VOLUME 1 - 2018 19 May 2018

THE VIKING’S HORN

Quickie From The Pres As usual it has been a hectic start to the year with heaps going on! At the moment we have 5 underage teams (2xU8, 1xU9, 1xU10, 1xU11), 4 Saturday men’s teams, a women’s team, and an Auskick centre. This is fantastic for the club and I want to thank everyone who has helped out in some way to make this possible. For me the start of the women’s team has been the highlight so far. What a fantastic achievement!

This season has also seen the completion and opening of the new canteen and renovated change rooms at Bridgewater. A huge thanks to Andy Frazer, Lorrie Dellatorre, and everyone who helped with these initiatives. These facilities really set up the club for a bright future with our new women’s team and so many junior players. They also give me a great sense of pride in the club whenever I go to the oval now. It’s also so good to be able to have a beer undercover while watching the moddies on a Friday night!

Today marks the 200th A grade game for Steve Smith, while next week is Haydn Smith’s 200th senior game. The Smith brothers are true Raiders and club legends. They have always played for the club and their team mates, and I wish them all the best for their milestone games.

Finally a big thanks to my committee and all of the volunteers who make this club run. You all rock!

GO RAIDERS!

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VOLUME 1 - 2018 19 May 2018

View From The Scoreboard

Hello folks from the lofty h e i g h t s o f t h e R a i d e r s scoreboard for the first time in 2018. It’s been a while since I’ve shared some thoughts on how things look from up here. It’s fair to say that there’s been a few changes in Raiderland since 2017.  For a start, this old scoreboard attendant is having trouble keeping up with who’s who in our new look A grade team.  I could swear that most of the 2018 team were playing Under 13s in 2017!  Boy we’re putting out a youthful team these days.  Will Bryars, Alec Bryars, Jamie Drew, Ben Marsh, Tim Belsole, Alfie Wenk and Harry McCormack are all playing A grade yet are too young to have a post-match beer.  It doesn’t seem right seeing half the team drinking fruit-cups after the game.     We’ve also had a swag of player departures since 2017.  It’s bad enough having to put up with players leaving due to interstate work transfers (Evo), pending nuptials (Nicky J), or missing games due to pre-season injuries (Jacko), but it’s even worse when we get ram-raided by the cashed-up league down the South East luring our boys with filthy lucre.  Oh well,   I’m sure they’ll return one day when the lure of playing at a boggy Gumeracha oval in July is too much to resist. There’s also been changes of personnel in the scoreboard with long-standing timekeeper Graham Drew passing over the stopwatch to Anna McDonald.  It was always fun watching Drewy change his AFL team every year.  I swear he’s the only guy I know who has 18 AFL scarves in his wardrobe, and he just wears the scarf of whoever looks like winning the Grand Final that year.  In 2017 he was wearing the Adelaide Crows scarf from April 1 til around 4.00 pm on September 30.  In true Drewy fashion, at 4.01 pm on September 30 he put on the Richmond Tigers scarf (and hasn’t taken it off since).  Anyway, it’s nice to have Anna in the scoreboard, although there seems to be a lot more rubbish left behind after the game, mostly UDL cans hand delivered by Hoops!

 Just a public service announcement to finish off with folks.  Can I just ask everyone to use the traditional carpark exit onto Anzac Ridge Road after the game please.  The alternate exit over the cliff, through the goalposts and out via the goal square is not recommended this week. Your Faithful Scoreboard Attendant

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“It doesn’t seem right seeing half the team drinking fruit-cups after the game.” 

- DAN MCATEER

VOLUME 1 - 2018 19 May 2018

Rian’s Ramble

On behalf of the A Grade side I would like to welcome the clubs Life Members and Sponsors to their special day that sees us pitted against the Nairne Bremer Rams. In recent years the two teams have developed a heathy rivalry and I would expect today to be no different.     It’s clear that our A Grade side has a different look about it this season and what’s most enjoyable  is seeing  the development of our team week by week. I have heard the comment that “this is our youngest A Grade side the club has had”. The beauty of young players is that they bring energy to both older guys in the side and fellow youngsters. Over the past few weeks at training we have been focussed on defending, and at last weeks game against Kangarilla we saw reward for work we have done on defending, especially in the first half. What’s really special today is that 2016 Best on Ground in the Grand Final "Peter Page Medal" Steve Smith plays his 200th game for club. Within the team we all respect Steve for the way he prepares to be able to play at his best week in and week out and his ‘team first’ attitude. In closing, to the Life Members and Sponsors enjoy the day, and thank you for your continued support. Rian

B Grade Update After a successful season last year the B Grade are off to a slow start sadly this season. Once again this year we struggle for numbers at the start of the season which we've addressed by picking up some new player's and have some past player's come back out to help out. Sam ‘silky' Flinn has made a come back after not playing for 8 year's which will be great for the kids in the B Grade! Sadly the last few weeks we seem to have 20 or so player's unavailable every week but once we get on top of that I'm sure we'll improve!

Manos

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VOLUME 1 - 2018 19 May 2018

Wardy’s Angels As Head Coach of the newest team at the club, I have found it an enormous honour and privilege to help give the women in our local community the opportunity to play Australian Rules Football. We are currently part of the fastest growing participation area in the AFL community and the club has taken a proactive leap to join this trend. Growth in the Amateur League has seen it expand from 10 senior teams 4 years ago to 78 this year, making this a very exciting time for Women’s F o o t b a l l . We a re n o w representing the club in the Division 6 Amateur League competition along with a mixture of 5 other teams from the Hills, Murray Bridge and Aldinga regions. 

