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2005 AAFL Champs - The Mt. Roskill Saints

Welcome to the Mt Roskill Saints Aussie Rules Football Club website.

The 2010 season starts at the end of August, pre-season starts at the end of July. Recruitment is now in full swing so contact us if you are interested in playing. New and experienced players welcome!

For all the upcoming Saints events and dates, see the newly updated events calendar

Pre Season Training to begin
The Golf day is this weekend, and pre-season training begins the following Wednesday.

We've got another Roving Report in the results section - check it out.


July update
With pre-season fast approaching, along with the inaugural Saint's Golf Day coming up on Sunday July 25th, this month the Saint's start to come out of winter hibernation.

It's time to start going for a run, rumour has it trainings will soon weed out those that aren't keeping their fitness up, and all Saint's players and supporters should be gearing up for a big year!

The Roving Reporter is somehow everywhere at once, his spies have somehow infiltrated every level of Saint's management including secret meetings of the upper echelons. Check out his latest installment in the results section, and be careful what you say and where you say it - he's bound to be listening. (Although he does seem to be a bit confused regarding who our esteemed club treasurer is, I'm sure it's just a diversion tactic to keep everyone on their toes).


Bowls Day 2010
Superbly organised by Brunty, the Saint's Bowls Day on Sunday 23rd May was a big success. Thanks to 42 Below vodka for donating the prizes of, well, lots of bottles of vodka, it was a top day. The Hillsborough Bowls Club were awesome for hosting us, and their $3 Mac's Gold special was the icing on the cake.

The Roving Reporter has graced us with another fine installment - see the results section for a top read


Mt Roskill defeated by Waitakere
Unfortunately neither grade could manage a win in the Preliminary Finals on the weekend with the Reserves losing to North Shore and the Seniors going down against Waitakere.

Check out the Roving Reporter's final instalment for the year in the results section.

The Club awards night takes place at the Kay residence this Saturday, check your emails for the details, all players, club members, supporters and groupies welcome.

Keep an eye on the website for more updates, there are a few off-season activities planned, hopefully the Roving Reporter will pen us a few more words of wisdom. I've heard that the open sea, fishing, alcohol, boat overcrowding and life-jacket shortages don't mix, but you can't knock it 'til you've tried it...


Mt Roskill defeated by Uni
In a continuation of last week's player shortage, two very undermanned sides took to the field against Uni on Sunday.

We may have just scraped by against Manuwera, but it wasn't even close to good enough against Uni. The Reserves suffered their first defeat of the year and the Seniors took a trouncing, being soundly thrashed by 181 points.

We've now got Waitakere in the Preliminary finals this Sunday at Parr's Park, and if we don't turn it around, the Saints' season will be over.

The Roving Reporter's chilling account of events is in the results section...


Mt Roskill defeat Manuwera
Very low on numbers the Saints just managed to scrape together a team on the weekend and were only just able to hold off two very determined Manuwera sides.

The Reserves were able to complete their undefeated season, and finish as the league's minor premiers for the reserve grade.

The First Grade win sees Mt Roskill Seniors finish second to University for the year, and both our sides meet them this Sunday at their home ground Colin Maiden Park, Glen Innes for the Semi Finals.

All club members except five have committed to training at Gloucester Park this Thursday, so we will be doing our utmost to prepare for this weekend's clash, working on our game plan and strategy.

Check the latest RR report in the results section


Mt Roskill Saints defeat Takapuna Eagles
The Saints defeated the Eagles on Sunday in both grades despite being low on numbers possibly due to the late ground change. Numbers need to be up this week for training on Thursday as we only have one more game before finals and the away game against Manurewa is a perfect opportunity to work on our game plan. Only a couple of weeks left, so commit to training and let’s bring home the titles!

For a full match report go to the results section.


Mt Roskill Seniors lose to University, Reserves still undefeated.
Round 8’s fixture between the two heavyweights of the AAFL turned out to be a dud with the Mt Roskill Saints seniors losing heavily to the University Blues. See the results section for the ever colourful Roving Reporters version of events.

However we have much to be proud of with the Reserves still undefeated this year and with only two more rounds to go look like they will continue to march right on through the finals. Hopefully in the coming weeks the seniors will follow their lead on the field and not just in the match program.


Mt Roskill defeat North Shore
Last weekend saw both Mt Roskill Saints sides beat the out-of-form North Shore Tigers.

Jump to the results section to read the latest Roving Reporter's write-up. The lateness of the report is due to a technical hitch with the website and was actually prepared within minutes of the final siren on Sunday - apologies R.R.!

This weekend there is no club games in the AAFL, as there are the NPC and Under 20's tournaments being held. Check out www.aafl.co.nz for more details.


Mt Roskill defeat Waitakere
The Magpies didn't quite put up the fight we expected this weekend and the Saints managed a pretty convincing win on Sunday away at Parrs Park.

See the results section for the somewhat controversial Roving Reporter's story for this week.

This Sunday sees us playing North Shore, who forfeited both games against Uni last week, hopefully they can get a couple of sides together against us.


Mt Roskill defeat Manuwera
After a good win last week against Manuwera, the Mt Roskill Saints now sit second on percentage on the AAFL ladder.

The Reserves also continue their season-undefeated rampage.

Click on the Results to view the latest round report submitted by our mysterious roving reporter...

This week sees Mt Roskill play the in-form Waitakere Magpies at their home ground, see you all at training.


Round 4 Game - Round 3 Results
Please check our results section for round 3 match reports and results.

Hi Everyone,

Round 4 sees us take on the Takapuna Eagles at Onepoto Domain on SATURDAY

A map of the grounds location is in our downloads section.

It is on Saturday as the AFL GRAND FINAL will be on afterwards, your presence will be compulsory at OSCARS BAR on 300 DOMINION ROAD MT EDEN(expect a fine from Clarky and BJ if you do not show), where we will be watching the game, eating free food, and taking advantage of Froggy's drinks specials. This is quite often the first time many new players watch a game of Aussie Rules being played at a top level, and it is a great way of explaining how many of the game strategies we often talk about *should* work.

The games are scheduled EARLIER than usual, Reserves need to be at the ground at 10:45, and Seniors must be there before 12 midday.

Seniors should look to get there as early as possible, the last few weeks our Reserves have performed well, but often do not have the required numbers when the game starts.

We have quite a few injuries this week, around 6 or 7 people have rung me letting me know that they don't think they will be able to play. This means that I will be watching the reserves game closely and this will be a good chance for newer players to move up if they perform well. We need more new recruits, so get them down to training on Thursday night or at least to the game at 10:45.

On Saturday we will also be farewelling our ex-President Greg Cairns (he's got an early night planned so make sure you congratulate him on the new job in Aus, and buy him a drink while the game is still on) and we will be officially welcoming our new President Peter Boyce (so congratulate him on the new job and buy him a drink too!)

--

Andrew (Cogs) Congalton is the Auckland NPC Coach, has also been in touch regarding the Auckland team for the NPC tournament on the long weekend Sat 24th, Sun 25th and Mon 26th at Parrs Park (that weekend is a bye for normal games). Training begins on Monday nights from next Monday, you can either let me know if you're interested or just turn up to training at Gloucester Park at 6pm.

This is a good opportunity to train and play with a top level NZ team, open to everyone (including Aussies), it is a good opportunity to get noticed if you are thinking about being picked for NZ Falcons side next year. We don't have a game that weekend so you wouldn't miss any club games, and anyone in our club would benefit from the extra training. If you are unsure if you would be suitable come and have a talk to me and we'll discuss it, bear in mind that many people will be out of town for the long weekend, so you may have a better chance of being picked that you might think.



NEWS UPDATE ROUND 1 & 2
AAFL ROUNDS 1 & 2
The Saints had two fairly scrappy wins to start off the 2009 AAFL season. Round 1 & 2 results have been added to our results section.
Round one saw a 15-point victory over The Waitakeri Magpies and round two saw a 25-point winning margin against the reigning premiers the North Shore Tigers.
Despite turning over half our list from last season one unwelcome habit has continued. Goal kicking! Consider our past three scores:
Last year’s preliminary final Saints 4 goals 18 behinds. Round 1 2009 11 goals 17 behinds. Round 2 5 goals 21 behinds. Perhaps some goal kicking practice is in order which I’m sure coach Kemp has in hand.
As the team gets more games under it’s belt and as fitness and cohesion improves we will see some more flattering score lines hopefully.

THIS WEEKS GAME
The Saints play University away at Colin Maiden Park Merton Road Glen Innes.
Reserves players be at the ground at 11.45am at the latest. Seniors by 1pm.

ROUND 4 – (AFL GRAND FINAL WEEKEND) –PLEASE NOTE
Our round 4 game is to be played on SATURDAY NOT SUNDAY as it is AFL grand final day. We will also have earlier start times for both grades so as to be able to catch the start of the game.

AFL GRAND FINAL DAY FUNCTION
Venue TBA – Most likely Oscars Bar (same as last year).

TRAINING
Is on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 pm at the War Memorial Reserve May Rd at 6pm.

NEW RECRUITS
We still need more recruits for both teams (both new and experienced players). We currently have too many players playing both games so if you know of anyone keen to give AFL a go now is the time. Bring them along to training ASAP.

MATCH REPORTS
The club is after a volunteer to prepare game day reports for both grades each week. Please put your name forward to either Pete Boyce or Kempy otherwise one person will be nominated each week.




CHANGE OF TRAINING NIGHTS
From this week training nights will change from Wednesday to Tuesday and Thursdays. Usual start time 6pm.
This Sunday (23nd) will be the last Sunday morning training (10am).
Next Sunday (30th August) will be the pre-season comp.
The following Sunday (6th Sept) is round 1 of the season proper. Refer to the fixture section of the web site for the full season fixture.


CLUB SPONSORSHIPS & TRAINING
We are please to announce two key supporters of the club, Mt Roskill Panel & Paint (Brent Buckmaster) and Dynamic Family Chiropractic (David Kay) will continue to sponsor the club for season 2009.
This is great news for the club in these difficult economic times.
Please ensure you support these companies by using and recommending their services when you can. Both companies have links on our web site and Mt Roskill Panel & Paint are displayed prominently on the clubs trailer.
Many members of the club have and continue to use the services of both companies and they come highly recommended.

TRAINING
Remember trainings are Sunday morning at 10am and Wednesday nights at 6pm. With only a couple of weeks before the start of the season it is important to attend all training sessions. If you are not able to attend please phone Kempy.



GOLF DAY & PRE-SEASON TRAINING
SAINTS GOLF DAY
Forty-two keen golfers made there way to Onewhero Golf Course for the third annual Saints golf day on Sunday. Fantastic weather made for a great day out for all with Adam Brunt’s team cleaning up the prize pool. Adam’s team won the event, got the longest drive and closest to the pin. B.J’s team came second and won the tickets to the Warriors game (thanks to John Ackland). Thank you to all the players that played and/or entered teams as well friends and family of the club and all our other guests that attended.

LIAM’S TRIAL GAME AT GLENELG
Funds raised from our golf day enabled us to help out Liam Ackland with his costs in attending his trial game with the Glenelg under 18 team. Liam had a great experience over there, was well looked after by both the club and his host and best of all did very well in the game. Liam got good feedback from the Glenelg coaching staff and apparently got better as the game went on.
Best news of all is that Liam has been invited back to the club for next season. More news on this in our next update.

PRE-SEASON TRAINING
This should probably be at the top of the newsletter. Pre-season proper commences this Sunday at The War Memorial Reserve May Road at 10am.
We have purposely held back training a little latter this year so as to get greater numbers and have a more intense pre-season.
Kempy will be sending out an email later in the week outlining his expectations for the season and in particular commitment to training. It is an area we need to improve on if we are to match with the top two teams.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING RE TRAINING:
Everyone is to bring their own water bottle to training. With the event of swine flu the club has decided it is not hygienic to have club water bottles at training this time of year.
Bring your boots, runners and mouth guards to training. We may go for a run or use the asphalt car park for skills work if the ground is closed. Get into the habit of having your mouth guard on you they are compulsory for games.

PLAYER RECRUITMENT – SAINTS SIGNS & BANNER
We have been fortunate to pick up a few handy recruits so far but will need more players to field two full sides for round one.
To assist in recruiting the club has made up some signs, which we would like your help to place around our local community. We have 300mm x 600mm (Real Estate – Home Open Sized) and A4 sized signs. We need the larger signs placed around our area (i.e. lamp posts or community notice boards) and the A4 sized signs to be placed in your local sporting club or gym. Please let us know if you can help out with placing these signs.
We have also purchased a large banner, which will be placed, at our training ground.
Other than that, as always been on the lookout for recruits.

See you all Sunday 10am Sharp





SAINTS GOLF DAY & NEWS UPDATE
SAINTS GOLF DAY
The Mt Roskill Saints will be holding their third annual golf day at Onewhero Golf Club on the 26th of July. Green fees will be $30 per person and tee off times will be from 12pm.

Onewhero Golf Club details - http://www.onewhero.nzgolf.net/

We will be playing Ambrose format so you don’t need to be a great golfer to enjoy the day. This is the same format we have used on previous golf days. We need to fill at least 8 teams of four to keep the costs at the stated level.

Family, friends and members of The Saints as well as the wider AAFL community are welcome to attend and preferably enter a team.

The much sort after Mt Roskill Saints Golf Trophy will be up for grabs as well as some fantastic prizes. The first prize will be gig tickets, the team coming second will win a bottle of wine each.

All proceeds of the day will go to helping Liam Ackland with his expenses associated with his upcoming trial with the Glenelg Football Club in South Australia. Please refer to previous posts for further details of Liam’s trip to SA.

Drinks and food will be available in the clubhouse on the day.

TRAINING
Is now on Sunday mornings at 10am. Contact Matt or Greg prior to each week for locations. An email will be sent out later in the week confirming the location also.

WEB SITE UPDATE
The draft fixture for 2009 and contacts section of the web site has been updated. Please take note of the fixture and put off any overseas travel until after the footy season!!

