A huge crowd of nearly 220 filled the Swan Room at the Merrylands RSL Club on Saturday Night to celebrate the Holroyd Parramatta Goannas 2014 Season and present awards to the players from our 4 teams (Under 19, Division 5, Division 4 and Senior team in Division 1).
The Merrylands RSL Club are now the Major Sponsor of the Goannas, a partnership that has been going since 2004.
Guests on the night included Ron Hand (President of the MRSL) and his wife Shirley, Holroyd City Councillors Ross Grove, John Brodie, Lisa Lake & Joseph Rahme. The Goannas Club Patron, former Test Cricketer, Mark Taylor was there along with former Goannas and Sydney Swans player Neil Brunton. All the Goannas Sponsors came along too to enjoy the evening.
The reason for the large crowd was the presenting of Gray Medals (Senior Best & Fairest) to players all the way back to 1979 and then count down to the 2014 winner. There were 18 present on the night, and this brought many past and present players back to join in the reunion of sorts. It was difficult to get the program of events under way as players and friends that had not seen each other in many years, mingled, embraced and caught up on times gone by. When they finally did get seated, the guests were treated to a superb 3 course meal by the MRSL staff and the night was MC'd by media guru Russell Barwick from ABC Sports. He kept the night moving along as best he could and entertained the audience with his wit and humour.
A professional slide slow and video of the award winners was on display during the evening and there was a gradual build up to the major award of the night, the Gray Medal for the Best & Fairest player in the Senior team.
Major awards for the evening were:
Under 19 Best & Fairest - Harrison Spiteri
Thirds Best & Fairest - Luke Pierce
Reserves Best & Fairest - Peter Zuvela
Goannas Vice President Clive Sharp was awarded the John "JB" Barker Memorial trophy as Clubman of the Year for his tireless efforts during the season.
The Gray Medal was won by Ben Rogers in a very close count by just 2 votes over Brody Crane, a skilful player who can play just about anywhere. Ben Rogers plays forward and incredibly kicked a goal in all 18 games for the Season (54 in total), taking the Club & League goal kicking awards as well. In only his second year at the Club, where he also won the League and Club goal kicking awards in 2013, he is a very popular player at the Goannas. He was unfortunate to be injured within the first 10 minutes of the Elimination Final, a major reason the Goannas lost the game by just 12 points.
Ben joined all the previous winners of the Gray Medal on stage and Mark Taylor (winner in 1982 as a 17 year old) responded on behalf of all the Medalists.
When the busy night finished in the Swan Room, players, friends, family and sponsors all moved downstairs to continue their reminiscing and took time to enjoy each other's company.
Last Modified on 20/01/2016 10:24