2022 Presidents Report

2022 has been a truly exceptional year. It only took 279 days to break Sydney’s measured annual rainfall record of 2194mm.

For the Bombers, it was another opportunity to demonstrate our resilience as a footy club and highlighted the strength of our volunteers who keep the club operating.

I am immensely proud of how our players and their families adapted to the challenges created by the weather, especially after two disrupted years due to Covid-19.

I wanted to thank Mike Pickett, Andrew and Alison Briggs, Dave Sleishman, Matt Swindon and Sabrina Smith for all the work that they did during the rain. They created solutions and found ways to keep the club connected and made sure that when we could play, the games were as enjoyable for our players and their families. A special thank you to all our coaches and managers for finding creative ways to run training or to bring players together to interact.

I also wanted to thank Nikki Watt-Hopkins for stepping up and leading the canteen this year, it was nice to have the BBQ back. Thank you also to Sarah King, Renae Klause, Tyson Deering and Sarah and Daniel Smith for bringing Auskick together. Due to disruptions over the last three seasons, many of our players have not experienced the great elements of Auskick. We are getting back on track due to their efforts.

I would also like to thank Rohan Donovan for arranging all our merchandise, especially the Indigenous jumper that was designed by our players with Aboriginal artist Peta Joy and worn for the first time this year by our u17 boys. Thank you to Karen Armstrong for making the connections.

This year has seen further growth in our youth girls players and teams, our club is a much richer for their involvement. Many people have contributed to the success, I want to call out Amie Bennie, Matt Swindon and Derek Singline who coach a team and are also involved in the committee and leading the growth of girls footy.

A special shout out as well to Ben Carrick our club coach for being a wise soundboard for me and to our coaches, Stu Mill for keeping us compliant with our reporting obligations as Secretary and arranging the photos. Alan Wheelock, Mike Pickett, Michael Lynch and Andrew Briggs for working with our co-tenant the Southern Power and being involved in Club Waratah. Michael Larsen for arranging the hundreds of trophies that are presented this season. All our players our linked into the club through our extraordinary Registrar, Simone Philips.

I also wanted to thank our long serving Treasurer Michael Lynch for his incredible service over many years, especially this year when he continued to serve after his son retired and prioritised his HSC over footy. Lynchy was frequently reimbursing people for a team’s pizza night or hiring a wet weather training space.

Everyone may have some Good for Footy fatigue. Thank you to Sabrina Smith for making all the arrangements. Our collective efforts made it possible to fund extras this year, especially the pizzas. I was also humbled by the media profiles the club received in The Footy Record and on Channel 7. There are nearly 3000 AFL clubs in Australia, and they decided to profile a club in Sydney’s South just near the Royal National Park. I hope that you are all proud of the contribution to the fundraising.

The many volunteer hours are done to provide a chance for our players to play footy and have fun. A few players had a great year personally, well done Cave McKnight and Luca Croft (Bangor Tiger) who were the joint best and fairest winners of the u15 Div 2 competition and Riley Michels who won the u17 Div 3 Best and Fairest.

Games would not be possible without umpires, and it is fantastic to see a growing number of players also developing as umpires. Congratulations to Isaac Leonard who was awarded Best First-Year Umpire in the south.

Finally, to all our families and their players, thank you for demonstrating the club’s values of respect, fairness, enjoyment, and inclusion each and every week. Community sport should be fun and our players and the volunteers and families that get them on the park each week have benefitted from our collective support throughout the 2022 season.

Go the Bombers

Tod Brealey President MAFC