave them a run up George St. in the Annual St Patricks parade to promote the code and club, with many a cheer from the crowd. We were again able to continue on with the support of our sponsors Sydney RSL and The Gaff bar. Our playing numbers dropped as we lost a core group from the previous season and meant we had to rebuilt and compete with our good ideas they took with them. We put in place a new coaching team, and opened our recruitment up to the backpacker market as a whole, not just the Irish community. With some initial success, in that one of our players who trained with us for 3 months before returning to the US and gaining selection in the USA Freedom team, our style of play in the SWAFL comp changed. We also recruited a former Scottish rugby international, and were entertained by our German recruit and Canadian ice hockey players as the season went on. By mid-season and after some disappointing scorelines, we were coach-less. With a small adjustment to our playing style and a return back to some of the good from 2009, we managed to overturn a few of those results, and moved up the ladder, though ran out of time and points to again make the finals. Our themed parties and off-field culture stood the test of time, and our awards night celebrated a new award for the funniest in the team, as well as our best and fairest shared by two outstanding new rookies who would not have been out of place in the NSW state team if we had Nationals this year. Being still in a learning phase we now have two solid seasons for which we can take a lot in. 2011 for us should see a return to the more Irish style as the recruiting has already started with some from the successful Compromise Rules NSW GAA team now interested, and many of this year’s recruits returning another season wiser and stronger for the game. We will again advertise externally for a new coach, and other roles, as season three will include many changes on the admin front for us too. Training may start in November, as 18
many are keen to get back into it, and next year’s season launch will again include our famed surf camp. A big cheer to the Wollongong Saints who came back for lunch to the Shamrock Bar after we played them in Sydney and were fine hosts when we played down there for our final game in 2010. This year’s awards were given to the following players: Players' Player - Annie Rose Phillips
Rookie - Paula Chalmers
Coach's award - Olivia Warren
Club Person - Larissa Roper
Best and Fairest
tie – Gillian Behan and Carol Breen
Milestones for 2010: Kate Grabowski –
50 SWAFL games
Annie Rose Phillips – 50 SWAFL games
Kellie Nolan –
100 SWAFL games
Lisa Roper –
150 SWAFL games
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Macquarie University Warriors 2009 was a development year for the Macquarie University Women’s team as low numbers hindered them from playing at a competitive level in their first year of footy. With the backing support of an established club, recruitment was a priority to ensure 2010 saw the first official Macquarie University Women’s team emerge into the Sydney Women’s Australian Football League. The objective of the year was to have fun, get to know the rules of AFL and develop players to encourage them to continue to play for years to come. We kicked off the year with great enthusiasm and 90% of the team having no experience of playing football so it was to be a challenging season ahead. Training sessions focused on fitness, skills and learning the rules of the game which assisted the girls to get the most out of game days. With the strength of a full team and subs, the girls put in 100% each week and challenged the experienced teams the best they could. The strength and perseverance of the girls shone as we didn’t let the scoreboard slow us down from learning and putting to practice the skills learnt at training. Highlights on and off the field for the Macquarie University Women’s AFL team included being presented with the SWAFL 7’s ‘Team Spirit’ award, being named ‘Best Dressed Team’ at the SWAFL Trivia Night and developing as a team with improvements each and every week on the field. 2011 looks to be a bigger year with the support of a full time coach and players from this year entering their second year of football, they hope to celebrate victory of winning their first game!
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Special mention goes to Liz Fassone and Leah Woldhuis for being selected on the SWAFL Talented Players Program for 2011 and playing for the NSW team in Canberra this year. The end of season Presentation Night recognised outstanding players and the following girls were the recipients of the 2010 Club Season Awards;
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Leah Woldhuis – Best & Fairest
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Liz Fassone – Coaches Awards
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Melinda D’Arcy – (female) Rookie of the Year
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Julie Adele Thai – Most Improved
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Aislinn Albury – Leading Goal Scorer
A big thank you to our club sponsors for their support throughout the season; The Epping Hotel, Neltronics, Grzic & Partners and Protein King.
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Newtown Breakaways 2010 was a year of unknowns for the Newtown Breakaways given the retirement of 5 time premiership coach Jamie Robertson coupled with the departure of many long term and experienced players. To ensure a consistent and experienced changeover, a targeted search for a replacement coach was undertaken. The result? Darren Lewtas, a veteran of the junior boy’s football scene and coach of over 600 AFL games. Once appointed, the training kicked off in March without the full supplement of players, with friends called on to ensure the team could field a side once the season began. A few more experienced players then came back on board, and when combined with the enthusiasm of the newer recruits, a more coherent and motivated team was formed. The pivotal moment of the season was the back to back losses against Balmain and then a one point defeat to Sydney Uni. This proved to the Breakaways that more work was to be done, which lead to a peak in numbers at training and fitness sessions. The momentum and team commitment resulted in the most inspired football of the year as the team gelled coming into finals series. This propelled the players to perform at their best in the semi final win against Balmain, an important moment for the team to beat the minor premiers for the first time in 2010. The rematch ensued in the grand final, after Balmain’s win against Sydney Uni, with the two most successful teams of the season battling it out for premiership glory. It was an inspired Newtown that rose to the occasion, with the team working together from back line through to the full forward, to take out the 2010 premiership. With the completion of a successful season, the relief of new coach Darren, was evident.
