Eagles B & F; Hall of Fame & Retirements

[cd]

Tonight was a great night at our Oval Ave clubrooms. 300 plus folk, sponsors, players, members and supporters gathered for our 2007 Presentation Night.

Congratulations to all award winners
U17 B & F Matthew Goldsworthy
U19 B & F Nathan Rayner

RESERVES AWARDS
Equal first 35 votes Vinnie Rugolo & Jake Pavlich
Runner Up 32 Votes Damian Williamson
3rd. 27 votes Ben Arbon
4th. 26 votes Luke Duncan

(interesting to note Andrew Rogers told everyone tonight our ressies used 65 players during the season which did impact on the juniors as we tried to manage our injury list during the season)

SPECIAL AWARDS
Most Magarey Votes (12) Mark McKenzie and Bernie Vince
Leading Goal Kicker Ben Schwarze (49 goals)
Best First Year James Stewart
Most Improved Nick Salter
Best Team Man Brad Dabrowski
Players MVP Leigh Treeby
Life Governors Award - from Bob Hank, Fred Bills, Lindsay Head, Malcolm Blight, Andy Payze & Andrew Rogers - Peter Fiacchi

LEAGUE AWARDS
2007 CLUB CHAMPION
MAYOR OF CHARLES STURT AWARD & PERC JOHNS MEDAL
LEIGH TREEBY (59 votes)

Runner Up Luke Jarrad 54 votes
3rd Luke Powell 48 votes
4th Bernie Vince 47 votes
5th Brad Dabrowski 44 votes

6 through 10th
P Fiacchi 42
P Lindsay 41
N Salter 39
M Cooper 39
B Lomas 38

Recognised for contributions to the club upon their retirement
Jon Floreani, Steven Hall, Tim Inkster, Matthew Cooper, Paul Lindsay
(members received email information Friday afternoon concerning these announcements)

Inducted into our STAIRWAY of CHAMPIONS (Hall of Fame): Paul Lindsay.

A great night where we honoured the efforts of our players and inducted Paul into our Stairway of Champions.
The speeches by all of the retiring players and the speeches by the Luke Powell explaining how respected and valued these guys were - was worth the admission cost tonight! Extremely moving and heartfelt.

It was my great pleasure to host Leigh Treeby's parents over from Victoria tonight and they were they so proud! which shows me just how important team sport is and how important a positive supportive club culture is!

We wish all our retiring players every success in the future and it was great to hear that they all wish to be part of the past players and will be paid up and passionate members of our club! They expect a reserved area on the hill by the bar with personalised service!!!

Also tonight it was fantastic to hear our coach's comments on the year. Ron Fuller was so strong in his comments - no excuses, 2007 has to be seen as a failure - we weren't in the GF! - we have to raise our standards and meet the challenge.

WWTFC does NOT accept defeat - we expect to WIN - we demand success - we are not the Torrens of old nor the Woodville of old - we honour our past but we as the WWTFC will not accept second best - our culture is one of success and winning and to see the boys and coaching panel talking so keenly about pre season fills me with great confidence for the future - get on board Eagles fans - Be a member NOW!

[MightyEagles]

Thanks.

[BPBRB]

WWTFC does NOT accept defeat - we expect to WIN - we demand success - we are not the Torrens of old nor the Woodville of old - we honour our past but we as the WWTFC will not accept second best - our culture is one of success and winning and to see the boys and coaching panel talking so keenly about pre season fills me with great confidence for the future - get on board Eagles fans - Be a member NOW!

A bit fired up hey? Better be careful you might start to rival sturtpeter for emotive outburst posts!!!

[Mickyj]

WWTFC does NOT accept defeat - we expect to WIN - we demand success - we are not the Torrens of old nor the Woodville of old - we honour our past but we as the WWTFC will not accept second best - our culture is one of success and winning

This should be plastered up on the walls at the club as you walk in and on the change room walls .

Thanks for all the info over the year CD .

[MightyEagles]

WWTFC does NOT accept defeat - we expect to WIN - we demand success - we are not the Torrens of old nor the Woodville of old - we honour our past but we as the WWTFC will not accept second best - our culture is one of success and winning

This should be plastered up on the walls at the club as you walk in and on the change room walls .

Thanks for all the info over the year CD .

I concur.

[Mr Fuller]

CD

Can you tell us what the criteria are for the "Live Governer's Award" won by Peter Fiacchi?

Also an overview of what it takes to be inducted into the "the Stairway of Champsions" i.e. Paul Lindsay.

Great to see Treeby win the B&F. He really stepped up this year and showed greater consistency this year then in past seasons where he has had a brilliant match followed by a number of quiet matches. It would be great to see him develop even further to become more of an onballer he has all the attributes of a quality ruck-rover.

Well done to all those players who are retiring.

Lindsay - absolute dedication to the club for a long period. I still remember his first few seasons and his battles against O'Connor for Port. One of the reasons the club has gone forward from late 1990's when he was recruited

Inkster - Sad to see him go as he is one of the few players that can break open a game and will be a big loss to the SANFL in general through his ability to provide excitement.

