IMPLEMENTACION DEL SISTEMA HACCP

• Elia ‘Dappy’ Economou, a tremendous character, passionate with the Latin blood coursing through his veins also should be rewarded for bringing back the fifteen man driving maul.

• Frank ‘The Hat’ Austin. The Hat once again the backbone of the two’s. • The support from all coaches and managers.

• The support from the Eastern Touchliners, good verbal lads.

• Special mention to a great Easts man Mike ‘Merry’ Vlismas for a tremendous achievement of over 150 first grade games, passing the patron’s mark along the way.

Best & Fairest: Tim’s Brother – Matt ‘Frank the Tank’ McGann Most Points: David ‘GURU’ Kehoe

Most Tries: Nathan ‘Frank the Boat Owner’ Lowe Matt ‘Shades’ Gray

Well done to all those who progressed to the finals.

Finally thank you to all for giving me the opportunity to take part in the club for another season. Great to be a Beast.

3rd GRADE

Easts Third Grade 2005 season can be summed up in one word, ‘Frustrating’. The season began with high hopes. A successful 2004 season, competitive trials and some new faces at the club all provided the coaching staff with confidence. Unfortunately, club injuries, unavailable players and an inexperienced squad resulted in a very frustrating 1st Round. In summary, 2 wins, 2 draws & 7 losses. The 2 draws and the majority of the 7 losses were games the Thirds could have won. All of these games were tight contests. The team’s effort was good. Third Grade was lacking leadership resulting in poor execution, especially in the backrow and halves. Constant team disruptions and the bounce of the ball all contributed to the disappointing 1st Round results. However, on a positive note, it was very pleasing to see a number of 3rd & 4th Grade players from 2004 get the opportunity to play 1st & 2nd Grade in the early rounds.

The Tooheys New Cup 2nd Round presented a great opportunity for Third Grade, and the club, to settle on teams and improve our results. The 2nd Round proved to be much more successful, 7 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses. A tough 6 all draw with eventual Premiers West Harbour and a hard fought victory against Randwick were the highlights of Round 2. The team improved dramatically when we were able to field some experienced players mixed in with some of the ‘colts’ in our squad. Matt Hill, Trevor Byles, Tim Holtsbaum, Ben Englefield and Morgan Sigg helped provide the leadership and experience we desperately needed in

Round 1. Their presence also helped improve the confidence and impact of the younger players in the group, including, Dan Lynch, Dylan Sigg, Mike Sydall, Ben Armstrong and Jon Dart. With our results improving and momentum building, the frustrating reality was we were too far away from the Top 4 to ever really threaten to be part of the finals.

Congratulations First Grade on making the finals for the first time in the Tooheys New Cup. Great work Matty & Jono on your tough assignment this year and the results you achieved. Well done First Grade Colts to make the finals. While the format for this years competition provided more frustrations for the Thirds with a Breakfast Club kick off time, it was always entertaining to watch the colts and encouraging seeing the talented players that will hopefully be playing Grade for the Beasts in the next couple of seasons.

Thank you to the Third Grade coaching staff, Tim Moule, Tyrone ‘Squashy’ Robertson and manager Craig O’Donovan. Fabi Vakandranu, thanks for your input. Thank you Doylo and all the other club coaching staff for your support this season.

As they say, ‘there is always next year’. See you in 2006.

4th GRADE

Taking on the role of fourth grade coach along with Jonathon Delaney at the start of the year was always going to be a challenge.

Firstly NSW rugby had decided to abolish the traditional club feeder, fifth grade, where all walks of players can come together and play Rugby for whatever their reason and whatever their skill. Leaving ambitious Rugby players and social players to be molded into a single grade, fourth grade that would balance every player needs.

Secondly Jonathon and I needed to gain the respect of the players, which would be a challenge in itself due to our ages. With most of the senior players being as old or older than us, and most other players I having played with up until last year.

And thirdly a new format, which saw fourth grade moved from its traditional kick off time of 11am before third grade, to 1pm later in the day. This also meant that fourth grade could no longer play its matches on the main fields along with the rest of the club, but on “back” fields, some times as far as 30min drive away from where the first XV would be playing. All this aside, Jon and I decided that we would make the season as enjoyable as possible, incorporating a social aspect with new and traditional rugby skills and techniques. Making our training sessions as professional as possible when it was warranted or simply playing

touch or modified rugby games at other times. And of course, the traditional training sessions at the bar.

One problem that we as coaches faced was the amount of players we had to squeeze into XV spots and how do we keep these players around when injuries became apparent. We did our best to have everyone participate, however inevitably we were to loose players as the year progressed. This became very apparent on our trip to Penrith, where we were struggling to field a side. But in true club spirit the third grade coaches and colts lent us a hand donning the boots to pull us out of trouble. (Thanks Boys)

Throughout all this, fourth grade kept turning up and giving its all week in week out, with some of the gutsiest rugby and never say die attitude I have ever witnessed in my rugby career. This “want to win” and “to give all” to your side and mates saw fourth grade finish fourth on the table and earning a berth in the finals. Unfortunately our season was to end there, but not after a courageous 60min attempt to win the game. An effort that every player can be proud of!

In any successful rugby side there are people who work behind the scenes and make it all possible for little or no thanks. I would now like to take this opportunity to pass on my sincere thanks to these people. Firstly everyone who played in fourth grade there can’t be rugby side without you. Especially the players such as Paul Bulman, Gian Lereun and Paul Passman who turned up week in week out to sit on the bench and play only a limited amount of Rugby.

To Jonathon Delaney for co-coaching with me, and making it all possible. To Katrina Sawyer, my lovely girl friend, and team manager/scorer, your help took a lot of responsibility off my hands each Saturday. To Mike Doyle it is a massive task to run and coach a rugby club and I know you did your best for fourth grade under some impossible circumstances. To all coaches well done on a great season.

Finally a big thank you to Piers Warren and Matthews Tyres, fourth grade’s unofficial Esky sponsor. The case of beer each week brought us together after win or loss as more than players but as mates.

I look forward to seeing you all again next year, GO THE BEASTIES!