From an administrative perspective, the club was taken over by a new committee, who steered the club into renewed and new sponsorships, with a focus on ensuring a financially 22
secure team took the park in 2010. The club looks forward to next season, with new players, teams and challenges and would like to thank the SWAFL committee, umpires and all those who have dedicated their time to making playing women’s AFL in Sydney a reality. Club awardees as announced at the Awards Dinner held on 4 December were: ·
Best & Fairest – Natasha Devlin (2nd Cassie Lees, 3rd Nat Redford)
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Best Defender – Rosie Graham & Evelyn Synnott
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Golden Boot – Krystle Thompson
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Player’s Player – Cassie Lees
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Rookie of the Year – Tahneal James-Moody
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Most Improved – Tobi Noble
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Coaches Award – Brooke Davis
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Club Person of the Year – Natasha Devlin
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Southern Power This year saw the new Power Women’s team emerge from the Sutherland Shire. With it come new players and a totally new building stage. The team grew with the year and showed strength and unity as a group, which saw some great new talent blossom. The women’s team thanks the Southern Power club for encouraging the start of women’s team, and with playing two games with the men’s rounds at Gwawley and Henson Park has consolidated the strong bonds within the club. This year has been successful with our men’s senior club winning the Division Two Premiership and promotion to Division One.
The team has also been successful on the representative front. Rookies Dominique Goom and Jessica Colquhoun joined Christine Coles and Jessica Purcell in the NSW Talented Player Program. Jessica Purcell was also a Youth Girls representative playing for NSW in the ACT Youth Girls Challenge and the National Under 18’S carnival. We look forward in the future to many of our players increasing their skills to push themselves for representative consideration. After a successful first season at the club, the Southern Power women’s team Best and Fairest Trophy was a close affair with Christine Coles the winner just in front of Dominique Goom who also won the Best 1st Year Player. Jessica Purcell won the Most Improved Award while the Coaches Award went to Louise Glasgow and Rebekah Lucas was awarded the Team Player Award. The team thanks the club’s major sponsor Battery World and all our other sponsors for coming on board. We like to thank all our supporters, goal umpires, water runners and coach Gary Slowgrove for all their efforts during the 2010 season. With the support of a professional club, it is hoped the same core of players can back up in 2011, and shape ourselves into a force in the coming seasons. 24
Sydney University Bombers 2010 was a fantastic year for the Sydney University Women’s AFL Club (SUWAFLC). There was a large number of returning players from the 2009 season and a significant number of new members to bolster the clubs numbers. In response to the large number of interest the club was able to have a core playing group and a development arm moving towards strength and numbers for the 2011 season. With a fresh and returning committee of ten enthusiastic and dedicated team members on board the start of the year was positive, fresh and enthusiastic. On the field SUWAFLC played some outstanding football in 2010. There were many great results during the year against some first class opposition. Returning players and rookies alike stood up and played with determination and sportsmanship at all times. This year’s award winners were:
Golden Boot:
Marie Keating
Players Player:
Jennifer Lew
Rookie of the Year:
Melissa Khoury
Coaches Player:
Kate Lancaster
Club Person of the Year:
Alex Roberts
At the end of the season the Club finished 3rd in the Sydney Women’s Australian Football League showing great skills and team work throughout the season. Although the Club did not make the Grand Final each and every person should be congratulated on a great year. Off the field SUWAFLC had another stellar season with great team cohesion and lifelong friendships formed. The Club would like to take this opportunity to thank all of its supporters, Sydney University, Sponsors, SWAFL and the other teams in the league for a great year. Lastly but by no means least to the 2010 SUWAFLC Committee, your dedication to the club and women’s AFL cannot be faltered. Your hours of dedication and work have not gone unnoticed and are appreciated by everyone.