RECRUITS
We have had three of four new recruits turn up to practice so far. We need many more to ensure we field two strong competitive teams this season. As always, you our current players need to be out there recruiting players for our team. Please direct potential recruits to our web site and/or our new senior coach Matt Kemp or myself (all contact details are in our web site).

SUCCESSFUL FUNDING APPLICATION TO THE OXFORD SPORTING TRUST
The club would like to thank the Oxford Sporting Trust for approving our funding application and providing funds towards a new playing strip for season 2009. Without such generous support we would have to pass the full costs (around $130 per player) of kitting out our team to our players.




NEW RECRUITS REQUIRED
Season 2009 is fast approaching. The club requires both experienced and novice players for our senior and reserves grade teams. The Saints have successfully developed many players new to AFL football over the past 10 years. Many have gone on to represent Auckland and New Zealand as well as play at higher levels in Australia. Come along and have a go. Trainings are on Sunday mornings. Phone Matt or Greg for further details (refer to our contacts section).


Season 2009 Draft Fixture
A draft copy of this seasons fixture has been added to the Fixtures section of the web site.


June Newsletter
It has just been confirmed that Liam Ackland will be travelling over to South Australia on the 25th July to trial with the Glenelg Football Club. This is a great opportunity for Liam who will be involved with a club that plays in arguably the best competition in Australia outside of the AFL. The club wishes to thank Ian Francis who arranged the contact between Glenelg and Liam’s family.
It will be a tough assignment for Liam as it’s our off-season and he will be playing against very good opponents who are midway through their season. The club is planning several Sunday training sessions to help prepare Liam please make an effort to attend.

In other developments around the club:

Coaching Appointments
Matt Kemp has been appointed senior coach for this season. Jarrad Wallace will be charge of the white board on game days. Ian Francis will be taking on the reserves coaching job.
Peter Boyce and myself will help out with assisting the coaches. Steve Fairweather and Brendan Hines will be team managers.
The club would like to thank all these guys for putting their hand up and helping to put together a very strong coaching structure.
It is vitally important that everyone gets behind Matt and gives 100% commitment this season. It makes it hard to attract coaches when we get anything less.

Pre-Season Training
As Liam will be heading over to Glenelg out of season we are attempting to get regular Sunday training underway. It will also be a good opportunity to meet our new players and improve our fitness and skills.
At this stage it is planned to be at Seddon Fields Meola Rd Point Chev. As we have no fields booked this early in the season we may need to change at short notice. As a back up Cox's Bay and the Western Springs outer oval (facing Great Nth Road) may be used. Please contact me on training days if need be.
Can we have some feedback on preferred training times and day (i.e. Saturday or Sunday - morning or afternoon)?
We would like to get a few along this Sunday at 10am at Cox's Bay. Please let me know if you can make it.

Administration
Congratulations to Bede McCarthy who was appointed club secretary at our AGM in March.
Please Note that our next club meeting has been brought forward to Wednesday 17th June at Oscars Bar 300 Dominion Road at 7pm. Pre-season training and 2009 fund raising will be discussed at this meeting.

Given that Liam will be paying his own way over to S.A. several funding raising ideas have been put forward. One was a club golf day. Can we please have some feedback on who would be keen to play, any prize donors and ideas on playing format (I think Ambrose format as per our previous efforts worked quite well). Details will be finalized at our next meeting on the 17th June.

New Recruits
We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new recruits to the club: Jamieson Botica-Graham, Rhys Buzza and Brendan Dixon. We look forward to seeing you at training shortly.
A reminder to everyone to be on the look out for new recruits in our off-season.

Other Goings On
Congratulations to Tabe and Sonya Voigt and Jarrad and Nicole Wallace (2nd time around) who are expecting babies shortly. Congratulations also to Chris 'Forrest' Newlove and his brother Anthony 'Bush' Newlove who recently got married within a week of each other. Chris also turned forty a got engaged earlier in the year.

Cheers
Greg Cairns
Club President




Notice Of Mt Mt Roskill Saints AGM - Senior Coaches Position - Recruiting
Our 2009 AGM will be held on Wednesday 11th March 2009 at 7pm at Oscars Bar - 300 Dominion Rd Mt Eden.

All members are invited and encouraged to attend our AGM and have their say on how the club should be run and it's future direction.

There are important issues to discuss at this meeting these are outlined in the agenda (emailed out to all members)so please make an effort to attend.

SENIOR COACHING POSITION FOR SEASON 2009
The Mt Roskill Saints require a senior coach for season 2009. Level 1 coaching accreditation is preferred but not essential.
If you are interested in this position please contact Greg Cairns (Club President) - Contact details are in the contacts section of our web site.

RECRUITS FOR SEASON 2009
The Saints require both experienced and first time players for our senior and reserves grade teams for season 2009.
We have a great track record of teaching new players the skills and fundamentals of AFL football. This is highlighted in the many New Zealand representative footballers that have come from the club over many years. Players new to the game are welcome to the club. We also require experienced AFL players to help guide our young group of existing players.

All existing members should be on the lookout for potential coaching candidates and new players for season 2009.




LIFE MEMBERSHIPS AWARDED
Two of the Saints longest serving players were awarded life memberships at our 2008 awards night. Steve Fairweather and Jarrad Wallace have both played for the club for over 10 years and have also given the club loyal service off the field.
We would like to thank and congratulate both players for their on and off field deeds for the club.

Jarrad started with the club in 1997 as a 15 year-old playing in a premiership in his first season. In 2000 he represented New Zealand at under-21 level playing against elite under aged sides in Australia. He won the AAFL competition and club best and fairest in 2000, captained the team in 2001 and 2002 and has filled many off field roles with the club over the years. Jarrad also coached the Auckland under 16 side in 2002. He played in our 2005 premiership side making him one of only two dual Saints premiership players

Jarrad’s great mate Steve Fairweather started a year later in 1998 and immediately impressed with his overhead marking skills. He was leading goal kicker and captain of the club from 2003 to 2006. He also he represented New Zealand at under 21 level in the same team as Jarrad. This team was coached by current Saints senior coach Ian ‘Junior’ Francis. He co-coached the Auckland under-16 team with Jarrad and travelled with the New Zealand team later that year as an assistant coach. He has not only had an outstanding playing career which has unfortunately been cut short due to injury but has also for filled many off-field roles at the club. He was secretary for three years from 2000 to 2002 and was instrumental in helping the club purchase our storage trailer, which he allows us to store at his home.

We hope they with both continue to be loyal servants of the club for many years to come. If we could recruit another 6 or 7 guys of similar ilk there would be no stopping us.

Please refer to the previous post for further awards winners and details of last weekends AAFL grand final.



AAFL Grand Final Results & 2008 Awards Winners
Unfortunately our reserve grade team were not quite good enough on Sunday going down to University at Mountfort Park.
Go to our results section for futher game details.

AAFL AWARDS NIGHT
Congratulations to the Saints Players who figured prominently in the AAFL awards which were held last Friday night.
Lewis Hurst tied with Matt Hackett from the Magpies in AAFL seniors best and fairest. This is the second time Lewis has won the comp B & F, he also finished second another year. When you add these achievements to his four club best and fairest awards you would now have to rate him as just about the best player to have played with the Saints.
Ben Hick won the AAFL reserve grade best and fairest award to go with his club reserve grade best and fairest award, a great result in his first season of AFL football. Well done.
Liam Ackland won the AAFL best under 17-player award. He also came runner-up best and fairest for the club and won our goal-kicking award for the second year in a row.
Reports coming from the AFL draft camp that Liam has been attending over the past 10 days have been very positive. He played very well in the practice games over there attracting the attention of AFL scouts. We will all be keenly watching Liam’s AFL progress from here on.

CLUB AWARDS NIGHT
All at Oscars Bar had a pleasant evening last night where the club held it’s annual awards night. Congratulations to all awards winners, especially Lewis Hurst who won his forth straight club B & F

Thanks to Steve Froggat and the team at Ocsars who have looked after the club exceptionally well this season. Steve put on a great spread for the club last night. Please get along and support Oscars when you can in the off-season. It is a great little bar.

2008 Awards Winners
Best & Fairest : Lewis Hurst
Runner Up Best & Fairest – Liam Ackland
Most Consistent - (3rd Best & Fairest) - Tabe Voigt
Most Improved –Billy Bedford
Reserves Best & Fairest: Ben Hick
Best First Year Player: Brendan Clark
Presidents Trophy: Rob Rogers
Goal Kicking Award: Liam Ackland
Seniors Coaches Award - Ben Jansen
Reserves Coaches Award: - Ian Graham

Thank you to all the club volunteer helpers and sponsors you have all contributed greatly to the club this season.

Remember guys we are on the lookout for a senior and reserves grade coach for season 2009. Keep your eyes out for any suitable candidates and contact me if you come across anyone. ANY CANDIDATES FROM WITHIN THE CLUB ARE ENCOURAGED AND WELCOME TO APPLY.

Our off-season is also the time that we should also be on the lookout for new recruits. If we can top up our squad with a couple of good experienced players, continue the development of our reserve grade group and get another group of talented locals on board we will be able to take the next step and go all the way next season.

We will also be asking for more members to fill administration roles within the club for season 2009. We welcome nominations for all commitee positions which will be filled at our club AGM in March 2009. The more volunteers we get the easier and more enjoyable it is for those already involved.

Have a happy and safe festive season.

Best Wishes

Greg Cairns
Club President



Preliminary Final Results
Mixed fortunes for the Saints on Sunday with the reserves team having a great win but in a disappointing result the seniors were well beaten.

Further game information in our results section.

This Sunday our reserves team take on University in the Grand Final at Mountfort Park Manurewa with the game starting at 12.30pm.
ALL PLAYERS TO BE AT THE GROUND AT 11.45am AT THE LATEST
REMEMBER YOUR MOUTH GUARDS.
A MAP OF THE GROUNDS LOCATION IS IN OUR DOWNLOADS SECTION.

Our prize giving will be held at OSCARS BAR 300 DOMINION ROAD MT EDEN this Sunday from 5.00pm.

The AAFL prize giving is this Friday. Refer to previous posts for further information. Marcus Jones still has tickets available.



Semi Final Results And This Weeks Game
Two great semi final wins for The Saints on Sunday with both teams progressing to the preliminary final against the North Shore Tigers.
Surprisingly The Tigers were well beaten by University in both grades in the other semi. Despite this result The Tigers have convincingly won both our encounters this season and will be out for revenge after their narrow lose to the Saints in last years preliminary final. Both games should be cracking encounters as finals usually are between the clubs with many close results over the years.
The Saints will need to be at their best in both grades with the best possible preparation in order to progress beyond this Sunday’s game.

MATCH REPORTS AND RESULTS ARE IN OUR RESULTS SECTION.


THIS WEEKS GAME
AS MENTIONED ABOVE BOTH TEAMS PLAY THE TIGERS AT ONEPOTO DOMAIN.
A map of the grounds location is in our downloads section of the web site. We have played at Onepoto twice this season so no excuses for latecomers.

The games are at their usual times, senior’s 2pm and reserves 12.30pm.
Seniors players are to be at the ground at 1pm (at the latest).
Reserve players are to be at the ground at 11.45am (at the latest).

BEST WISHES LIAM
We wish Liam Ackland all the best at he heads over to the AIS in Canberra to participate in the AFL draft camp this week. Liam has been in fantastic form over the past three games being in the best two players and being amongst our leading goal scorers. Unfortunately for The Saints he will miss the preliminary final this Sunday. Lets hope we can do the right thing by Liam and give him the opportunity to play in the Grand Final the following week.

CONGRATULATIONS ALYSE
Congratulations to our club Physio Alyse Cameron who recently completed her physiotherapy exams top of her class. Well done Alyse it’s great having you on board and our players getting the best quality injury treatment.
Alyse has just started work at SPORT AND SPINAL IN SWANSON PH 0800-427-497.
We encourage all Saints players to continue their physiotherapy treatments with Alyse.

The club is very fortunate to not only have Alyse but also DAVE KAY AND DISCOVER CHIROPRACTIC (please refer to the left hand side of our web site for further details) and DR BEN JANSEN involved with the club. It means we are able to offer the best possible treatment should any player be injured.

Please refer to previous postings re the AAFL awards night and raffle. All raffle tickets should be back with Jarrad now. See Marcus for your AAFL awards night ticket.



Round 10 Results & Week 1 Of AAFL Finals
After a couple of easy games it will be a different story this Sunday as both our seniors and reserves head into their cut throat semi final games at The War Memorial Reserve May Rd.

Please refer to our results section for round 10 details and refer to the AAFL web site for league results and ladder.


2nd Semi Final- War Memorial Park, May Road, Mt Roskill

Reserve grade; 12.30pm - PLAYERS TO BE AT THE GROUND AT 11.30am
Mt Roskill Saints v Manurewa Raiders

Seniors: 2pm - PLAYERS TO BE AT THE GROUND AT 1.00pm
Mt Roskill Saints v Waitakere Magpies

Preliminary Finals Day Sunday 30th November-
Onepoto Domain, Tarahanga Street, Northcote.

Grand Finals Day Sunday 7th December-
Mountford Park, Dr Pickering Ave, Manurewa.

AAFL Raffle Tickets
Remember your AAFL raffle tickets should be back with Jarrad. There are still approximately half the tickets outstanding. Please bring to training Thursday.

AAFL Awards Night
Friday 5th December 6.45 pm at the Onehunga Workingmens Club
Tickets $30 – See Marcus Jones for tickets.

Mt Roskill Awards Night
Will be either Sunday 30th November or Sunday 7th December at Oscars Bar Dominion Rd Mt Eden



Saints News - Round 9 Results - Round 10 Game
SAINTS SUPPORTERS DAY
Despite the wind a pleasant afternoon was had by all at The Saints supporters day BBQ held during our round 9 clash against the Takapuna Eagles.
With gold medal award winning Matua Valley wines (purchased directly from the wine maker Sarah Heyward, wife of ex-saints player Henry Carracher), beers, soft drinks, The Mad Butcher mystery bags (even vegetarian snags for Nashy), chips and dips in plentiful supply and the Saints having a good win all our supporters went home in good spirits.

