I have played AFL since I was about seven or eight years old growing up in Melbourne. In the early 80s we moved to Queensland where I joined the local league only to give it up for rugby league for a couple of years. After that I played AFL in two separate stints and have recently been yearning to play again so I headed back down to my local club, Wilston Grange Gorillas.
When I last played for the club about six years ago, AFL in Queensland was struggling and the club was close to going under. I am very happy to report however, that today the club has been rebuilt and now enjoys the luxury of having four senior teams and some great facilities, not to mention great people. They even have a pretty decent website for a local club and if anyone is interested in local footy in Brisbane’s North, please feel free to check it out at www.gorillas.com.au.
I have played a few matches now and am really enjoying the competitive nature of the game and the great feeling of belonging to group of people with a sense of pride and a great team spirit. As I am one of the older players at the club now (being 33) there are only a handful of familiar faces but I have been made to feel welcome by fellow players, officials and coaching staff. We have a split round presently which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the club which I find absolutely incredible considering Queensland is traditionally a Rugby League state.
Well how about our young Hawks? The team hasn’t enjoyed a great deal of success recently but there have been plenty of good signs for the future with the introduction of many young up and coming stars such as Lewis, Thurgood, Franklin, Boyle, Brennan, Miller and Roughead. My only real concerns at this stage are a possible lack of leadership (particularly up forward with a very inexperienced group) and whether we can keep this talented young group together in these times of little success. I do hope they stay and grow together as a team as it would give them all a very tight bond as the group develop and ultimately enjoy more on field success.
Speaking of success, it was great to see the boys come away with victory over Carlton. It seems the Blues are destined for another wooden spoon. Our young Hawks did well on Saturday especially considering the likes of Crawford, Mitchell and Bateman were absent. Spider is a great leader around the club and it was great to Richie Vandenberg make a valuable contribution on the day. It must be difficult enough to cope with the pressures of AFL football let alone having to captain the club. Trent Croad has been a revelation up forward in the last few weeks with Roughead settling in nicely at centre half back. The more I see of our current players the more excited I get.
C’ARN THE HAWKS
Shannon Ryder
Proud, Passionate and Paid Up