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UNSW Stingrays The UNSW Stingrays entered the 2010 season with one basic goal: to win more games…or at least one! The past three years had been hard for the Stingrays, going through a very long period of being defeated, week in, week out. To put it into perspective, myself and a handful of other players were entering their fourth season only ever winning one game as a Stingray. It would have been extremely easy to walk away and join a ‘winning’ team, but principle prevailed and we all stuck together to once again enter a team in the SWAFL competition. With less than a dozen players returning from 2010, recruitment was what we needed to do. Our tactics? Stalking runners at Centennial Park, pretending to be netballers in Moore Park, chasing females to their cars after scoping them out at rec footy…we had no shame! Ben (our coach) was particularly impressive, although we think he probably just liked having to chat up all the potentials. He was a favourite with the netballers. Anyway, before we knew it we’d managed to secure some nice new talent: Renee from basketball, Stef from netball, Dee from rec footy and Courtney from some South Australian backyard would all make their 2010 debut, amongst many others. What we were lacking in experience we certainly made up for in enthusiasm. Numbers at training were higher than they’d ever been, there was a positive feeling within the group and all in all, the Stingers were gearing up to be serious contenders in 2010.
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And what a start we got off to. Entering a team of mostly new-bloods to the preseason carnival, we managed to lead for a large portion of the day (thanks also to our high aptitude for ‘egg and spoon’ racing). Going into formal proceedings, we secured our first win in round one and went on to win three out of the four next games. The season highlight was probably our round 7 match against Sydney Uni at the muddy Village Green. Despite not taking away the four points, in this game we showcased our vast improvement and were left wondering what might have been…if only the lights hadn’t gone out. Regardless, falling short by a mere 8 points was deemed a mighty effort given the 100+ beatings we had become accustomed to at the hand of Sydney Uni in seasons gone by. Ending 2010 with six wins under our belt, this was by far the most successful on-field season that UNSW had experienced in its recent history. Whilst off the field, the Stingrays once again triumphed. Our annual golden stubbies / presentation day was held on Saturday 9th October. On a more serious note however, in 2010 the following players were given special recognition: Most Improved Player: Rhiannon Bartley Coaches Award: Jess Copper Runner-up Best & Fairest: Sarah Court Best & Fairest: Renee Sochor Looking forward to 2011, the mighty Stingrays are already setting themselves some difficult, yet very achievable targets. We will enter next season with a majority of returning players, our inspiring coach, Ben Porter, and a handful of new recruits. We have entered three teams in the upcoming rec footy competition at Centennial Park, will commence an off-season fitness regime towards the end of October and look forward to gearing up for 2011 with pre-season training to kick off in January. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the partners, family and friends of the players who gave up their spare time to help us at any point throughout season 2010. Furthermore, we would like to express our gratitude to Ben Porter, our passionate and dedicated coach who has stuck by the Stingrays, and who will lead us into what is hopefully an even more successful season in 2011, the year of the Ray! 27
Western Wolves The 2010 season was a successful season on and off the field. During pre-season we had a good turnout at our first couple of training sessions. By the start of the season, Wests had 35 players registered with a lot of new players. For 2010, the standard of football was fantastic and Wests had to work hard to reach the finals, finishing forth on the ladder. The standard of footy had improved between all teams. West was very fortunate to play a couple of games before our men’s teams including a game out in western Sydney at Blacktown Olympic Park. This season we have taken a much closer step in forming a stronger relationship with our Men’s club. We returned to playing in our men’s strip. Over the season they have given us greater support. We look forward to developing this relationship more next season. Despite missing out on the Premiership this year, the Wolves have become a well cohesive team. On and off the field we have bonded well with one another……great friendships have developed. This season West saw two players achieving milestones. West’s youngest player Junior (Emma Brown) played her 50th Game and one of West’s longest playing Cynthia Dufaut played her 150th game.
This year saw the return of our major sponsors - DFS Equities. Jim Purcell became our major jumper sponsor and also provided us with our gear bags. We would like to thank him very much for his support and hope he will continue to support us in 2011. Thank you Jim! A special thank you goes out to the Erko (Erskineville Pub.) The Erko provided us with our new 28
polo’s this season as well as a number of free jugs of beer during the season. Thank you for giving us the ‘Wolves Den’. Other sponsors we would like to thank, who have also came onboard this year for the first time are Rice Graphic Images, Fleet-Pro Heavy Vehicle Specialists and Latitude Wealth Management. Thank you all for your contribution! Last month was SWAFL’s Presentation night. Wests had a successful night. Cynthia Dufaut and Michaela Ekman polled well in the league’s Best and Fairest, finishing 7th and 10th. Well done girls!! Congratulations to Cynthia Dufaut in winning the ‘Yvette Andrews’ Players Player Award. This is Cynthia’s second year in a row win and her third overall in SWAFL. What an honour and achievement. Well Done! Wests had their presentation on October 22 at the Erko with the following players winning their awards. Best and Fairest – Cynthia Dufaut
Golden Boot – Cynthia Dufaut
Coaches Award – Tina Zekants
Players Player – Kate Lawson
Most Consistent – Michaela Ekman
President’s Award – Richard Anderson
Rookie of the Year – Kate Lawson
Most Improved – Nat Barber
Clubman Award – Coby Pearce
Best Team Player – Bree Calderwood
Encouragement Award – Rachel Coates
Wests would like to give a special thanks to Jason King as our head coach for his time and dedication over the past few years. We have learnt so much from him. What can we say….words can’t express how grateful we are for all that you have done for the Club. Thank You! We also would like to thank Richard Anderson, our co-coach and runner for us over the past couple of years. Wests would also like to give a big special thank you to Kaya Lyons and Cynthia Dufaut, who retired this year after 3 and 8 years of footy. Cynthia has dedicated a lot of her time and effort with West and SWAFL and has a great list of achievements. Thank you for all that you have done and good luck in the future! Wests would like to say a big thank you to the SWAFL Executive for all your hard work this year. Congratulations to all the teams for getting through another season. See you all in 2011, Year of the Wolf!!