Congratulations to Sarah with her Matua Valley Reserve Chardonnay winning a silver medal at the recent Air New Zealand wine awards. If you see some on your Supermarket shelves, get into it, it is a fine drop.

Round 9 Results have been added to our results section. For all the league results and ladder go to the AAFL web site results section.

CONGRATUALTIONS TO LIAM ACKLAND.
After kicking 6 goals and being best on ground last Sunday the week got even better for Liam having been invited to attend this years AFL draft camp at the A.I.S. in Canberra.
This is not only great news for Liam but also for the league, our club and Liam’s coaches Peter Boyce, Ian Francis and Rob Van Stam.
Liam is the first Saints player to attend such a camp since Charles Gregory in 1999.
We wish Liam all the best and hope he impresses the AFL clubs and coaches on hand sufficiently to be offered an international scholarship or further opportunities within the AFL system.
At sixteen years of age he certainly has youth on his side and lets hope the recruiters over there see the same potential we have seen. The improvement in Liam’s games in less than three full seasons with the club has been amazing. He has progressed from a skinny 14 year-old reserves grade forward pocket to one of our best on-ballers and leading goal kickers. He also represented New Zealand at senior level at the recent International Cup.

THIS WEEKS GAME – ROUND 10
This week we head to Mountfort Park Manurewa to play the Raiders. Despite last weeks results the Raiders have confirmed they will field two teams this weekend.
THERE IS A MAP OF THE GROUNDS LOCATION IN OUR DOWNLOADS SECTION.

Seniors be at the ground at 1pm.
Reserves at 11.45a.

AAFL Raffle
Please ensure you get raffle tickets and money back to Jarrad Wallace this weekend. No excuses, we need to get tickets and money back to the AAFL next week. Remember the club gets at cut on all tickets sold.

AAFL Best & Fairest Awards
Tickets will be available this weekend from Lewis or Marcus.
Where: The Onehunga Workingmens Club 158 The Mall, Onehunga
When: Friday 5th December commencing 6.45 pm.
Who: Open to all club members, supporters, friends & Partners.
Tickets: $30 includes a great buffet meal. Cash bar at low prices

NZAFL UNDER 20 COMPETITON
The NZAFL is proposing to run an under competition in Christchurch next March. Seeing as we have so many eligible players and so many new players within this age group it is important we all get behind this. It is a great opportunity to further develop our young players.
The AAFL is calling for applicants for the head coach, two assistant coaches and one team manager. I would like to think we would have at least two applicants for these positions.
Please contact me for further information (both players and volunteers).






Round 8 Results – Round 9 Game
Both Saints teams suffered narrow defeats against University who sit top of the table in both grades on Sunday. Match reports and results are in our results section.

All the league results and ladders can be found at the AAFL web. A link is on our home page.

This Sunday (9th Nov) we play our last home game of the season against The Takapuna Eagles.

The club will be having a BBQ and putting on a few drinks after the game. Players are encouraged to invite their partners along for a glass of bubbles or wine during the game.

As well as the players and partners, our loyal supporters, umpires and The Eagles team are invited to attend.

Reserves players are to be at the ground at the normal time (11.45).

Senior players to be at the ground at 1pm unless you are required for reserve grade. Junior will let you know during the week.




Round 7 Results & Round 8 Game
Our seniors and reserve grades both went down to very strong North Shore teams in round 7 last weekend. Further match details are in our results section.
Both squads will need to re-group for round 8 as we face the equally strong University Blues team at home this Sunday.

This weeks game is at May Road
Seniors be there at 1pm.
Reserves at 11.45a.

AAFL Raffle
Please ensure you get raffle tickets and money back to Jarrad Wallace ASAP.
You can direct debit raffle money into the club's account. See Jarrad or Greg to make arrangement.

2007 Trophy Winners
Can all 2007 trophy winners get their club trophies back to Greg ASAP.


Round 6 Results & Round 7 Game
IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE
This week’s round 7 game remains as fixtured, ON SUNDAY.
North Shore has not agreed to change it to a Monday game.
Please re-confirm your availability so that we can ensure we have enough numbers for both grades.
We play at Onepoto Domain, the same venue as our round 4 game against the Takapuna Eagles.

Results and match reports for round 6 have been added to the results section.

Congratulations and best wishes to Henry Carracher and Sarah Heywood who will getting married this weekend. We wish you both all the best for the big day and your future together.


Round 5 Results - Round 6 Game
Two great wins for our senior and reserve grade teams against the Manurewa Raiders last weekend.
Our young reserve grade team had a fantastic come from behind win against an equally youthful Raiders outfit. It was pleasing for all concerned to watch so many under-age players participating for both clubs. Ten of the sixteen players taking the field will be eligible for the proposed national under 20 tournament to be held in Christchurch next year. With another four players aged eighteen and under playing in the seniors The Saints should hopefully be well represented in the Auckland squad (assuming it all goes ahead).
The seniors had an equally impressive win scoring a massive 216 points against an undermanned Raiders side. Matt Kemp kicked 8 and Liam Ackland kicked 5 but the most pleasing aspect was the all round team performance.
Scores, best players and goal kickers are in the results
section.

For all the AAFL results and league ladder for both grades go to the AAFL web site. A link is on our home page.

After a couple of easy wins against the bottom teams the acid test for both grades will come over the next three rounds when we face The Magpies (home), The Tigers (away - on Labour Day Weekend) followed by The Blues (home). It will be a real measuring stick on how far the team has progressed since the first round.

THIS SUNDAY (ROUND 6) WE ARE AGAIN PLAYING AT HOME AGAINST THE MAGPIES.
USUAL START TIMES.
DON'T FORGET YOUR MOUTH GUARDS.

NOTE THAT DUE TO THE INTERNATIONAL CLUB AND CONDENSED SEASON WE WILL BE PLAYING OUR ROUND 7 GAME ON LABOUR DAY THIS YEAR.

Our round seven game against The Tigers will be played on Labour Day weekend. Please adjust your holiday plans or notify the coaches ASAP if you cannot play.

Whilst we have had a couple of good wins and were able to field two fairly strong squads we are still missing quite a few players each Sunday. We need to be filling two full squads from now on so please get to the games on time every week. Last week we had over ten players missing, mainly from reserve grade, which resulted in four having to come up and sit on the bench for seniors.
Not good enough!

VOLUNTEERS URGENTLY NEEDED
With Clare, Jason, Steve and Chris departing or vacating their posts for various reasons we have been caught short for volunteers lately. Home games especially. This week we will be further stretched with Junior being away.

The following roles need to be filled:
· Reserves team manager.
· Time keeper – reserves and seniors (especially this week)
· Goal Umpires – both grades. Thanks to Kevin for helping out last round. He came along to watch his first local game and goal umpired seniors and reserves. Great stuff!
· Club Delegate – to attend monthly AAFL meetings. I have done my share for this season thank you very much!
· We will also be asking for one or two volunteers each week from now on to prepare a small match report for both grades for our web site.

On a positive, note thanks to everyone for helping out with putting up and taking down of our side lines canopy. Thanks also for the guys volunteering for runner water for both grades and especially to Bede McCarthy for running the scoreboard.

Last Sunday we welcomed back a few of old faces as well as three first gamers to our reserve grade team.
Jared Klaver, Brandon Motion and Chris Hilder had their first game of Aussie Rules last Sunday. All are very good prospects and did extremely well in their first hit out. Welcome to the club boys.
Alyse Cameron, our club physiotherapist, was a welcome addition to our sidelines team on the weekend after finishing her stint with the North Harbour Netball team. Please make sure you get any niggles, injuries or strapping attended to properly now that Allyse is back.
Reserves Best and Fairest James Simons played his first game of the season last game and provided quite a bit of run through the middle.
And finally 2002 to 2004 player, Dave Kuss, returned to the Saints after a year in Christchurch and a couple of years in Canada. Having big Dave up forward certainly straightened the team up against the Raiders.

2009 UNDER 20 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.
The NZAFL is proposing to run an under 20 championship in Christchurch in March next year. Given the large number of eligible players we have at the club we (volunteers and players) should get right behind this proposed tournament. I would like to hear from all players that are keen to participate. Just as importantly I would like to hear from volunteers to help coach or manage the team. I would like these volunteers to come from outside of the group that are currently involved at club level. Please let me know if you can help out. It is a great opportunity for our young squad to really improve their football.



Round 4 To 5 Update
We have added brief match reports for rounds two to four to our results section.

Both teams are in the top four at this stage but will need to improve over the coming month to challenge the top teams.
We have had several players missing over the first four rounds either through injury or unavailability. It is important that everyone makes an extra effort to make themselves available for the remainder of the season. We are nearly at the half way mark already and need settled line-ups in both grades to make the improvement that is necessary. There will be no more easy wins for the reserves and the senior team know they have a bit of ground to make up on the top two sides.

There are still spots up for grabs in both grades so those guys that are just finishing their rugby are still welcome to come along to training.

PLEASE NOTE THAT TRAINING IS NOW TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS.
We no longer train Wednesday nights. All players are required to attend both nights training.

This Sunday (round 5) we play the Maunrewa Raiders at home (War Memorial Reserve – May Road Mt Roskill).

Reserves start at 12.30pm (required to be at the ground no later than 11.45am).
Seniors start at 2pm (required to be at the ground no later than 1.00pm).

Please Note that our after match function is at Oscars Bar 300 Dominion Rd Mt Eden. Oscars put on a great Grand Final Day function for the club. They are very keen to support the club so please make the effort to come along this Sunday. Partners, friends and family are welcome.



SAINTS AFL GRAND FINAL DAY FUNCTION
Please note we have a new venue for our AFL Grand Final Day function.

Location: OSCARS BAR 300 Dominion Road Mt Eden
Time: 2.30 pm ONWARDS Saturday 27th September

Finger Food will be provided
Entry is free
Friends and family are welcome.

Please make an effort to get along and support the club, a venue that is prepared to support the club and for a great social occasion.

See you there

Unfortunately the Saints were beaten convincingly in both grades on the weekend.
The seniors went down by 7 goals and the reserves by 8 goals.
On the positive side there is plenty of talent in both grades and both teams played well in patches. A match report will be posted in the results section shortly.

Good luck to both teams this SATURDAY as they take on the very strong University team. It is an away game at Colin Maiden Reserve – Merton Rd Glen Innes (a map of the ground’s location is in our downloads section).

PLEASE NOT THE CHANGE IN GAME DAY AND TIME.
Due to the AFL Grand Final being on later in the day.
Round 3 V University Saturday 27th September
Reserves Start 10.30am – be at the ground at 9.45am at the latest
Seniors Start 12.00pm – be at the ground at 10.30am




ROUND 2 SEASON 2008
A good first up win to the Saints over Magpies on the weekend mirroring the AFL semi final result.

A match report has been added to our results section. For all the weekends AAFL results go to the AAFL web site.

This week sees us up against the North Shore Tigers who pushed reigning premiers University all the way last game before going down by a goal. The Tigers will be out for revenge after being narrowly defeated by The Saints in the preliminary final last season. The games are generally close between the two side and we will need to be at the top of our game to be competitive (for new guys at the club refer to last seasons prelim final match report).

Note that reserves start at 12.30pm and will be 4 x 15 min quarters. We expect the Tigers to also field a very strong reserves grade side.

Reserves players should be at the ground at 11.45am. Seniors at 12.30.

This weeks game is again at May Road.


CONGRATULATIONS TO JASE AND SARAH SNASHALL.
JASE & SARAH ARE PROUD FIRST TIME PARENTS OF TWINS, A BOY - JACOB BRADLEY AND A GIRL - SUMMER LEE BORN EARLY MONDAY MORNING.
All is well although with the babies being born premature they will remain in hospital for some time.
What an effort by Jase on Sunday! Turning up to footy to ensure all was running well and his duties were covered before heading back to the hospital to be with Sarah.
It makes some of the excuses I've heard over the years for not fronting up look pretty lame.

FAREWELL ALEX
Big Alex Vanson made his one and only appearance for the Saints this season before heading off to Dubai. The club wishes Alex and his partner all the best with their big move.

GAME DAY DUTIES
Well done to everyone in pitching in with all the various duties that had to be done on the weekend. Let’s keep it up this Sunday.

ROUND 3 IS A SATURDAY GAME
Please note that our round 3 game will be played on Saturday 27th September, away, against Uni at Merton Rd. We will most likely have an early start due to the AFL Grand Final being on later in the day.

AFL GRAND FINAL DAY
Plans for our club function will be announced on Sunday.



ROUND 1 SEASON 2008
The Saints play their first game of the season against The Waitakeri Magpies this Sunday (14th Sept).

Reserve grade commences at 1pm, senior’s 2.00pm.
All players are to be at the ground by 12.00pm. PLEASE ENSURE YOU ARE AT THE GROUND ON TIME.

Although this is listed as an away game (refer to the fixture section of this web site for this seasons draw) we play at our home ground: WAR MEMORIAL RESERVE MAY ROAD. Refer to our downloads section for a map of the grounds location.

Volunteers for reserves umpires, goal umpires and runner/water people are required. Senior players are required for the reserve grade game and vice versa.
A roster system will be put in place at training this week. Refer to our downloads section of the web site for a list of duties that need to be done on game day. Note there is also a check list of personal items you need for the weekend please also refer to this.

Registration forms also need to be filled out this Sunday and subs need to be paid at training this week or at the game on the weekend.

Note also that our team physio Allyse is not available for the first couple of rounds. You will need to get any strapping done by your own physio over this time.

Training is on tonight please ensure you are there on time.

OFF FIELD ROLES AT THE CLUB
Due to the departures of Clare Ponton and Steve Fairweather and Chris Newlove relinquishing his many roles at the club we are in urgent need of people to step forward and help out with the running of the club.

At the moment too much is being left to too few.

