2015 ANNUAL R EPORT AFL Sydney 2015 Annual Report CONTENTS AFL Sydney 2015 Officials 2 Football Operations Manager’s Report 3 Sponsorship/Approved Suppliers 7 AFL Sydney Umpiring Group Report 8 Representative Football 10 Phelan Medal 16 Phelan Medallist 18 AFL Sydney Rising Star 19 Volunteer of the Year 21 AFL Merit Award 21 Hall of Fame 22 Life Membership 23 Club Championship Award 25 AFL Sydney Team of the Year 26 Finals 28 Finals Match Results 30 Grand Final Photos 40 Club of the Year Program 41 Digital Sports 42 Football Record 42 Photography 42 Tribunal 43 2015 Premiers 44 2015 Grand Final Best on Ground Winners 45 2015 Miscellaneous Awards 45 2015 Leading Goal Kickers 46 2015 League Best and Fairest 47 2015 Competition Ladders 60 From the Vault 63 2015 Home and Away Results 64 Club Statistics 97 Benchmarking 104 Photos in the Annual Report courtesy of Michael Vettas Photography & Leigh Gazzard 1 AFL Sydney 2015 Annual Report AFL SYDNEY 2015 OFFICIALS Football Operations Manager Matthew Graham Football Operations Coordinator Scott Burkinshaw State Football Operations Manager Darren Simpson Community Football Manager Taleah Neowhouse Tribunal Panel Appeals Board Brian Langton (Chair) Peter Hastings (Chair) Chris Raper Alec Leopold Barry Richardson Tim Barling Richard O’Keefe Trish McDonald Kim Perry Tony O’Donnell Jason Downing Investigations Officer Daniel Reiss Graeme Merkel Representative Staff Seniors Womens Coach Roger Moten Stuart Newman Siom Berry Asst Coaches/ Terry Mudge Tracey Kick Selectors Jon Hayres Abe Caroca Tony Overall Selector/Manager Matthew Graham Matthew Graham Captain Matt Carey Jen Lew & Nikki Perrett Physios James Sutherland Trainers Russell Penton Hall of Fame Members Ralph Roberston, Jack Dean, Stan Milton, Roy Hayes, Jimmy Stiff, Jack Williamson, Harry Free, Col Harris, Billy McKoy, Rod Podbury, Ellis Noack, Cec Quilkey, Jack Armstrong, John Hardy, Frank Dixon, Rod Miles, Bryan Tyler, Dan Wilson, Ray Moore, Alf Penno, Ian Allen, John Grose, Anthony Quinn, Chris O’Dwyer, Graeme Sambrook, Paul Bouchier, Simon Wilson, William Cottis, Ralph Turner, Bob Sterling, Trevor Burnett, Jarrod Crosby, Jaret Hogarth, Jason McPherson, Cliff Matson, Barnaby Howarth, Lindsay Hetherington, Russell Matheson, Geoffrey Green, Albert Herbert-Ellis Life Members Pat Hayes, Ellis Noack, Mark Rendell, John Armstrong, Peter Physick, Ian Wright, Barbara Dickins, Frank Kalayzich 2 AFL Sydney 2015 Annual Report FOOTBALL OPERATIONS REPORT Having now moved into a new role within AFL NSW/ACT, it is with mixed emotions that I reflect on not just the 2015 season, but also the previous few years in my role as AFL Sydney Football Operations Manager. It was a passion for the league itself that led me to a career change and a job at AFL NSW/ACT and was always one I felt extremely privileged to be in. While certainly a very challenging role, it is one that I very much enjoyed and look fondly back on. Things don’t stand still for very long at all in footy and the 2015 AFL Sydney season was no different with a typically busy year starting as soon as the 2014 season concluded. As always there were highs and lows along the way but overall the league enjoyed another season of growth and increased professionalism. 2015 was the first year where the immediate support team remained steady which was certainly a huge advantage in all aspects and was reflected in the way the competition was administered. Scott Burkinshaw as Football Operations Coordinator was once again a pillar of support in the operations of the competition and deserves significant recognition for his unwavering assistance. There were plenty of noteworthy events across the 2015 season and once again AFL Sydney was fortunate enough to share in a feature milestone of one of its members when Frank Kalayzich umpired his 500th AFL Sydney First Grade match in the Round 10 Premier Division blockbuster between Manly-Warringah and East Coast. This day would prove one of the real highlights of the 2015 season with the two competing clubs, the wider AFL Sydney community and a few high profile umpiring stars coming together at Weldon Oval for a brilliant celebration of an amazing achievement. In what would be Frank’s final season of umpiring, his wonderful contribution to umpiring and AFL Sydney was recognised at the year end Phelan Medal night with a feature video package on the day finished off with Frank being made a Life Member of AFL Sydney. The league once again saw 10 divisions of football as per 2014 with a total of 91 teams completing the season. This included 59 senior men’s teams, 16 senior women’s teams and 16 Under 19’s teams. The season itself got off to a bumpy start with the withdrawal of Campbelltown from the Premier