The AGM for the Old Carey Football Club was held on 15 November 2023.

We were pleased to close out a 2023 season which saw us add an always elusive cup to the cabinet. Our elected officebearers for 2024 can be found here: Office Bearers – Old Carey FC. We welcome Jules Backmann to the Executive Committee as Women’s Delegate and Life Member Nick Andrews steps into the Vice President role.

Please find below the tabled President’s Report and Football Operations Report:

President’s Report – AGM

2023 was a great success – it won’t necessarily be the year people speak about for years to come – often they are reserved for Senior Men & Women’s Flags – but it felt like the club had its spirit back.

I was again proud of our game days and events – I think we presented professionally to visiting clubs. C-Grade whilst not somewhere we want to have an enduring stay has a great collegiality to it and it allows access to see how some great community clubs operate.

We welcomed two new senior coaches both of which have boundless positivity and energy. Aaron Bailey (M) and Ryan Dobson (W) have been a blessing – in the case of the latter all we had to do was find him a team – a task which looked a long shot as recently as April, as we took on the ambition of relaunching a women’s program. The program comes at a price but is an essential element to a vibrant, modern club and a must for a club that represents a coeducational entity. Once the team was let loose on the park – momentum gathered and gathered until we found ourselves in a remarkable grand final. The girls fell just short in their fourth and final bout with UHSVU.

In the men’s program – we observed good numbers across the summer, giving us an indication that tides were turning and in particular we’ve found we’ve had an explosion of 19s – thankfully many are senior capable and saved us as numbers were stretched in the mid-part of the season. Our greatest challenge this year was again caused by COVID – three years of essentially closed borders meant nearly all our players were chomping at the bit to get overseas. It smashed us through July and resulted in our season tailing off.

Despite being pillaged at times the Unders spent most of the year top of the table and entered the finals with one bogey side, Old Haileybury. The first final was a game of two halves – but we could not have been more buoyed by finishing the game the stronger. A three-point loss felt like a win and we accounted for our prelim opponent easily before taking on Old Haileybury in the game that counts most. The boys had a great win and much credit goes to KP and Shooter for managing a huge list of players to the ultimate success.

We’ve secured a number of lucrative jumper sponsors (Courtney & Patterson + John Hands) for the long term and worked at establishing enduring relationships with a number of gold and silver sponsors too. Perhaps our biggest quest has been a reconnection with past players – two events are a big help here – our Legends Day/Game (thank you Ben Smithwick & Jarrod Reid!) and the Cookie’s Kitchen Event (Amazing Cookie!) – we continue to push information out onto social media to share our inner sanctum and with a healthy following we’ve ambitiously launched a Coterie Group who’s membership comes in just shy of 50 after year 1.

Our Coterie Memberships attract certain benefits – highlighted by our inaugural Coterie & Sponsors Dinner in July – this was a great occasion on a bye weekend and the intergenerational engagement was great. We were also lucky this year to enlist the support of the VAFA to recognize some of our stalwarts – we attended a season launch where John Hands received a Certificate of Merit for his incredible VAFA journey and we were later in the year supported in our submissions for Ian England & the treasured Val and Max Evans to be recognized within an overhaul of their End-of-Season awards.

To our coaches – Aaron, Ryan and Zac Lisle (Reserves) and Keith Pereira (Unders) we’re lucky to have such dedicated and invested people – all were very ably supported by a huge group of assistants from Gary Ramsay right through to Mike Goodwin and Scotty Chamberlain.

No less important were our support team ranging from Geoff Yam in his final year as Head Trainer and his team of Trainers, our Physio Mitch and Matt Pallozzi’s support/generosity via Instinct Health, John Hands and our S&C overseen by James Waldon. I’ll give Bails and Dobbo the chance to cover our football program and results but I extend my congratulations to Tom Jepson & Lisa Walshe as our senior Best & Fairests and also James Horsey League Best & Fairest.

Jim will present the P&L later in the meeting – it shows a 15-20% uplift in revenue requirements and expenses – this was hard to bridge but our Coterie interests and hugely successful Reverse Raffle went a lot of the way to getting us break even.

We’ve all but closed out a historical debt with the VAFA which is something I’m proud of.