We need the following roles filled:

Club Secretary (to replace Clare)
Senior Team Manager
Reserve Grade Team Manager
Club Delegate (to attend monthly AAFL meetings)
AAFL Web Site Uploading after each game (player registrations, game scores, goal scorers and best players)

NEW PLAYERS REQUIRED
We still need to recruit more players for this season. In particular we need under 17 players. So if you know of someone please send them along.

CONGRATUALTIONS TO STEVE & TENEKE FAIRWEATHER
On the safe and healthy arrival of new baby Stella Jade. Mum and Baby are doing really well.

Good luck to both teams on the weekend and especially to all the new Saints recruits having their first game of local AFL footy.




AUGUST NEWS UPADATE
TRAINING
Apologies to the guys that turned up to training Sunday to find it had been cancelled.
The council phoned that morning to say the ground was closed.
We will have a back up indoor facility for this Sunday in case the same happens. Thanks the Andrew Kowanijko.

There are showers forecast for today and tomorrow so there is every chance that the ground will also be closed on Wednesday. If this is the case we will go for a run. Please bring along your runners on Wednesday.
The council advises on ground closures at 2pm that day. Unfortunately once the ground is closed we cannot turn on the lights

THIRD ANNUAL SAINTS QUIZ NIGHT
The Quiz night was a great success despite numbers from our club being down on previous years. The fact that we have been hardly able to train and the season is starting two weeks later then normal may have been factors.
We were able to raise around $1600 for our club and another $1600 for The New Zealand Falcons International Cup team, which was a great effort.
Peter Boyce and Jason Snashall put in a huge effort into making the night the success. Everyone at the club should be grateful we have guys like Pete and Jase around and prepared to put in that sort of effort. Thanks to both of them as well as Michael Boyce who was also a huge help in organizing the event and on the night.

There were some awesome prizes available on the night and we would like to thank all of our sponsors and donors for their generosity.

Our sponsors/prize donors on the night were:

VIVIANNE SUKU who donated the major raffle prize as well as a Swans Guernsey and some NPC rugby tickets. - An awesome effort from one person.

COWLEY REFRIDGERATION (and Pete Boyce) who again donated a bar fridge for our raffle

MIKE AND PETER BOYCE who organized the EPSON PRINTER SCANNER as well as the Underwater Camera

BUNNINGS WAREHOUSE (and Aaron Shields) who donated huge amounts of individual prizes including power tools, portable lights and tool boxes.

GROVE MITRE 10 AND MITRE 10 MEGA ON THE NORTH SHORE (and David Grove – Jason Snashall’s Father in Law) who for the third year running also donated generously to our prize pool.

LION NATHAN (and Henry Carracher) who donated 10 lots of caps and T-shirts

RS COMPONENTS our generous major club sponsor who donated some remote control cars and many other prizes.

DR DAVID KAY AND FAMILY DYNAMIC FAMILY CHIROPRACTIC

NZAFL and Liam Ackland who were able to source various items of sporting memorabilia, which was auctioned on the night.

MATUA VALLEY Wines who supplied some great wines for us at good prices thanks to Sarah Heywood

SARAH SNASHALL for all the Porsche Gear

FAREWELL TO STEVE AND HENRY
With baby number two on the way and growing commitments in other areas Steve Fairweather has decided to pull the pin for season 2008. Steve has given 10 years valuable service to club. Thanks Steve for all your help around the club over the years. Steve was captain of our 2005 premiership team and played for New Zealand at under 18 level.
Good luck to you and Teneke with the new baby. Best wishes from all of us and we will hopefully see you back at the club next season.
Henry Carracher has just accepted a job offer in South Australia. It was an opportunity too good for him to pass up and the club wishes Henry all the best with his move. Henry and fiancée Sarah are also getting married in October. Best wishes from all of us at club for a happy future together. These guys have a hectic few months ahead with the wedding, selling of the house, moving and starting news jobs on the horizon

CLUB RECUITS FOR SEASON 2008
With Steve and Henrys Carracher departures The Saints have lost two more experienced members of the team. This is in addition to losing Mike Tagg through injury, Pete Boyce to retirement, Sam McKenzie to Otago for study and another two of our local talents Pete Jensen and Morgan Jones to Australia. With key defender big Alex Van Son off the Dubai that makes nine of our top players from last years Grand Final team that will be missing this season. This will leave huge gaps to fill from last seasons team.

We have some handy recruits coming into the team but could do with a few more so please be on the lookout for new players.

THE CLUB NEEDS MORE NEW RECRUITS.

If we don’t get a few more players we will be struggling for numbers in our reserve grade and under-17 teams.

It is also time for everyone to be getting to training regularly. Those of you that haven’t made an appearance yet need to get along. There is only two more Sunday training sessions before our first game. We play Waitakeri first game at May Rd. Word has it that they will be a strong team again this season with several handy new players.




Saints Training Tonight (20th August)
The War Memorial Reserve May Rd is closed again tonight due to the wonderful weather we've been enjoying of late.

As a variation to the car park training sessions and road runs we've been conducting over the past couple of weeks and as discussed on Sunday we will be having a team meeting at The Thirsty Whale at 6.30pm tonight.

The Thirsty Whale is located at 540 Mt Albert Road Three Kings. This is about 1km further along Mt Albert Rd (heading towards Onehunga) than May Rd.

Due to the weather this is by far the toughest pre-season we have had to organize since I've been involved with the club. I have contacted Ponsonby Rugby Club and their indoor training facility is fully booked all week, Avondale College, last time I spoke with them only had a spot Tuesday night at 9.30pm. If anyone has any other potential options please let me know.

It is important however we all stick with it, all other clubs will be in the same boat. Those of you not involved with winter sports should be really getting into some really serious fitness routines at the moment.

Please make an effort to get along tonight. We would like to set some goals for the coming season, set some team rules with regards to training, game day preparations, communicating availability and also with regards to a general game plan. It is also an opportunity to welcome and get to know our many new recruits.

Also, as far as the club is concerned it is an opportunity to pitch ourselves to a potential new sponsor now that the ties to Kenny's are no longer.

Remember the quiz night is this Friday, please contact Peter Boyce 021-906-102 for last minute bookings.

Good luck to Liam, Lewis, Marcus, Morgan and Matt who head off with The Falcons this Saturday to Melbourne for The International Cup.
The NZAFL web site has a detailed itinerary of their schedule whilst away.

There is a chance to say good bye to the lads at the quiz night this Friday.

Commiserations to Mike Boyce who just missed out on a spot and also to big Mike Tagg who injured a knee whilst training with the squad.

Our thoughts go out to Taggy who will be undergoing surgery on the knee this Friday. Even though he won't be in attendance he has still entered a team for the quiz night. Well done big fella!

Training is on as scheduled this Sunday at 10.00am. It is essential you get along.

Cheers

Greg Cairns
0274-699-990





JULY NEWS UPDATE
NZ FALCONS SQUAD
Congratulations to Lewis Hurst, Marcus Jones, Liam Ackland, Morgan Jones and Matt Callaghan on making the New Zealand Falcons team for the upcoming International Cup. Unfortunately Mike Boyce just missed out being named as an emergency. Mike is still a chance to make the final team should anyone get injured or become unavailable. Ruckman Mike Tagg was also looking certain to make the team before injuring a knee. Mike looks certain to miss the upcoming AAFL season, which is a real blow for both the club and Mike.

MAFFRA GAME THIS SATURDAY at Mountfort Park Manurewa 2pm- One or Two Volunteers Needed
There is rare chance to watch the NZ Falcons play in Auckland this Saturday when they take on the very strong and successful Victoria country team, Maffra. Please make the effort to get along to support the team and all the Saints players involved. Both Morgs and Matty will be back from Australia for the game.
VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED FOR SATURDAY
Rob Van Stam requires helpers to put up (and take down) the Genesis Marquee. If anyone able to get to Mountfort Park around 12pm to help Hamish Congalton put them up it would be greatly appreciated.
Please contact Rob 021 399 629 or myself if you can help.

WELCOMING DRINKS FOR THE MAFFRA TEAM THIS FRIDAY
There will be welcoming drinks being put on for the Maffra team this Friday night at the Grey Lynn RSA Francis St Grey Lynn at 6.30p. Try to make it if you can it has taken a huge effort for this club to travel all the way to our shores in the middle of their season to play on Saturday.

WELCOME TO OUR NEW RECRUITS
We have had a great turn out of new recruits at the training runs we have be able to have.
We would like to welcome you all to the club and hope you are enjoying your footy so far.
Remember guys please always be on the lookout for new players we can never have enough.
We need under 17 players for the proposed competition kicking off on round one this season.

TRAINING IMPORTANT
Training will be on this Sunday rain, hail or shine. We have had a terrible run with the weather so far but not once has the ground been closed.
We have got some great new recruits this season so we need to see everyone from last year make an effort to get there this Sunday.
We plan to get Wednesday night training underway next week (6th August).
We can discuss preferred weeknight training nights with the group this Sunday. At this stage it is Wednesday only

REGISTRATION DAY
Will be on Sunday 10th August, after training. We will be putting on a BBQ and some drinks.
Subs for this year are still $120 for seniors and $80 for juniors.
If you put a table together for the quiz night we will reduce this to $100 and $65.
Club Socks and Shorts will cost $40. Please also place your order on the 10th (including size).

QUIZ NIGHT
Friday August 22nd 6.30pm at The Alexandra Park Function Centre Level 3, Rutherford Room Greenlane Auckland.

This season the club will be jointly holding our quiz night with The New Zealand Falcons. Proceeds from this fund raiser will be split between the club and The Falcons depending on the amount of tables sold.
THE FALCONS HAVE ALREADY SOLD SEVEN TABLES. Please book your table also by Sunday the 10th of August.
As per previous seasons it is $10 per head or $100 for a table of 10. This is our major fund raiser for the year, a chance to also help raise funds for our national team and a great fun evening.
Also if you are able to help out with donating prizes for the evening please contact myself, Peter Boyce or Jason Snashall.

A flyer for this event is located in the downloads section of our web site

2008 FIXTURE
The 2008 AAFL Fixture has been added to our web site. Please refer to the Fixture section.

Cheers
Greg Cairns




Saints Training Starts This Sunday
After a few false starts due to the weather The Saints have their first training run this Sunday (20th July)at 10am at the War Memorial Reserve May Road.
Please make an effort to attend.

Training will be every Sunday from now until the start of the season. Please check the web site for any updates with regards to our training schedule.

DATES TO REMEMBER
NEW ZEALAND FALCONS VERSUS MAFFRA AFC
at Mountfort Park Manurewa - Saturday August 2nd 2.00pm

2008 FUND RAISER - THE SAINTS/NZ FALCONS ANNUAL QUIZ NIGHT
Friday August 22nd 6.30pm at The Alexandra Park Function Centre Level 3, Rutherford Room Greenlane Auckland
Refer to our downloads section for further information






SAINTS TRAINING UPDATE
After a false start last weekend due to the weather we have also decided to postpone Sunday training for the next two weekends.
The weather outlook for the coming days is very ordinary and there is every chance the grounds will be closed this Sunday.

We will also not be training the following Sunday as it is in the middle of the school holidays.

If you have any new recruits that are planning on attending over the next couple of weeks please pass on this information.

The web site will be updated on a weekly basis with regards to our training schedule so please check it out regularly.

Two weeks from this Sunday at 10.00am (20th July) will now be our first run weather permitting. We will have a BBQ and a couple of drinks after training so please make sure you attend and bring along any new recruits.

This season is not starting until mid September so we still have plenty of time to do a decent pre-season. I hope you are keeping fit and looking forward to having a kick with the Saints.

Remember if you are not involved with a winter sport we recommend you start your fitness training now so as to avoid soreness and/or injury once we get underway.


SAINTS NEWS UPDATE
PRE-SEASON TRAINING FOR 2008
Training will now start on Sunday (20th July) at The War Memorial Reserve May Rd Mt Roskill from 10.00am to 11.30am.
For new comers there is a map of the grounds location in our downloads section.

Afterwards we will christen the new BBQ and put on a few drinks.

The purpose of this Sunday is to welcome our new recruits to the club, kick off a few cobwebs and have a bit of a discussion about the upcoming season. It is important that all players from last year attend even if you are unable to train (i.e. Falcons squad members or those playing other winter sports).

NEW RECRUITS FOR SEASON 2008
The club has had several enquiries from new recruits in our off-season. These include up to 4 or 5 experience players, which is just what the club needs after losing quite a bit of experience over the past two seasons.
We have also had enquiries from several first time players, which is why we need to have as many training sessions as possible prior to the season commencing.
Amongst our new players for season 2008 are: Michael Johnson, Rob Rogers, Josh Rogers, Anthony Coates, John Wall, Jason Highland and Simon Scott. The club would like to warmly welcome our all new recruits for the upcoming season. We look forward to having you all on board and hope you enjoy your footy with The Saints.
There is also a whisper going the rounds that a couple of seasoned ex-Saints may be donning the boots this season and making comebacks. Come to training and find out whom.
As I mentioned above it is really important that all current players make the effort to get to training to show the new guys that we are a strong committed unit ready to improve on our 2007 efforts.
All club officials are also expected to attend this Sunday.

SEASON 2008 FIXTURE
Due to the 2008 International Cup being held this year and not being completed until the 7th of September the 2008 AAFL season will not be commencing until around the 14th of September. The season looks like finishing on the 7th December and at this stage we look like playing the Labor Day long weekend in October.
I will confirm all this information and post it on our web site when the fixtures for this season have been finalized.

2008 FUND RAISER - THE SAINTS ANNUAL QUIZ NIGHT
- Friday August 22nd 6.30pm at The Alexandra Park Function Centre Level 3, Rutherford Room Greenlane Auckland

This season the club will be jointly holding our quiz night with The New Zealand Falcons. Proceeds from this fund raiser will be split between the club and The Falcons depending on the amount of tables sold.
As per previous seasons it is $10 per head or $100 for a table of 10. This is our major fund raiser for the year, a chance to also help raise funds for our national team and a great fun evening. Please make sure you pencil in the date early and book your table of ten ASAP. Also if you are able to help out with donating prizes for the evening please contact myself, Peter Boyce or Jason Snashall.