When we first started training early in the year, we found we were picking up a new player every week. Each person had varied levels of knowledge of the game, some have followed football their whole life and have basic skills while others have never seen a game of football before. With everyone training together we have had to teach a lot of new information in a short space of time, which has been one of the big challenges for the players and coaches. One thing that has never been in question from coaches, spectators and the opposition is the physicality, commitment and enthusiasm of the players.

This season we have made the focus of our team to be on weekly improvement. There are key points we emphasise each week, celebrating little victories as well as learning from our mistakes. So far this season we have had a challenging draw with the first 4 games away from home against experienced opposition. We are now looking forward to a stretch of home games at Aztec Park, hopefully with plenty of support from the sidelines. We are always on the lookout for the next Erin Phillips or Daisy Pearce so if you or someone you know are interested in playing you’re welcome to come out and have a go.

Myself, the coaches and players are very grateful for the resources and commitment that the club has shown so far in the development of Women’s Football.

We look forward to a long and successful future representing our community and making you all proud.

Simon Ward

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VOLUME 1 - 2018 19 May 2018

Anthony & Johnny’s U16 Wrap Up After a very tough 2017, the U16s have started the 2018 season with very positive signs. With losses of 3 goals,  10 goals and 7 goals in our 3 games, you would wonder how that statement is possible. The reality is that the teams we've played beat us by at least 25 goals each last season. That gap is closing rapidly, the improvement is huge. The boys are learning to implement some team play that is improving each week. They know they are good enough to be competitive and we know we'll be singing the song for the first time in 2 seasons soon. 

Anthony

Brenton’s U/14 Wrap Up

The U/14 team this season is very similar in personnel to the U/13 team last season due to the changes to age groups enforced by the HFL with a few ins and outs. We farewelled long time team manager Ursula "Turbo" Turbitt and very grateful for Georgia and Aimee for stepping into the role. We welcome back Finn "FKR" Koch-Reid from a few years away from the game.

The team so far as they did last season are a very hard working and tight knit team demonstrating the values of "Spirit, Mateship and Respect" that underpin our brand of Raider Football. We currently sit with 2 wins and 4 losses and will continue to focus on bringing our best to every game and every training session to continue to improve.

We have had some set-backs with injuries with Bradmyn "Duck" Nelson out for the season with knee injury and Oscar "Radar" Wilson with a strained patella tendon and now a broken arm...Oscar hopefully will return for the second half of the year. With these injuries we have called on a couple of our U/11's to fill the void and this has been done by Cooper "CC" Clarke and Angus "Gus" Wilson and the improvement with these 2 under aged players has been great to watch.

Congratulations go to 3 of our Raiders who have been accepted into the Sturt U/13 development program, these being Tyler "Toad" Borneman, Shamis "Silk" Hoyle and Taran "Taz" Sanderson....congratulations boys.

Finn "Wheelie" Sullivan-Llewellyn and Fletcher "Gomez" Adams have both stepped up as co-captains in Oscar's absence and shown great leadership and I can honestly say I have not heard a negative word from the team.

One thing I would like to reiterate to our great supporter group that is we will always do our best and sometimes the results are not flattering in some cases but a number of teams are not true u/14 teams as we are, we played one team this season who out of their 15 players - 6 were playing down from U/16's, other teams are merged teams, others are drawing players from other leagues on dual permits, so as long as we can see the effort and intensity the boys demand from each other we can be very proud.

Brenton Wilson

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VOLUME 1 - 2018 19 May 2018

Social Stuff Today we have the after match presentations at the Bridgewater Sports & Social Club (BSSC) where meals will be available at affordable prices.

Sponsors are our Lifeblood We are very lucky and thankful to have a large number of club sponsors, without which the Club would not survive. On the next few pages our sponsors are listed. Please support them and when you do use them, mention that you come from The Raiders!

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VOLUME 1 - 2018 19 May 2018

Hill GroveBridgewater InnAztec Developments General Builders – AZTEC OVALThomas GasChris Shaw Chartered AccountantKuchel Pool ExcavationsPrecision PortingJarrett Motor CompanyWalsh DentalBridgewater Amcal PharmacyDogZRRRusHills Auto Electrical Pty LtdAldgate Pump Sales & ServiceCrafers Garden CentreJacks Plumbing and GasHills Towing & Aldgate CrashThe Gauge WorksCellarbrations, Flagstaff HillCellarbrations, BlackwoodAdelaide Hills Mechanical & Tyre SpecialistAdelaide Hills Garden SuppliesJS Kitchen and CabinetsAmbleside DistillersLJ HookerS - Mac Electrical SolutionsBridgewater InnFederation Glass

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VOLUME 1 - 2018 19 May 2018

Frazer Gardens & LandscapesNelson Team WearKelledy Jones LawyerThe Gift SpecialistBridgewater ConveyancersBubba Pizza Mt BarkerBubba Pizza AldgateFitness Life Studios AldgateBridgewater Quality MeatsCrafers Copy CentreHanson Bluestone QuarryHills HireBeyond the FringeCrafers Pizza BarBridgewater Service StationLancaster’s Property MaintenanceMcDonalds Mt BarkerHahndorf Fruit and VegAldgate Veterinary clinicBack in Motion PhysiotherapySportspower

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