We have to acknowledge the generosity of the school in allowing us to tilize and share the grounds at Bulleen. We are fortunate to have these facilities. We continue to be the biggest club within the OCGA setting and we’ve welcomed the extra engagement with Sam Ponsford and his OCGA Board in supporting our program and initiatives. Thank you Sam!

To those that contribute their time and effort to the club we are so thankful, without the volunteers the doors shut – we saw Old Mentonians Established in 1967 spend 2023 in recess showing just how delicate things can be. In a committee sense, at times we were a little lightly stocked, but we are getting better at reaching out for help and we are better connected to the parent group than we’ve been for a long time. To our executive members thank you! Thankless tasks like Banking and Budgetting, VAFA Correspondence, Sponsor Identification (and now Coterie) take commitment. Emilija ran our events brilliantly again this year, the Ogilvies were a huge assistance with matchdays. In 2024 – I’d like more people to step in and up again – it is great to already have two of our women heavily invested in doing more.

In closing I would like to thank everyone for their time and energy investment that contributes to sustaining a great community club. We appear poised for a very successful 2024 with a great deal of stability across the place.

Michael Tarrant (President Old Carey Grammarians Football Club)

 

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Coaching | Football Report

Following a challenging period for the club during and post the Covid 19 pandemic, our priorities entering the 2023 season were to stabilise the club (holding our position in Prem C), rebuild connection and love for the club and see incremental improvement in our young list. On those measures, 2023 was a success and has provided a strong platform for the club too.

The reestablishment of our women’s program (and subsequent surge to a Grand Final) and the Under 19’s winning the division 2 flag rounded out a year that should be seen as a strong foundation for the years ahead. 17 players from our Unders or school program played senior football this year, which is a terrific outcome in a year where we won an Under 19 premiership.  Ryan Dobson has been a breath of fresh air at our club and his persistence and dedication was deservedly rewarded. Keith and Shooter, who have been so consistent in their work through the difficult period, were able to taste premiership success with a terrific group of young men.

The travel bug would be a key factor in our overall season, with nearly 50 men’s players across the three teams travelling during the season. At the halfway point of the season, we were inside the four and had established some strong momentum as a group. However, a cluster of byes saw a significant exodus overseas. Excellent wins against Mazenod, two draws against finalists Parkdale and PEGS and really competitive performances against the two promoted clubs highlighted that we are not a long way off the better sides in C Grade

With what has transpired over the past few years, the personal growth and life experience of our young playing group rightfully took precedence. Whilst it restricted our ability to compete later in the season, it provided us with a unique opportunity to blood several players at senior level, including players from our school program. 51 players got a taste of senior football, and we finished the year very positive in the ability of our young men to play at the level. What appeared to be a significant challenge became a significant kick start in our rebuild as a senior program.

Zander Adam and Harry Hill again led the club superbly, supported by our leadership group. These young men have had to carry a significant burden during a very difficult period for the club and it is exciting that they will now be able to be part what we hope will be much brighter times ahead.

Thank you to my team in Adam ‘Lefty” Wright, Sam Crocker, Marc Lock, Zac “Fridge” Lisle and James Waldon in their support of our senior program this year. Special mention to Fridge, one of the great people I have met in footy, who guided the development squad through the challenges of Europe Travel. Thank you also to Duncan Palmer, Michael Mitchell and Nick Andrew who provided fantastic support to the men’s program. Special mention to Geoff Yam and Mitch Cunningham who continue to provide our players great care leading our trainers and physios.

The club is led by a fantastic committee, but in particular Michael Tarrant, Sam “Bear” Hassett and Cam Jones who have shown great faith in me to lead the club. Taz’s energy and ability to bring everyone together, supported by the work ethic of Bear and John Hands drove the club this year and we are lucky to have them leading our club.

Our win loss record does not reflect the growth of our club and list in 2023. We have made significant strides forward and enter 2024 with stability and excitement. Now the work begins though. Whilst we were able to see improvement in our young list and clear steps forward, we now need to do the work required to become as good a club as we are off field, on it. With a significant number of players returning to the club in 2024, the platform is set for further growth and improvement. How hard we work and the commitment of everyone at the club to be the best version of Old Carey we can be, will determine how high our ceiling is. It’s a challenge we are excited to embrace.

Aaron Bailey (Head Coach | Footy Ops)