A flyer detailing more information on this event is located in the downloads section of our web site.

SAINTS PLAYERS IN THE NEW ZEALAND FALCONS SQUAD
The Saints currently have six players in the Falcons squad for The International Cup. This does not include our ruckman Mike Tagg who unfortunately injured a knee whilst training with the team and looks likely to miss the 2008 season. Mike is hugely disappointed on missing out on the team and was an important part of the squad. Our commiserations go out to Mike. Still in the team are locally based players Lewis Hurst, Marcus Jones, Liam Ackland and Mike Boyce. Marcus and Lew are members of our leadership group and are going great guns. What is also great to see from a club perspective is young Mike and Liam still apart of the squad and both good chances of going to Melbourne. Both of these players were part of the under 18 team that were to play against Canberra Marist, when this game was cancelled both kept training with the senior team. It is a credit to both players dedication and commitment that they are still with the squad. The Falcon coaching staff should also be commended for showing faith in and being prepared to develop young players such as Liam and Mike.
Two Australian based Saints players are also in the Falcons squad. Matt Callaghan who is playing for the South Fremantle club in Western Australian and Morgan Jones who is playing for the University Club in Queensland. Both players are doing extremely well with their Aussie Clubs and are also looking good for Melbourne.

NEW ZEALAND FALCONS VERSUS MAFFRA AFC
at Mountfort Park Manurewa - Saturday August 2nd 2.00pm
There is rare chance to watch our national AFL team on the 2nd of August when the Falcons take on the very strong and successful Victoria country team, Maffra. Please make the effort to get along to support the team on the day. All the Saints lads will there, including I believe Matt and Morgs who will be flying back from Aussie for the game.
There will be an after match function starting at 5.30pm for further details please go to the NZAFL web site.

A complete Falcons Itinerary starting from the Maffra game and going through to the end of the International cup can be found on the NZAFL web site. A link to this web site is on the Saints home page.

Regards

Greg Cairns
Club President



Newsletter April 2008
SAINTS AGM
The Mt Roskill Saints held their AGM last week at which life member and club stalwart Chris Newlove stepped down from his position as club Secretary. Chris has held multiple roles at the club over many years and luckily for the Saints will be staying on as Club Delegate and Team Manager. All of us at the club would like to thank Chris for the great job he has done as Secretary over many years and are grateful that he is able to continue performing his other duties at the club.
Fortunately we were able to appoint an outstanding replacement in Clare Ponton. Clare was a welcome addition to the club last season providing assistance in many areas and with her experience in P.R. and fund raising the club’s administration team will be looking to further improve our off field efforts this year.
The club as proud to announce that Ian Francis has been re-appointed as senior coach for season 2008. Ian did an outstanding job in developing a new group of young players last season after we had a big turn over of players at the end of 2006.
Assistant coaches will be appointed shortly.
All other office bearers were returned to their respective positions.

SPONSORSHIP
In other great news R.S. Components will again be the major sponsors of the club for this season. Thanks to Steve Fairweather for bring R.S. Components on board and also to R.S. Components and in particular Marketing Manager Piers Constable for their continued support of grass roots sports.
R.S. Components have a web site link on our web site home page. Please check out their web site and if you are able to support the company in any way please do so. The more support we give our sponsors the more likely they will continue to support us.

NZ FALCONS
The Saints currently have five senior players training with the New Zealand Falcons senior squad in preparation for the International Cup to be held in Melbourne later in the year. Captain Lewis Hurst, Marcus Jones and Mike Tagg are training in Auckland. Vice Captain Morgan Jones is well into pre-season training with the Morningside club in Brisbane while Matt Callaghan has just completed pre-season training with South Fremantle in the WAFL. From all reports Matt has been going great guns over in Western Australia after playing a full season for the Thornlie Lions last year hopefully Morgs will be following suit in Queensland.
Michael Boyce and Liam Ackland are training with the Falcons under 18 squad and will hopefully both be in the team to play Canberra Marist later in the year.
We wish all the boys the very best of luck in making their respective squads.
At our recent AGM the Saints committee voted to put aside a minimum of 25% of total funds raised in 2008 to assist the guys with expenses associated with their rep football. Jason Snashall, with help from Peter Boyce and Jarrad Wallace will be organizing these activities. Anyone else that is willing to help please contact myself or Jason (refer the contacts section of the web site).
There are also opportunities for companies and individuals to sponsor the Falcons senior team in its quest to defend the International Cup. I will be emailing out information shortly regarding sponsorship packages. Please also contact me if you know of a company of individual that may be interested.




RECRUITS
We need everyone involved with The Saints to be on the look out for potential recruits. As members or players of the club it most important that we have any many people as possible on the lookout for new players in the off-season. If you come across someone please get their contact details and pass them on to Ian Francis or myself.
With Peter Boyce, Morgan Jones, Pete Jensen and Dave Kay either retired or moving on from last season the club desperately needs at two or three experienced players and as many as possible junior recruits. We plan to field a full under seventeen team from round six and would like as many under seventeen players to play reserve grade between rounds one to five.
We had a great bunch of new players last season that will need to take on additional responsibilities vacated by those players mentioned above. If these guys progress at a similar rate to last season The Saints will be up there again in 2008.

AFL LIVE ON SKY
Sky TV is currently showing one AFL match live each weekend. Times vary so you will need to check you TV guides each week. Kenny’s Bar & Grill are happy to screen the games but also check with new manager Arran beforehand PH 358-2564.






Grand Final Match Report & Prize Giving
Unfortunately the Saints were unable to give Peter Boyce the send off they wanted to in going down by 6 goals in last Sundays AAFL Grand Final.

A MATCH REPORT IS IN OUR RESULTS SECTION.

PHOTOS FROM OUR PRELIMINARY FINAL GAME AGAINST NORTH SHORE HAVE BEEN ADDED TO OUR GALLERY SECTION.

The Saints were galant in defeat however and gave it everything right up until the end. The host of new players introduced to the team would have gained valuable experience from the occassion with around half the team in their first or second season of AFL football.

A highlight of the day was The Saints having eight under 17 players playing in the under 17 North verses South curtain raiser to the Grand Final. There were another three under 18 players playing in the main game including Liam Ackland at 15 years of age, Josh McKenzie 16 years old and Michael Boyce 17 years old. All were playing there first season of senior grade football.

Despite the disappointment of losing the G.F a great Sunday night was had by all at Kenny's Bar and Grill for The Saints Prize giving.

PRIZE WINNERS WERE:
Best & Fairest : Lewis Hurst –For the third year in a row.
Runner Up Best & Fairest - Michael Tagg
Most Consistent - Marcus Jones (3rd Best & Fairest)
Most Improved - Liam Ackland
Reserves Best & Fairest: James Simons
Best First Year Player: Sam McKenzie
Presidents Trophy: Jason Snashall
Goal Kicking Award: Morgan Jones and Liam Ackland
Seniors Coaches Award - Michael Boyce
Reserves Coaches Award: - Bede McCarthy

A special thanks to all our volunteers who again made sure things ran smoothly at the club, these people included : Jason Snashall, Chris Newlove, Brendan Hines, Brian Twitchett, Steve Fairweather, Jarrad Wallace, Peter Boyce and Claire Ponton.

Thanks also to our senior coach Ian Francis for a great first season with the club in testing circumstance and to our physio Alyse Cameron.

And finally to our Sponsors for this season R.S. Components and Kenny’s Bar & Grill thank you again for all of your support. We look forward to having you back on board next season

Let’s all get back behind the Saints in 2008.
If we can recruit three or four experienced players to replace guys like Peter Boyce and Morgan Jones as well as continue to develop our group of new guys there is no reason we cannot go all the way next year.

We need everyone involved with the club to be on the lookout for new recruits between now and the kick off for the 2008 season.

Have a happy festive season.

Cheers
GC




Saints Grand Final Day Special Mentions & Prize Giving
A reminder that the club's prize giving and after-match function will be held at Kenny's Bar & Grill after the Grand Final this Sunday.

There will also be an after-match function at Parrs Park run by the AAFL (a map of the grounds location is in the downloads section of our web site).
Kenny's will kick off around 6pm, food will be put on around 7pm and prize giving will start around 7.30.

The main game kicks off at 2.30pm on Sunday. There will also be 5 or 6 Saints playing in the under 17 game which starts 12pm.

Thanks to Peter Boyce for sponsoring the food at our function Saturday night. Peter also donated the bar fridge which was raffled at our quiz night.

A couple of very special Saints players will be making their final appearances for the club on the weekend.
One is retiring for good, the other is going to play AFL in Australia.

PETER BOYCE will be retiring from football after Sunday's game. Pete has done just about everything there is to do in the game in New Zealand since starting as a young fellow in Wellington.
During his many years service in the Wellington league he captained and coached the Wellington Saints to premierships. He played representative football for both Wellington and Auckland and coached the Auckland NPC team to the National title in 2006.
Since moving to Auckland in 2000 he has also given great service to the Saints and Waitakeri AAFL clubs. After playing for the Saints in 2000 Peter coached the Waitakeri team in 2001 and 2002 helping develop the strong group of players they posses today. He returned to the Saints in 2003 and was senior coach for seasons 2004, 2005 and 2006. Peter's greatest achievement so far with the Saints was being playing coach of the team that won the 2005 premiership.
It was always Peters intention to play one season of senior football with son Michael, he has not only achieved that this season but has been one of our best players week in week out. To see young Mike poll 10 votes in his first season of senior football would have made him very proud.
As well as giving up his time to the team to play and coach he has also donated the club's major raffle every season he has been involved with the club. Many of the assets the club now possesses are a result of Peter's generosity.
He is one of the best to have pulled on a jumper for the club. John Ackland talked of the need to put your head over the ball this Sunday no one does that more often than Peter.
If every Saint shows the same courage and commitment as Peter will this Sunday we will win !!

MORGAN JONES will be moving over to Queensland to play AFL with the Morningside club. Morg's started with the club in 2000 which was the year the club shed it's reliance on ex pat Aussies and starting building the team around locally developed players. He is one of the current crop of New Zealand players that form the backbone of our team and our leadership group. Morgan has not only developed outstanding skills he is a keen student and has great knowledge of the game. The club sees him as a future coach of the team.
He is a former Saints Best & Fairest winner, the current vice-captain of the New Zealand Falcons, captain of the Auckland NPC team and Saints Vice Captain. We hope that Morgan enjoys the same success in Australia as fellow Saint Matt Callaghan who after his first season with the Thornlie Lions in WA is currently doing pre-season with the South Fremantle Football club.
Everyone at the club wishes Morgan and Jo all the best for their big move across the Tasman. We look forward to having you back at the club some time in the future.

Guys, not that we should be searching for any further motivation for Sunday, but if we cannot pull out something special on the weekend for these two legends of the club then we never will.


PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL SAINTS, EX- SAINTS, FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND OUR AFTER-MATCH FUNCTION AND PRIZE GIVING AT KENNY'S BAR & GRILL. LET'S MAKE IT A DAY AND NIGHT TO REMEMBER..

Good luck to all the players and coaching staff on Sunday. Go hard !!!



SAINTS ADVANCE TO AAFL GRAND FINAL
The Mt Roskill Saints qualified for their forth Grand Final appearance in 5 years with a hard fought 4 point win over The North Shore Tigers.

Go to our results section for the match report.

This weekend the team again takes on University at Parrs Park Oratia. The ground is located at the junction of West Coast Rd, Parrs Cross Rd and Seymour Rd. A map is located in our downloads section.
Kick off is at 2.30pm.

There will be an under 17 combined game kicking off at 12pm.
All Saints under 17 players not playing in the main game are encouraged to play.


Match Report For Round 10 & First Week Of Finals
Our seniors play University and Mountford Park Manurewa this Sunday at 2pm after finishing second on the ladder. A map of the grounds location is in the downloads section.

Unfortunately our reserve grade have missed out on the finals for the first time in many years.
Most reserves grade players have played seniors at some stage this year and are eligible to play for the seniors in the finals. So please keep coming to training. We would like a large senior squad to choose from over the next couple of weeks to give us options and create competition for places in the team.

CONGRATULATIONS HENRY!
Henry Carracher has just announced he is getting married to Sarah. Congratulations from all of us at the club!
Henry has also just bought a new house in Auckland which is great news for the club as it means that he will be a long term resident and player for the club.
Henry has been a fine addition to the team this season not only as a player but in setting an excellent example to our new recruits with his attitude and commitment to the club.

UNDER 17 GAME
We are hoping to get an under 17 game going prior to the AAFL Grand Final to be held at Parrs Park on the 2nd of December. So can all of our under age players also please keep coming to training.

The round 10-match report is located in the results section of the web site.

Reminders
· Mouthguards for the weekend
· AAFL Raffle Tickets are due to be returned
· AAFL Prize Giving Friday 23rd November $30 per ticket. Please bring your money/confirmation of attendance this Sunday.



Round 9 Game - Round 8 Match Report & Other News
The round 8-match report has been added to our results sections.

JARRAD & NICOLE'S NEW ARRIVAL
Jarrad and Nicole Wallace are new proud parents with the recent arrival baby girl, Sophie Lily. All is well with Mum and baby and Dad is as proud as punch.
Congratulations from all of us at the Saints Footy Club .

The Saints farewelled veteran defender and premiership player Darron Nutt with a good win last game. The club would like to wish Nutty and wife Geraldeen all the best as they take up residence on the Gold Coast.
At the same time we welcomed back another premiership player and club best and fairest winner Dr Ben 'BJ'Jansen from his OE.

Iron men Marcus Jones, Morgan Jones, Alex VanSon and Andrew McKenzie all played good games for the seniors after running the Auckland marathon that morning. Big Alex kicked 4 goals up forward for the Saints.

This Sunday we play the Waitakere Magpies at home (The War Memorial Reserve May Rd Mt Roskill).