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Wollongong Saints Due to the hard work of Dawn Giffin who was the Illawarra Youth Girls AFL Chairperson and Dave Johnson, Illawarra AFL Development Officer, the dreams of the Wollongong Team became a reality in 2010. After the Sydney Women's Australian Football League accepted our application in February, we had to compress what normally takes six months into two months
in
putting
a
team
and
the
infrastructure
all
before
Round
1!
It was safe to say that our early rounds was a quick introduction to football for many of the players this was their first year of playing football. We also had some young girls who also played in the Illawarra Youth Girls AFL on Sunday's backing up. In Round 4, SWAFL moved a whole round of matches to North Dalton Park at Towradgi, and we were lucky enough to play the final match in the afternoon against our neighbours Southern Power. Although we narrowly lost, it was great confidence to the players that we were able to compete successfully in the competition and if we had experience and more time playing together the
rewards
would
soon
be
evident.
Our coach Rick Joyce, who is a representative coach for schoolboys AFL joined us in Round 7 giving the team which we now called ourselves the Saints, a strong structure for the team to work upon. Our hard work and dedication on and off the field was finally rewarded with our first win in Round 6 against Macquarie University at Mahoney Park. Our team song was heartily sang by all our teammates, and in the future soon everyone in SWAFL will hear our tune!! We then upset the SWAFL ladder by winning our second game by a point against the then fifth-placed Easts in Round 13. We were also good enough to win our third game against Macquarie University at home later in the season to end our inaugural season with three wins which was three more than initially planned at the start of the season.
There are many people I would like to thank in no particular order. First of all, all the players who turned up in our Wollongong jumpers, thank you so much for giving the Wollongong 30
Saints a go and we hope that we will see you again in season 2011. Our sponsors from J&J Trucking, Denture Clinic and our major sponsor the Wisemans Bowling Club whom without we could not have got off the ground. Major thanks to our inspiring captain Shellee Gibson, our goal umpire Trav who supported us each weekend, Dawn our team manager extraordinaire and Rick, our great coach who was always positive with the players and constantly asked us for continual improvement regardless of the scoreline. At the end of the season, we held our annual presentation night and the following people received awards for our inaugural season: ·
The “Denture Clinic Club” person of the year- Briana Crawley
·
The 2010 Players player - Ariana Caramone
·
Most improved player - Katherine Gow
·
2010 Coaches Award” - Laura Russell
·
“Wisemans Bowling Club” Best & Fairest Runner-Up Player - Yvette Heritage
·
“J & J Trucking Maintenance” Best & Fairest award - Hannah Strong
We thank the SWAFL Committee for their assistance in setting up the club and all the SWAFL clubs who made the journey down south to play in Wollongong on those Saturday mornings for our home games. With some of our older Youth Girls (who were also Under 18 NSW representatives) becoming of age, there is no doubt the Wollongong Saints will be going places in 2011 - go the Saints!
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Sponsors Page Major thanks to the NAB Inner West Branches.
NAB confirmed their sponsorship of the Sydney Women’s AFL through to February 2011. NAB are offering competitive deals on a range of products and services in particular mortgages and business loans where any new loan, a considerable rebate will be given to your football team for their introduction.
Warren View Hotel Located at the Corner of Stanmore and Enmore Roads, Enmore. SWAFL is pleased to announce the first major sponsor to support the league in 2010. The Warren View Hotel will be the official 'social' home of the league. The perfect place to celebrate a win at Mahoney Park!!! ... and AFL on the TV guaranteed! Look out for more information on drink and meal specials available to all SWAFL members every Saturday between 11am-6pm.
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