Hally - Another stalwart of the club who rarely paid a bad game and probably the main player most supporters wanted to be part of the GF victory last year.

Cooper - Only with us for a short time but extrememly valuable for us last year and boosted our midfield by providing extra toughness and showed what he can do in the GF. A great career at Sturt as well.

Hopefully with all these experienced players gone we don't sit back. We do need to recruit extra players but at the same time provide opportunities for the juniors. Every player must be made to earn their spot so we can continue our climb back to #1

[bayman]

why is cooper retiring ?

[Aerie]

Cooper is about 31 or 32 bayman. Well done to Treeby on the best and fairest. Well deserved! Thanks for the report cd.

[Leaping Lindner]

Am I reading this right? Mark McKenzie got the equal most Magarey Medal votes for an Eagles player and didn't make the top 10 in the club B&F. How bizarre.

[redden whites]

I remember being amazed in '93 I reckon when Greg Anderson won an all-Australian Jumper .He then went on to tie 11-13 in the club B&F I reckon.

[cd]

Not that unusual in that Macca polled 4 first preference votes early in year - missed over half the season with injury - so given these are our votes over all games is understandable.

[Dutchy]

Cooper is about 31 or 32 bayman.

I doubt that

[eaglehaslanded]

Am I reading this right? Mark McKenzie got the equal most Magarey Medal votes for an Eagles player and didn't make the top 10 in the club B&F. How bizarre.

Missed too many games throughout the season and most Eagles supporters will agree in the surprise that he polled so well at magarey medal. Leigh Treeby is a very deserving winner.

[MightyEagles]

Am I reading this right? Mark McKenzie got the equal most Magarey Medal votes for an Eagles player and didn't make the top 10 in the club B&F. How bizarre.

Missed too many games throughout the season and most Eagles supporters will agree in the surprise that he polled so well at magarey medal. Leigh Treeby is a very deserving winner.

Plus the coaches look at the game different then the umpires do.

[Mickyj]

Any ideas about who the EAGLES are chasing to replace the legends who have retired?
Will not seem the same with no Hall at oval ave.

[FlyingHigh]

Well done to Treeby, thoroughly deserved.

Guess 3 of those retirements are no real surprise. Cooper was probably only ever going to be a couple year proposition, and looked just about spent in the prelim final. Thought Lindsday still had more footy in him.

Inkster's decision is one that doesn't seem right - hit his peak in '06, and after a bad year this year is pulling the pin. Would still only be 28 or so, but we don't know the full extent of his injuries.

[eaglehaslanded]

Well done to Treeby, thoroughly deserved.

Guess 3 of those retirements are no real surprise. Cooper was probably only ever going to be a couple year proposition, and looked just about spent in the prelim final. Thought Lindsday still had more footy in him.

Inkster's decision is one that doesn't seem right - hit his peak in '06, and after a bad year this year is pulling the pin. Would still only be 28 or so, but we don't know the full extent of his injuries.

Word has it that Hall is heading to Henley FC to take up the A grade coaching position and Inkster and Lindsay are following him to play.

[cd]

Matt Cooper is 30 and with the arrival of his first child soon and with some medical issues to be sorted Matty wont be able to do a full preseason nor give as much time to footy as he has. As he does have high standards for himself he knew that he would struggle in 2008 and wasnt prepared to play on in those circumstances.

Matt is a very important player at Oval Ave. His 2 years were all quality and he his held in very high regard. Matt and Belle and baby coops will be seen around the club next year. Counts as 3 members!!!

Already confirmed that Hally is coaching Henley - certainly haven't been informed re others mentioned as playing at Henley

[eaglehaslanded]

Where to now for the Eagles FC. Indeed it is a very sad day down at Oval Ave with the retirements of some club legends . Recruiting now seems to be top priority. Some massive work off season will be required in the off season to keep the Eagles up amongst the contenders. What is happening with Gav Colville is he likely to be the next to retire - what about Passa apparently he has been offered a job back in Victoria.

[Aerie]

Where to now for the Eagles FC. Indeed it is a very sad day down at Oval Ave with the retirements of some club legends . Recruiting now seems to be top priority. Some massive work off season will be required in the off season to keep the Eagles up amongst the contenders. What is happening with Gav Colville is he likely to be the next to retire - what about Passa apparently he has been offered a job back in Victoria.

The club sent an email confirming Passador and Grocke were offered jobs interstate, but declined and will be at the club next year so you can breath easy on that one eaglehaslanded!

Of the retirements so far this year, we basically only need to replace Lindsay and Cooper from our on field set up of 2007. Hall and Inkster hardly played. Lee was recruited last year and has served his apprenticeship so hopefully he'll be ready to step up. There was also another young ruckman who was impressive in the reserves, but can't think of his name at the moment. Mickyj will know, we both were impressed by him at Elizabeth in the ressies this season.

Would be good to recruit another quality midfielder or 2 to replace Cooper (and possibly Vince if he plays more for the Crows) and strengthen that area to match the likes of North and Central.