Reserve grade at 12.30pm (players to be at the ground at 11.45am) & seniors 2pm (players to be at the ground at 12.30pm)



Auckland AFL Round 8 - 28th Oct - Saints verses Raiders
Manurewa Raiders V Mt Roskill Saints
Mountford Park
Dr Pickering Ave, Manurewa (a map of the ground’s location is in the downloads section)
Reserves players to be at the ground at 11.45 am – Seniors 12.30
Reserve grade starts at 12.30 pm & Seniors 2pm

Club Trophies
Could all those that won club trophies last season please get them back to Chris Newlove this weekend.
From memory this was Lewis, Morgs, Jarrad, Liam, Aiden, Tim Hollingsworth and Steve F.

Questions for the week.
Will D. Nutt make a farewell appearance for the Saints in reserve grade?
Will B Hines turn out for his second reserve grade appearance this Sunday?
Who is the mystery Saint premiership player making a much-anticipated return to the team this week?
Can Alex and Marcus emulate the legendary David Kay with best on ground performances after running the Auckland marathon Sunday morning?

All will be revealed this Sunday at Mountfort Park.

Remember your mouth guards and to be at the ground on time




Match Reports For Round 7
Go to our results section for last rounds match report.

No game this weekend due to the Labour Day Long Weekend.

Our next game is away verses Manurewa (27 October) at Mountfort Park (a map of the ground's location is in the downloads section).


Round 2 Update And Saints Quiz Night
SAINTS QUIZ NIGHT
Last Friday evening over 150 participants attended The Saints second annual, fund raising quiz night at the Rutherford Room Alexandra Park.
The attendance and funds raised both matched our highly successful first attempt, which was a great effort from all involved.

A special thanks our quizmaster Jason Snashall and master of ceremonies Peter Boyce. As well as being the driving forces behind the event Peter and Jason both donated fantastic prizes. Jason is also our new club Vice President, a valuable new addition to the club’s administrative team. The quiz night was Peter’s idea and has proved to be an enjoyable method of raising much needed funs for the club. With Jarrad Wallace again doing an awesome job running the laptop scoring system we were able to put on a very professional job for all the punters in attendance.

Our gallery section will shortly have photos of the winners with their prizes as well as a few other snaps of the night.

Congratulations the main raffle prizewinner Marcus Jones who won the stocked Bar Fridge donated by Peter Boyce. Angela Lam from Ian Francis' table won the awesome door prize of two gig tickets. Congratulations also to Mike Tagg’s table who won the quiz with each team member taking home over $70 worth of prizes.

The club would like to thank Chrissie Boyce and the team at Alexandra Park for allowing us to use the Rutherford Room for this event as well as the bar staff and catering people.

We also would like to thank our generous sponsors R.S Components (via Steve Fairweather) and Kenny’s Bar & Grill for their fantastic prize donations and continued support of the club.

As well as our sponsors, many other individuals and companies donated prizes for the event. These included Lion Breweries (thanks to Tineke Fairweather), Brendan Hines, Mitre 10 Onehunga, Glenfield and Browns Bay (thanks to Jason Snashall’s father in law), Sara Snashall (for all the Porsche gear) and once again Peter Boyce who donated the stocked Bar Fridge for our raffle.

In fact the prize donations were so plentiful that we have a few left over to run a raffle or two at our grand final function. This brings us along to our next major social event for the season, the AFL Grand Final. This will be the ninth year in a row we have held our gathering at Kenny’s Bar & Grill and each year it gets bigger a bigger.

THE AFL GRAND FINAL IS ON SATURDAY 29th SEPTEMBER.
We again look forward to a big turn out. So whether you are a current, ex or future Saint, a family member, friend of a Saint, an AFL fan or just looking for a great afternoons entertainment get along to Kenny’s (the address is in the sponsors section of our home page) from 2pm (or at opening time as some keen punters have been known to do) on Saturday 29th September.

ALL AFL FINALS ARE LIVE OR ON DELAYED COVERAGE ON SKY
Over the next four weeks we will have up to four games of AFL on Sky TV. A dedicated group of Saints have been getting along to watch the AFL coverage at Kenny’s on Saturday afternoon and over the next couple of weeks they (and we) will be spoiled for choice. We will attempt to post game times on this web site, as they become available. Check Sky TV for further information.

SAINTS ROUND 2 RESULTS
The Saints lost their round 2 game against University in both grades. After being only a couple of goals down and kicking with the wind in the last quarter the team fell away to go down by six goals. We will look to improve over the coming weeks as hopefully we get a few injured players back, fitness improves and we try to entice a one or two experienced players back to the club.

Refer to our results section for further information. For all the weekends results go the Auckland AFL web site, a link can be found on our home page. . It looks to be a really close competition this season with all games having close score-lines. Unlike last season we cannot expect any easy games.

SAINTS ROUND 3 GAME/TRAINING THIS WEEK
This Sunday (Rd 3 9th Sept) we host the Manurewa Raiders at the War Memorial Reserve May Rd
All players are to be at the ground at 12pm. See Steve Fairweather for the roster of duties.


AAFL 1907-1908 TEAM PHOTOS
As per the previous posting we have photos of a couple of AAFL premiership teams in our gallery section. Ex NZAFL CEO, AAFL President and Life Member, as well as champion Waitakeri Reserves player (he particularly likes that part mentioned) Will McKenzie has done further research via the New Zealand Herald and found the match report for that game. At that time AFL was in a par with the rugby codes in terms of media coverage. The game petered out with the advent of World War One and The Great Depression.

The Auckland Rugby Union actually helped fund the local AFL team on their trip to Australia. Maybe The New Zealand Falcons should hit them up again for the next International Cup.

To follow is that game report. A real gem of an article:
NZ Herald 27 July 1908
AUSTRALIAN GAME EDEN v. NEWTON
EDEN WIN PREMIERSHIP
Notwithstanding the inclement state of the weather a large number of spectators put in an appearance at Victoria Park to see this match, and although the ground was very greasy some very fast play was shown; in fact, it was the best match of the season, both teams showing good, clean football right through the game, and an entire absence of roughness. Both clubs are to be congratulated on their display. Had Newton won this match it would have put Austral in the running for the premiership honours, but by Eden winning the game they have secured the premiership honours.

Clayton led Eden and Marshall Newton. Mr. Rhoden was the central umpire, Newton led off from the bounce and were not long in raising the two flags, mainly through the efforts of S. Wain, Wilson, and Roberts. Off again and Eden worked the sphere along the gasworks wing, where Cole put in a nice piece of play. He passed Fletcher, who sent on to Frith and Inkster snapped Edens first goal.

On changing ends Eden Changed the ruck, Ernie George taking a hand, and the change made a wonderful difference. Eden soon had Newton in difficulties, the ball hovering round their goal posts for some time, Eden scoring two goals. Newton at last took the oval away, and Roberts from a fine place kick scored a goal.

After half-time Newton got to work with a will and "potted" three goals in quick succession. Frith make a couple of fine marks, scoring a good goal for Eden. Williams from a splendid rush punted the ball through, but for some reason the ball was brought back by the umpire, and Williams given a free kick, and he again raised the two flags. This quarter was the most exciting of the day. Eden had very much the better of the game the last spell. The final result was:
Eden 9 goals 9 behinds (63 points)
Newton 9 goals 4 behinds (58 points)

George and Fletcher were the best players on the winning side, and were ably assisted by Clayton, Frith, Nagle, Cole, Welch, and Cairns, while those who did their utmost to avoid defeat were Marshall, Roberts, S. Wain, D. Smith, and Wilson.


3rd August 1908
THE AUSTRALIAN GAME
AUCKLAND ASSOCIATION'S DINNER
There was a large an representative gathering in the Federal Club rooms on Saturday evening when the Auckland Australian Football Association's annual dinner was held. The Mayor, Mr. A. M. Myers presided, being supported by the president of the association, Dr. Inglis, and Mr. Donald McDonald, of Melbourne. There were also present the Auckland provincial members of the New Zealand League team, who leave to-day by the s.s, Moana for Melbourne, via Sydney, to take part in the jubilee celebrations of the game.

During the evening the Mayor made reference to the approaching visit of a New Zealand team to Victoria, and wished the members a pleasant voyage and a safe return. He also referred to the fact that there was plenty of room for the three different games of football now played in New Zealand.

A lengthy toast list was honoured, and many kindly wishes were extended for the team's success in Victoria. A musical programme was also rendered, the following contributing items:-- Messers. A. J. Black, Bob Lloyd, Vaude and Varns, R. Eagleton, W. Smith and G. James.

During the evening a number of presentations were made, the principal being the handing over of the premiership shield for 1908 season to the winners, the Eden Club.

Mention was made of the officers of the Auckland Australian Football Association to the generous assistance given by the Auckland Rugby Union towards the cost of the tour to Melbourne.

The Southern portion of the New Zealand Australian League football team arrived from the South yesterday, via the East Coast, in the s.s. Moana, and will proceed in the same vessel to Sydney.




Round 1 2007 Update
REMEMBER THE QUIZ NIGHT IS THIS FRIDAY - THERE ARE STILL TABLES AVAILABLE - REFER TO THE WEB SITE DOWNLOADS SECTION FOR A FLYER

As The Mt Roskill Saints celebrate the 10th anniversary of their 1997 premiership an interesting piece of history regarding an AAFL club in the Mt Roskill area has just come to light.

I have received a couple of historic photographs from Jeff and Lynne Hickey of Mangonui which show an AAFL team based in the Mt Roskill area playing around the turn of the century. Ironically they won the local premiership exactly 100 years ago in 1907. They also won it in 1908.
Lynne’s Grandfather J (James) McCullough and his uncle W.H McCullough played in the team. Mr James McCullough married and lived in the Mt Roskill area.

Photographs of the 1907 and 1908 teams have been placed in the gallery section of our web site.

There was even a Cairns in the team!

If you go to the AAFL web site history section it notes that an AFL team represented New Zealand at Australasian Carnival around this time. Dressed in black with a gold fern, they competed in the Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival with games played at the M.C.G. They defeated New South Wales and Queensland, and lost to Victoria and Tasmania to finish fourth out of the seven competing teams.
According to the AAFL history section the Mt Roskill Saints were formed in 1991. There was an AAFL team in the Mt Roskill are under various names between the league being reformed in 1974 and 1991.

Go to the AAFL web site: http://www.aafl.co.nz/history.html for more information.

If anyone has any information they wish to add to the history section of our web site please contact me. I am interested in the Saints history between 1974 and 1991.

Also Lynne would love to hear from anyone with information regarding her Grandfather’s team. This information would also be a welcome addition to our web site.

So as we remember back to those heady days in 1997, a skinny 15 year old Jarrad Wallace, The Whale, The Wombat and The Turtle, the stars: Dan Carman, Jon Wild and Chris ‘Hollywood’ Davis, The Golden Greeks Con and Steve we can also reflect on a bit of Saints history created 100 years ago this year.

Regards
Greg Cairns

A great, gutsy first up win by The Saints against a very strong Nth Shore Tigers team. Go to our results section for further information.

THIS WEEKS GAME
We play at home (War Memorial Reserve May Rd Mt Roskill) this Sunday against the reining Premiers University. A great first up effort by both teams last Sunday. There were quite a few reserves grade players that did not turn up and we were still able to field two teams. Remember we need everyone to turn up on time every week. You must advise the coaching staff if you cannot make it to the game.

RESERVES PLAYERS BE AT THE GROUND AT 12.15am
SENIOR PLAYERS AT 1pm
MOUTH GUARDS ARE COMPULSORY
CHECK WITH STEVE FAIRWEATHER FOR THE DUTIES ROSTER FOR THIS SUNDAY

We need goal umpires, reserves umpires, water runners (both grades), scoreboard attendants and the goal post pads and canopy put up and taken down.



FIRST GAME THIS SUNDAY
The Saints play The North Shore Tigers this Sunday (26th Aug) in round one of the 2007 AAFL season.

Reserve grade commences at 1pm, senior’s 2.30pm.
Reserves players to be at the ground by 12.15pm and seniors by 1.15pm.

This is an away game. We play at Bayswater Reserve on Bayswater RD (Near Devonport on the North Shore). Refer to our downloads section for a map of the grounds location.

Volunteers for reserves umpires, goal umpires and runner/water person are required. Senior players are required for the reserve grade game and vice versa.
A roster system will be put in place at training this week.

Registration forms need to be filled out this Sunday and subs need to be paid at training this week or at the game on the weekend.

Good luck to both teams and especially to all the new Saints recruits having their first game of AFL footy.

Remember to be at the ground on time.



TRAINING THIS SUNDAY + QUIZ NIGHT
Training this Sunday will be at Gloucester Park Onehunga starting at 11.00am. A map of the ground’s location is in the web site downloads section.

A North verses South Auckland game will commence after training (at 1pm), which will be a trial for the Auckland NPC team. Saints player are encouraged to put their hands up to be involved. The South Auckland team comprises of players from The Saints, Manurewa and University. The North team from Waitakeri, Takapuna and North Shore.

REGISTRATION & COLLECTION OF SUBS will take place after training this Sunday. Unfortunately the weather has prevented us from doing this earlier. Please bring your subs along and fill out a registration form. The will put on a few beers and soft drinks after training this Sunday.

QUIZ NIGHT - It is two weeks this Friday until the quiz night. Please confirm your attendance ASAP so we can confirm catering ECT with Alexandra Park. You can enter a team of 10 or individually. WE can set up teams to suit number so try to get as many family and friends involved as possible. Part of the funds raised will help our rep players get to Wellington for the NPC in September.

See you Sunday



KEY DATES IN AUGUST
SUNDAY 19th AUGUST - South V North Auckland - Auckland NPC Trial Game - Final Practice Game For Remaining Squad

SUNDAY 26th AUGUST - First Game Verses Nth Shore Tigers (away venue TBA)

FRIDAY 31st AUGUST - SAINTS QUIZ - MAJOR FUND RAISER FOR THE YEAR - GO TO DOWNLOADS SECTION FOR FLYER


Saints July Update
Plenty of news to catch up on since our last web site update and also lots about to happen with the season due to kick off in less than a month.

