The West Coast Eagles Football Club is delighted to welcome insurance broking firm Australian Reliance as an official business partner for 2010 and 2011. The partnership will renew the club’s association with former West Coast Eagles player Andrew Donnelly.

Mr Donnelly is the chief executive officer of Australian Reliance and the former footballer is looking forward to stepping up expansion plans for the national business he co-founded with partner Kim Hanson 12 years ago.

Under the deal, Australian Reliance employees will also have access to the football club’s highly-sought after Executive Leadership Programme, which focuses on the link between sporting principles and business practices. 

Mr Donnelly says that the two year partnership is a major step forward for the firm, giving it referral rights to the football club’s network of corporate contacts and business partners.

“This is an exciting deal for us because there’s a powerful parallel with sport and business - things like teamwork and leadership are relevant across both,” Mr Donnelly said.

The sponsorship deal is the second coup in six months for Australian Reliance which last year announced the sale of a 10 percent equity stake to US player Lockton, the world’s tenth biggest insurance broker and biggest privately owner operator.

West Coast Eagles chief executive officer Trevor Nisbett said the club was delighted to welcome Australian Reliance as an official partner.

“Australian Reliance and the West Coast Eagles have a great synergy, as we are both committed to supporting our local communities and in particular grass roots footy. We look forward to working with Andrew and his team and introducing them to our existing partners and corporate members.

“The partnership also compliments our long standing relationship with the IAG group and major sponsor SGIO which has traditionally just focused on the promotion of retail insurance,”  Mr Nisbett said.