Triple Premiership Coach, Danny Kelly’s new role with the Youth Reserves/Thirds team started the season off with the first ever game between the Beauy Sharks & the Richmond Central Snakes and by coincidence it was umpired by an old friend of the club, Brendan O’Connor, who officiated in Beauy’s 1997 Grand Final victory over Mark Neeld’s Old Geelong at Parkdale.
Brendan availed himself of our invitation to join the celebrations back at Oak Street after the ’97 Granny and left in a cab at 3.00am in the morning. When he came back to collect his car, he then joined in the Sunday Session and stayed for another five hours before another cab trip home. By the time he left the Friday night Vote Count and video replay of the Grand Final five days later he had been made an honorary member of the Sharks for devotion to duty; it had been an unforgettable week for all of us! That ’97 Grand Final saw our big ruckman, Steve Reidy, play a blinder of a game and if you keep your eye on the selections for the Fremantle Dockers next week the team may contain Liam Reidy, Steve’s son, an ex-Beauy Junior, who is close to making his debut as Beauy’s 34th AFL Player.
Danny’s team had a good entertaining battle with the Snakes with only a 3 point difference at half-time, but they then proceeded to move the ball quickly and run their opponents off their legs to record a big win to start the Sharks’ season on a good note. Best Players: Ethan Dallas, Phil Valoppi, Zac Barahus, Seb Stewart, Lachie Jones, Liam Collins.