PRESEASON TRAINING
Preseason training has been going for over a month now and generally numbers have been good. We have a really good group of new recruits to club made up of experienced players, new comers and a few ex-Sainters returning to the club.
We have started Wednesday night training at 6pm and this Sunday will be our last at 10am before we head into pre-season practice games against other clubs. Our schedule over the next couple of weeks is as follows:

Sun 5th August Inter Club Practice Game – 10.00am War Memorial Reserve May Rd

Sun 12th August – pre-season practice game - time and venue to be confirmed

Sun 19th August – Trial game for Auckland squad – for those not involved a practice game either inter-club or against another AAFL club - time and venue to be confirmed.

Sun 26th August – First game – away verses Nth Shore –

Refer to downloads section for AAFL 2007 Fixture- venues yet to be confirmed

IMPORTANT DATE - 2007 Saints Quiz Night – Friday 31st August At Alexandra Park
Following on from last year’s highly successful fundraiser we will again be holding our quiz night on the 31st August. To ensure that this night is successful we need everyone to get their friends and family involved and enter a team of 10. Otherwise enter a team from within the club. Peter Boyce will again be master of ceremonies and Jason Snashall will be the quizmaster.
We also require some prize donations so if either yourself or your company is able to help out it would be greatly appreciated.

OTHER SAINTS NEWS
CONGRATULATIONS Dave and Sheridan Kay who have become proud first time parents with the healthy and safe arrival of baby Olivier. Jarrad and Nicole Wallace are also due shortly which will make five first time Saints Dads in the past twelve months. CONGRATULATIONS also to Saints sponsor and reserves grade comeback kid Carl Drummond and fiancée’ Rebecca Gould who have just announced they are getting married. Welcome back to ex-Sainters Marcus Jones, Alex Van Son back from their OE and also to Mark Fulcher who has been playing high-level soccer.
Also welcome to all our new recruits to the club, we hope you are all enjoying being apart of The Mt Roskill Saints Footy Club.

FAREWELL to Steve Hughes who is off to the Solomon Islands with his work as a doctor and Brett ‘Buzz’ Burrows who is over in the UK working as a life guard and travelling around Europe.

NZAFL SCHOOLS TOURNAMENT
Saints players Morgan and Marcus Jones are coaching two of our local school teams, St Peters and Western Springs Colleges for the upcoming NZAFL tournament to be held at May Rd on 7th August. I’m sure they would appreciate any assistance to held run training sessions in the lead up and on the day. There are heaps of St Peters boys at the club at the moment so please come forward and help Marcus out and anyone else available please get in touch with Morgan to held him out.

FINALLY CLUB SUBS AND PLAYER REGISTRATION
We have touched briefly on this at training, we require all players to start paying their subs from this Sunday. We will put on a BBQ and a couple of drinks either this Sunday or next (date will be confirmed at training on Wednesday) whilst club secretary Chris Newlove collects subs and starts player registrations. All new players to the club need to fill out an AAFL registration form. Those that played last season need only sign a simpler format form.
Subs for this season are $120 senior, $80 junior/student, which includes your socks and shorts. We are offering a discount on subs for all existing players that wish to forgo a pair of sock and shorts. These have been ordered and will be available on the 12th August (fingers crossed).
I look forward to seeing you all at training, at every session and on time.

Cheers
GC






Saints Appoint Coach For 2007 Season
The Mt Roskill Saints are proud to appoint Ian Francis as senior coach for season 2007.
Ian’s list of credentials for the position include:
· Ex Port Adelaide SANFL Player
· Two-time AAFL competition best and fairest winner.
· First NZAFL Regional Development Officer
· Level 2 Certified AFL Coach
· Ex Auckland Senior Coach and New Zealand Colts
coach who was instrumental in developing many current senior players.

The club is extremely fortunate to be able to attract a coach of Ian’s calibre. Now it's up to all of us to ensure this season is a success starting with our current list of players making a 100 percent commitment to the team and also ensuring we are all on the lookout for new recruits.

Ian plans to be a playing coach so we will be appointing a match day sidelines coach shortly.
Lewis Hurst will be captain this season, Morgan Jones vice-captain. These guys along with Jarrad Wallace and Steve Fairweather will be Ian’s assistants.

Pre-season training will commence Sunday 15th July. We also plan to train two nights a week this season. Our training times and dates will be confirmed shortly.
In the mean time there are plans to have an informal kick Sunday morning. Please email or phone me if you are available – details below.

Saints New Arrivals
Brendan and Karen Hines are proud first time parents after the arrival of Liam Harry on the 14th May. Mum and baby are both doing well and dad is proud as!
Also with little ones on the way are Dave & Sheridan Kay as well as Jarrad & Nicole Wallace. No pressure guys but the future Saints have a Nash, Fairweather and Hines up forward. We could do with a mid fielder and back-man.
Good luck to both couples and we look forward to some more good news in the next couple of months.

Quiz Night
This year’s quiz night will again be held at Alexander Park on the 31st August.
I know it’s a while off but please pencil the date into your diary and try to put together a team of 10 for the evening.
Last year it was a great night and it’s a much more enjoyable way to raise funds for the club than selling raffle tickets.

New Recruits For Season 2007
If you are interested in playing Aussie Rules in 2007 or are available to help out the club in a volunteer capacity please contact:

Greg Cairns
gjcairns@woosh.co.nz
0274-699-990.

Experienced and first time players are welcome. For first timers we have a great coaching setup and individual mentors will ensure you are well versed in the rules of the game and taught all the skills.
For rugby and rugby league players it is a great way to improve your kicking skills. As we play outside of your season it is a great way to keep fit in the Spring/Summer months.
We also welcome soccer (or football as it is now known) players. Your fitness levels and kicking skills are very compatible with AFL football.

We look forward to hearing from you.

NZAFL Assistants – Opportunity For Students to Earn Some Cash
With the appointment of Robert Van Stam as new CEO/RDO of the NZAFL the NZAFL will be back running AFL clinics in the Auckland Area schools. Rob will need assistants to run these clinics. This is an opportunity for the club to restore relationships with our local schools and recruit new players from these schools.
The club will pay it’s members $20 for each AFL school clinic they attend and help run. If you want your school to be apart of the AFL program and/or you can help out please contact Rob as per the details below.
The NZAFL are also looking to appoint national coaches and team managers for the senior and under age NZ Falcons. Also contact Rob if you are interested in one of these positions (a detailed email was forwarded to members last week).

Robert Vanstam
NZAFL Chief Executive Officer
Ph 64 9 448 0305
Mbl 021 399 629
football@nzafl.co.nz










News Update
Matt Callaghan has been starring in the West Australian Sunday League with the Thornlie Tigers. Go to our gallery section for some photos of Matt in action.

Announcements will be made shortly regarding coaching positions for season 2007 and a commencement date for pre-season training.

We have a couple of new players to welcome to the club in Matt Kemp and Christian Alexander. Both players will add much needed experience to our line up.
I hope to see many more new local recruits come pre-season training time.



Saints Transport Trailer Complete
Please go to the gallery section of our web site for photos of our new trailer, which will be used to store and transport all the club's equipment.
The bold signage to both sides and to the rear of the trailer gives our sponsor’s great exposure as well as promoting the club.
We will hopefully attract many new recruits to the club when the trailer is out and about.
The club would like to sincerely thank our sponsors who made this project happen.
Scottwood Trust who funded most of the cost of the trailer.
R.S. Components our newest sponsor who funded all the signage for the trailer. The sponsorship provided by R.S. Components will also help cover the costs of our physiotherapist for this season.
Mt Roskill Paint and Panel who painted the trailer for us.
Boston Print who produced the great quality signage for us.
Kenny’s Bar and Grill and Carl Drummond (Mike Pero Mortgages Franchisee) who are both great supporters of the club year in year out.

It’s only about 6 to 8 weeks until the start of pre-season. I hope you will be all rearing to go and keeping fit. Remember we need everyone out there recruiting new players for the upcoming season.



CLUB AGM - COACHING POSTIONS - APRIL UPDATE
The club's AGM was held on the 28th March and minutes have been circulated to club members

Please read through and note things like the setting of subs (same as last year) and quiz night date for 2007.

Go to the download section on this web site for the three logos that will go onto our new trailer. Please take note of our generous sponsors that have ensured that the club will have a valuable piece of equipment as well as a great advertising tool for many years to come.

Our major sponsors for this project were RS Components, Mt Roskill Paint & Panel, Kenny's Bar & Grill, Carl Drummond (Franchise Holder Mike Pero Mortgages) and The Scottwood Trust.

Boston Print has also given us an awesome deal to make the logos themselves and we really appreciate them helping us out.

Lewis Hurst put the graphics together in a suitable format for Boston Print to manufacture from. Lew is a graphic designer soon to start his own business so if anyone our there is in need of a graphic designer contact him 021-146-6404.

A couple of things we can all do for the club all year round is:

Support our sponsors - Take note of names mentioned above and try to put any business you can their way. If we can show our sponsors a tangible return for their investment in the club they will stick by us.

Recruiting - We all really need to be out there getting new players for the club. If you have any players from your local rugby, league or soccer club that look like they'd take to Aussie Rules get in their ear and get them along to the club for pre-season training. It is a great way to keep fit between seasons, learn new skills and have fun.

COACHES FOR THE 2007 SEASON
We will be appointing a new senior and reserve grade coach in the next month. Applications are still open for this position. If you know of anyone with senior AFL coaching experience or would like to put your name forward please email me at gjcairns@woosh.co.nz. We have a great group of senior players and a new batch of junior players to work with.

2007 CLUB GOLF DAY
A great day was had at Hellensville for our second annual golf day. The donation of prizes by Kenny's Bar & Grill, Shane Buckley, Brendan Hines and the club ensured everyone went home with something from the day.
The Crown Lagers donated by Kenny's Bar & Grill went down a treat with the thirsty punters on the day. Many thanks again to Sandy March at Kenny's who not only donated prizes and refreshments for the day but also got us a great deal for green fees. The money made from the day by the club has paid for our web site costs for 12 months. Thanks to all that attended.

NEW NZAFL CEO
NZ Falcons coach Robert Van Stam has been appointed to the post of CEO of the NZAFL. The club congratulates Rob on his appointment and looks forward to working with him in the schools to develop AFL football locally. The club resolved at the recent AGM to pay club members that help Rob out in running AFL clinics in schools within our area. We will initially be suggesting at St Peters College, MAGS and Mt Roskill Grammar as our preferred local schools in which to target new players. The club will also be appointing a liaison officer to deal specifically with Rob.



Club Update 19th March
Peter Boyce Retires As Senior Coach

Sadly for the club Peter Boyce has announced he is stepping down as senior coach for this season. Pete's growing work commitments has meant he is unable to commit the time he has done previously. Pete will be staying involved with the club however, playing reserve grade where possible and organizing this years quiz night.
One behalf of us all Pete, thanks for all your efforts over the past three seasons.

The club is calling for applicants to fill the role of senior coach for season 2007. We would like an experienced person with a level 1 AFL coaching accreditation. Please email me before the club's AGM if you are interested (refer to the contacts section of the web site).

Guys I've been made aware already of several guys planning to retire or have a reduced involvement with the club this season. For this reason we really need to amp up the recruitment drive starting now. Try to get your mates along from rugby, league or soccer to have a go at Aussies Rules. We also need as many senior players as possible to help (keep playing if possible) and develop our new recruits. If you know of any experienced AFL players out there do your best to get them along to our club.

New Club Sponsor

The club would like to welcome it's newest sponsor RS Components. Please refer to the download section of the web site for information regarding the companies products. The funds provided by RS Components will fund the sigh writing of our new trailer as well as help fund phyiso and medical kit costs for this season. The club greatly appreciates RS Components assistance so please keep their information on file and support companies that support the Saints. Please pass on this information if you have friends or know of companies that would use products supplied by RS Components.
Thanks to Steve Fairweather (and his mum) who helped organize this sponsorship.

Club AGM
Wednesday 28th March 6.30pm at Kenny's Bar & Grill. Note, it's a bit earlier than normal to avoid Kenny's Quiz night. Please note that this is an important AGM as we need to discuss the new senior coach appointment, nominate office bearers for 2007, make final arrangements for the golf day and get the quiz night arrangements underway.

Club Golf Day Sunday 1st April Hellinsville
Guys I only have about 16 confirmed at this stage for the golf day. They are: BJ, Pete Jansen, Matua Jason, David Jansen, BJ's mate, Jarrad Wallace, Steve Fairweather, Bjorn Guttenbeil, Chris Newlove, Chris's Dad, Anthony Newlove, Wes Allen, Wes's mate, Greg Cairns, Paul Munt, Marcus Jones and Craig Eddie Edwards. If anyone else has replied and is not on the list please let me know.

We need at least 30 to make hiring the bus worthwhile. Please get back to me this week. The golf day is a week from this coming Sunday and we need to confirm tee off times and the bus booking. Refer to earlier web site postings for further info.

Taggy's House Warming
Please let Mike know if you will be attending his house warming on Saturday 31st March from 3pm onwards. Contact Mike directly to RSVP. An invite has been emailed out previously.

See you this Friday at Kenny's if you are able to make it or at the AGM next Wednesday.




February - March Newsletter
Just a reminder of what's going on in March. Please take note and make an effort to attend as many functions/meetings possible.

Firstly an update on our trailer
· A huge thanks to ex Saint Brent Buckmaster at Mt Roskill Panelbeaters for painting our trailer free of charge. Guys it is vitally important we support guys like Brent (and the club other sponsors that appear on our web site). These companies enable the club to offer it’s members the best possible equipment and playing gear whilst keeping subs at an affordable level.
· MT ROSKILL PANELBEATERS – 42 CARR RD MT ROSKILL - PH 625-4876 (logo will appear on our web site shortly)
· We are now in the process of arranging sponsors to get signage on the trailer. This will help promote the club and give great exposure for potential sponsors. Please contact me (0274-699-990) if you know of companies willing to help us out.

