Each year, the Thursday evening leading into the Grand Final is the time for the Club’s Past and Present Players and Officials to meet up, along with current day staff, who are the newest part of the red and blue heritage.
The occasion provides a great chance to renew acquaintance, continue stories many seasons in the making, and also catch up on what is happening in and around the Club.
Season 2010, boosted by great on-field progress, was no different, with over 150 making their way to the Jim Stynes Room.
With Nathan Brown as an enthusiastic MC, and addresses delivered by Anthony McDonald and Club President Jim Stynes, the audience ranged from members of the 1960 premiership side, applauded upon the fifty year anniversary of their victory as the footage showed on screens above, to groups of players and support staff from the 1970s onwards.
Others in attendance included 92 year-old Col Bradley, as keen to be part of the action as he was in the uncertain seasons between 1942 and 1944, and David Robbie, widely agreed to have travelled the furthest to be there in his four hour trek from Casterton.
Both concurred that it was well worth it. ‘It’s all about being part of the Club - I love to see the youngsters all together, and that’s what you get out of it when you play, and when you retire. It’s the great friendships’, said Bradley.
Apart from the spirit of camaraderie, those assembled represented a line up to make any supporter reflect in glee. Flower, Viney, Barassi, Mann, Dixon, Stynes, Lord, Kenneally, Leoncelli, Hardeman, Neitz, Grinter, Lovett - the list went on for many names beyond these few. As the accompanying photo gallery shows, all were delighted to be amongst friends.
Complementing the occasion, Paul Martell delivered a much enjoyed comedy routine, and with formalities and the ubiquitous raffle over, the stories and memories continued to be exchanged well into the early hours of Friday morning.