Division competition just days before the first round which put the best laid plans into disarray. The withdrawal meant that the Premier Division Competition would only be contested by nine teams across eighteen rounds with a bye each weekend for one team. While not ideal, the clubs should be thanked for their understanding in this difficult situation and despite a few anomalies in the fixture which couldn’t be helped due to the timing, the change didn’t have a significant impact on the division. Similarly, the Women’s Division One competition was also affected by a late team withdrawal when the previously dominant Balmain Dockers side advised the league in the lead up to the season that they did not have the numbers to field a side. This change saw the competition reduced to seven teams and like the Premier Division competition, one bye each weekend. Outside of these late team withdrawals, the most anticipated change in 2015 was the return of the East Coast Eagles First Grade side into Premier Division after their withdrawal from the NEAFL competition at the conclusion of the 2014 season. The return of this side created a huge amount of interest in the lead up to the season and now that the season has concluded, there is no question that their return was a real positive for the league. Across the divisions, we saw the most even competitions since divisionalisation came into effect which is evidenced best by the number of wins by the lesser performed teams in most of the divisions. While the nature of Sydney football means that there will always be anomalies that do not necessarily support this, the settling of teams into the correct divisions is close to being correct and should be evident in 2016. Of course the flip side to divisionalisation is the significant added stretch on clubs and resources, in particular for larger clubs, and this is something that certainly needs continual review of. To support this, of the ten premiership cups on offer in 2015, we once again saw a very good spread of clubs winning them with nine separate clubs crowned premiers and only Sydney University claiming two (Men’s Divisions One and Three). We also saw Wollondilly (Men’s Division Four) and Gosford (Women’s Division Two) claim their first silverware within AFL 3 AFL Sydney 2015 Annual Report Sydney which shows the spread of clubs we now have in the league. Interestingly, only two of the ten minor premiers managed to win the premiership which also shows the evenness of the competitions. The 2015 finals series were once again a season highlight and arguably the best and certainly the tightest for many years. Outside of the Division Five match won comfortably by UTS, the biggest winning margin of the other nine Grand Finals was Pennant Hills Premier Division victory by 35 points, a game in which they trailed at three quarter time! This years Premier Division competition had plenty of interest in it well before the first bounce of the ball with the return of East Coast’s first grade side to the league. With some well-planned fixturing, the Eagles kick started their season at home against Manly-Warringah, the new boys on the block who were coming off back-to-back flags in their first two years of the competition. With great weather and a big crowd, the season kicked off in style and the game certainly didn’t disappoint. Running riot, the Eagles looked home early in the last quarter as they led by 40 points however a typical Manly-Warringah fight back followed where they claimed victory with a kick after the siren. The season was underway. The opening round loss for East Coast would be their last however until the final game of the year as they dominated the competition. Pennant Hills finally broke the curse Manly-Warringah held over them in Round 2 with one of three victories over the year against the Giants and those two sides along with St George were the only real genuine threats to the Eagles during the year. UTS under new coach Nic Fosdike were the big improvers in Premier Division and showed signs that their maiden Premier Division finals appearance may not be too far away. With a huge turnover of players, Western Suburbs struggled for consistency and were the big fallers while UNSW/ES finished the year with the wooden spoon after managing just the single win for the year. After falling short against Manly-Warringah in the 2013 and 2014 Grand Finals, it was a very popular and deserved Premier Division premiership for the Pennant Hills Demons in what was a high quality, thrilling Grand Final at Henson Park (due to the unavailability of Blacktown International Sportspark). The Men’s Division One competition was once again an even affair with Balmain the benchmark during the home and away season.