President’s Report 2023
Presidents Report AGM 2023 – Natalie Bennett
2023 has been an amazing season for the Titans!
With the employment of additional staff at the SEJ, we saw a much smoother season with very few fixturing issues as well as a significant improvement within the Interleague Competition. These changes at the league also enabled a number of clubs including Berwick Springs to develop the Under 10 girls competition. This was one of our main goals for the2023 season, to expand our female participation, and this has now kick started our mission to develop even more girls teams for season 2024.
Of the 16 teams we had this season, 6 made it to the finals:
Under 11s
Under 12 Blue
Under 12 Green
Under 14 Green
Under 16s
Under 17s
With the Under 14 Green Team winning the Grand Final against Pakenham.
It was also great to see our club members (both players and volunteers) being recognised for their efforts on and off the field by the league at the awards ceremonies this season, with the following people receiving awards:
Kallen Smith – U11: 4th Place B&F
Ayaan Bhargava – U12 Green: 4th Place B&F
Archer Wilson – U14 Green: Leading Goal Kicker and Runner Up B&F
Hudson Holmes – U15 Blue: 5th Place B&F
Jack Bellinger – U16: 5th Place B&F
Christian Kassanis – U17: Leading Goal Kicker & 4th Place B&F
Joshua Hotston – U17: 5th Place B&F
Darcey Maas – U14 Green: Inaugural Skins Spirit of the Game Award
Jessica McLardie – U10 Girls: Female Coach of the Year
David Bennett – U14 Green: AFLSE Youth Coach of the Year &
AFL Victorian Youth Coach of the Year
As always, we could not survive without our volunteers and this year we got to honour some very special volunteers for their outstanding continuous service and contributions to the club:
Life Members were announced as:
Brett Carter
Brent Wood
Brad Swinburne
Natalie Bennett
Ian Howard
James Hackett
Wally Edwards
Geoff Tiberi Club Person of the Year was awarded to:
Andrew Neal for his tireless and humble support throughout the season.
We farewell and thank the following Committee Members/Volunteers for their support:
Nicole Devey – Functions & Fundraising
Ian Seagrim – General Committee
Jess Fitzpatrick - Functions & Fundraising
Mel Wilkinson - General Committee
Roxanne Rundell – Team Manager & Team Manager Coordinator
Kirsten Nitsiopoulos – Registrar
Brooke Gniel – Treasurer & Grievances
Both Kirsten and Brooke have been vital members of our Executive Committee and club for so many years and they leave some very big shoes to fill. We wish them all the best and hope they get to now sit back and enjoy their time with their families.
Our vision for 2023 was to not only make our committee bigger and better (which we did), but to focus on sponsorship and a new scoreboard and siren for Oval 2.
I am very pleased to declare that both of these goals were achieved!
We were able to secure sponsorship for all 16 teams which provided every player with new training tops for 2 seasons. And with the combination of sponsorship and grant applications we were able to purchase a new scoreboard and siren for oval 2 which we are looking forward to unveiling next season. Our Secretary Amey has worked tirelessly all season and has been able to secure these grants for not only the scoreboard, but also for our new website and social media, which look fantastic.
For season 2024, we endeavour to expand our girls competition as well as a focus on player and coach development. Our fundraising efforts will go towards seating around the ground and more undercover areas for spectators.
We thank you all for an amazing Season 2023 and look forward to an even better Season 2024.
Thanks,
Natalie Bennett