· Tomorrow night 8pm (March 3rd), Ratters & Mars going away party at Docksiders Tamaki Drive, just over the bridge. All welcome.
·
· This Sunday (march 4th) 10-a-side verses Waikato at Mountfort Park Manurewa - be there at 1.30pm for a 2.30pm start.
·
· AAFL AGM Monday 12th The March 7pm at Dimension Surveyors Offices Unit 202, 29 Apollo Drive, Mairangi Bay North Shore. Refreshments served afterwards. Club members welcome. We have nominated Terry Carroll for AAFL life membership so it would be good to see more than Chris and me there.
·
· Tui Forceback competition March 24th. Not much of a response so far. To be discussed this Saturday or post game Sunday.
·
· Saints AGM Wednesday 28th March 7pm at Kennys Bar & Grill. We need a good turn out to get planning underway for the coming season.
·
· Saints Golf Day Sunday 1st April at Hellinsville Golf Club. We have up to 40 spots available. It will be a great day, run in conjunction with Kenny's Bar & Grill. The day will start with breakfast (optional) at Kenny's followed by a bus trip to the Hellinsville Golf Course. Sandy from Kenny's has a few little extra challenges planned at a couple of holes (some involving Kenny's finest beverages). After the golf the bus will take us back to Kenny’s. We need numbers confirmed ASAP to keep pur booking. Please let us know if you want to travel via bus or your own car. The Golf will be Ambrose format (as per last year) except that teams will be drawn from a hat to give everyone a better chance of winning. Cost will be $50 (excl breakfast). The bus will leave Kenny’s at 10am. For those wanting a night at the Rugby the night before Kenny’s have a bus going to the Blues V Chiefs game at Hamilton. Cost is only $15, contact Sandy on 027-244-7430 if you are interested.
· Finally HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sandy March from Kenny’s who has just turned 50 (doesn’t look a day over 49).

Catch you this Saturday.
Cheers
Greg Cairns









January Newsletter
SAINTS TAKE DELIVERY OF NEW TRAILER
The Mt Roskill Saints recently took delivery of their new storage and transportation trailer. Go to our gallery section on this web site for photographs.

The trailer will be a valuable asset to the club enabling us to store all of our equipment in one safe and secure location whilst ensuring all our gear (goal post pads, score board, playing strip, BBQ, canopy, playing gear etc) arrives at each game.

The club would like to sincerely thank the Scottwood Trust for providing funding for this acquisition.

We also plan to use the trailer as a travelling advertisement for the club, the game and our sponsors. Over the coming months Mt Roskill Panel Beaters, located at Carr Rd Mt Roskill and owed by ex Saints player Brent Buckmaster, will be painting the trailer in club colors. We plan to have the club’s and Scottwood Trust’s logos as well as our web site address displayed prominently on the trailer.

The club is seeking sponsor’s to help cover our painting, sign writing and on going insurance costs for the trailer. If you are able to help and would like your companies logo on our trailer please contact Greg Cairns (refer to the contacts section of this web site.

SAINTS IN THE NEWS
In other news Saint and NZ Falcon Matt Callaghan has settled into his new hometown of Perth and is looking forward to playing in one of the local AFL competitions.

Lewis Hurst and fiancée Cindy Hart are to be married on February 12th. Good luck from all of us at The Saints.

Dr Ben 'BJ' Jansen and wife Sara are also back in town, they were married on the 7th Jan and will be in Auckland for most of the year. Congratulations from us all. BJ is making a brief comeback and is captain of our 10 a side team. We need more players however (see below).

Also back in town after a two year OE is Marcus Jones. Marcus will be a welcome addition to the team this season and is playing in the 10 a side comp.
We are also likely to have Kerry Wilkinson back from overseas later this year, another welcome addition. Both Kerry & Marcus are ex New Zealand rep players who will add experience and depth to our squad.

On a sadder note in March we bid farewell to Gareth and Tamara Rattray who are heading back to Aussie. Gareth was a star in our successful 2005 premiership season and although injuries and work commitments meant he wasn’t as effective this year he still had a few good games up forward for the Saints.

To acknowledge these occasions we have drinks on this Friday (26th Jan) at Kenny's Bar & Grill. It's Australia Day also so the Aussie lads at the club should be looking forward to getting together for a beer.

OTHER NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS
Our off-season is also our recruiting season. Given the departures of Matt and Gareth already along with the probable retirements of three or four senior players we all need to be out there, on the look out for new recruits.
We need one or two experienced senior players at least as well as many young, enthusiastic and committed new players as possible. We saw what happened last season when complacency set in. Lets not let it happen again.

An email was sent out recently regarding the Manurewa 10 a side comp. This is a great way to introduce new players to the game in a safe and friendly environment. The rules of the competition are in the downloads section of this web site. So far we have not had enough responses to enable us to field a team. We need a squad of at least 15 to ensure we field a team each week. So far we have about half that. Please email me if you are keen. Players confirmed for the team are B.J., Eddy, Aran Percy, Bush Newlove, Wes Allen, Zane, Christian Alexander (new recuit), Marcus and James Simons (maybe).

Also just around the corner are the club’s AGM and golf day in March. More information on these is to events to follow.

I hope you’ve all had a great Christmas break and are into recruiting mode for the up coming season.

Regards
GC



Saints 2006 Award Winners
The Saints held their annual prize giving awards at Kenny’s Bar & Grill on Sunday 3rd December. The highlight of the evening was the club awarding life memberships to Chris ‘Forrest’ Newlove and Brian ‘Twitchy’ Twitchett.

Chris began his career as our reserves grade ruckman back in 1996 before moving into adminstrative roles at the club that continue to this day. Chris is the club’s secretary, AAFL delegate and team manager for both senior and reserve grades. In an age where good, reliable sporting club volunteers are as rare as hen’s teeth the roles that Chris performs at the club are greatly appreciated and valued by us all.

Brian began his career at the Saints in 1995 (in his forties then and actual age not known) and has played every season since. Brian sets an outstanding example for all at the club with his reliability, his willingness to play in either (and in some cases both) grades and also to take on such roles as goal umpiring or running water. This season when we had ample numbers for our reserve grade team he also helped out our opposition on a few occasion by playing for them. Brian was also captain of our reserve grade premiership team in 2002. Brian shows no sign of retiring and will no doubt be turning out for reserve grade next season helping to bring along the generation of Sainters.

2006 Mt Roskill Saints award winners were:

BEST & FAIREST: Lewis Hurst: for the second year in a row and the only person to win the award twice. This award goes with Lewis’s 2006 AAFL competition best & fairest despite him missing our last three games through injury.

RUNNER UP BEST & FAIREST: Morgan Jones: Missed the first two games through injury before becoming one of our most consistent performers. Loves to run forward and kick a goal or two.

MOST CONSISTENT (3rd B & F): Jarrad Wallace: As the award suggests our ‘most consistent’ player. Held our defence together after the injury to Matt Callaghan

MOST IMPROVED: Tim Hollingsworth: From our young players class of 2005 that took us to the 2005 flag, Tim continued to improve to the extent that towards the end of the season coach Boyce had him playing on the best forwards in the league.

RESERVES BEST & FARIREST: Aran Percy: One of our many first year players that not only starred playing reserves but did very well playing in defence for the senior team.

BEST FIRST YEAR PLAYER: A tie between Liam Ackland and Aiden Hurley: Both under 18 players (Liam 15 and Aiden 17) with outstanding futures ahead of them. Watch out for these guys over the coming seasons as they develop into star senior players for the Saints.

PRESIDENTS AWARD: Jason Snashall: In his first season for the club Jason helped run our very successful quiz night being both the quizmaster and a prize donor. A great guy to have around the club in both a playing and volunteer capacity.

Things that all our prize-winners have in common is their commitment to the club and a willingness to work hard at their game. They all trained regularly and set a standard that, if followed by all players at the club, will result in our return to the top in 2007.

Many thanks again to Allan Wilson for organizing all the trophies and engraving.

Stay tuned over the next week or so as the club takes delivery of its storage trailer which was purchased with funding assistance from Scottwood Trust.

Finally we would like to thank our sponsors, Kenny’s Bar & Grill, Carl Drummond (Mike Pero Mortgages), Cowley Refrigeration and Kwik-N-Easy canopy’s for all their support throughout the season.

Enjoy the festive season and see you in 2007.




AAFL Preliminary Final Results
A very disappointing way to end the season for the Saints senior team with a loss to the Waitakeri Magpies in Sundays AAFL preliminary final. With six key players missing along with another three carrying injuries into the game we could come up with plenty of excuses. The fact is however the Waitakeri Magpies showed superior hunger and commitment and just wanted to win more than the Saints. Mt Roskill Football Club would like to wish The Magpies all the best in their first grand final appearance. After years of struggle it’s a credit to all involved and they certainly deserve to be there.
Go to the results section for more information.

On a more positive note, Lewis Hurst won the AAFL senior grade competition best & fairest award last Friday night despite missing the last three games of the season Congratulations from all of us Lew we could have certainly done with you on Sunday.

A reminder of a couple of events on before the seasons end:

Under 16 Grand final This Sunday North Shore Tigers V Mt Roskill Saints
Our under 16 lads (plus a few 17 & 18 year olds) finally have the opportunity to play against another under 16 team this Sunday at Mountfort Park Manurewa prior to the reserve grade grand final. The game starts at 12pm and we would like to see all our senior players and supporters get out to the game. We also have a training run for the team this Wednesday at May Rd.

(2 x 15 min Halves, 5 min break+time on for goals. Presentation after game for Best on ground

Our prize giving and final function of the season is at Kenny’s Bar & Grill this Sunday starting at 5pm. The club will provide finger foods and there is a cash bar.
We have a couple of special awards for volunteers at the club so would like everyone to attend.

Finally there is the International Rules game verses the Auckland Gallic Association on Friday 8th December (refer to the previous postings below for further information).









AFL Grand Final Day - AAFL Round 5 Results
The Saints had good wins in both grades in fine sunny conditions at May Road on Saturday. Go to the results section in this web site for further information.
Go to the downloads section for the AAFL Round 5 ladder.

Afterwards a great day was had by all as The Mt Roskill Saints celebrated their 8th AFL Grand Final day at Kenny’ Bar & Grill. Not only was it a great day but a fantastic spread was put on by Sandy March which was greatly appreciated by all.
Thanks also to Darron Nutt for running the pick the score and Norm Smith medal competition and also to Steve Fariweather and Christine Edwards for helping out with the raffle. We would also like to thank our prize donors Lianne Wright and Michael Hill Jewellers, Mike Ledingham and Cash Converters, Gareth Rattray and Red Bull, Peter Boyce and Interfridge.

Over in Canberra Mike Boyce has been starring for the New Zealand Junior Falcons at The Ron Barrasi Under 16 tournament. The team won their first game against Sth Africa, 11 12 (78) to 2 2 (14). Mike snagged 2 goals. They’re playing Camilda (Darwin aboriginals) next.




Saints Quiz Night & Round 1 Results
The Mt Roskill Saints held an enormously successful quiz night at Alexandra Park last Friday night. Around 140 participants raised just over $2000 for the club. The success of the night was thanks largely to the efforts of Peter Boyce, quiz master Jason Snashall and techno wizards Jarrad Wallace and Steve Fairwether.
Special mention also to the night's beer studs; Morgan Jones, Craig Edwards and Pete Jensen.

A huge thanks to the events sponsors Kenny’s Bar and Grill, Cowley Refrigeration, Cash Converters Onehunga, 42 Below Vodka, 420 Mineral Water and Mitre 10 who all donated prizes for the evening.

As well as providing the venue The Alexandra Park Function Centre also donated the door prize of a night for two at Top Of The Park.

Quiz night winners were the St Peter’s College teachers table, otherwise known as Norfolk Enchants (Don’t say it too quick). The winner of the stocked (with soft drink) bar fridge was Racheal Fairweather and the door prize winner also came from the teachers table.

GO TO THE RESULTS SECTION FOR SAINTS ROUND 1 RESULTS




September Newsletter
Hello Everyone
Welcome to the start of the 2006 AAFL season.
There is plenty happening this weekend with our first game at Parrs Park Oratia on Sunday verses the Waitakeri Magpies and our major fund raising event for the season Friday night.

Quiz Night This Friday at the Alexander Park Function Centre
Level 3, Rutherford Room - Greenlane, Auckland
Commences: 7pm – Bar Open 6.30pm
Cost: $10pp –teams of ten

Prizes: The winning team will win $500 worth of prizes ($50 per person). Each team member receives a Mitre 10 and Kenny’s Bar & Grill gift voucher plus gets to select from the prize pool, which includes Mt Roskill Saints caps and polo shirts, 42 below vodka and golf balls.

The door prize is a night for two at The Top Of The Park restaurant worth $150 as well as spot prizes and booby prizes for the team finishing last.

There will be a raffle drawn on the night for a bar fridge worth $1000.

Tables are almost full so contact Peter Boyce 027457-5654 or Greg Cairns 0274-699-990 if you haven’t yet booked a ticket.


Saints First Game This Sunday Parrs Park Oratia
Reserve Grade kick off is at 1pm and Senior Grade at 2pm.

All players are to be at the ground at 12.15pm sharp.

Don’t forget your mouth guards, they are compulsory and football boots (obviously).

As it’s the first game there are several admin issues (i.e. rego forms) to take care of so be sure to get to the ground on time. We would also like club subs paid on the weekend. $120 seniors & $80 juniors.

Our recruiting drive in the off-season has been an outstanding success with around 18 new players making their debuts with the Saints on Sunday. We welcome all our new players and hope you enjoy your first game on the weekend.

Supporters are welcome to attend, a map of the ground’s location is in the download section of the web site. There is a BBQ after the game. Come and see the Saints unveil their brand new playing strip and array of new recruits.

Welcome To Our Clubs First Physio
Gretchen Falloon will be attending our first game on the weekend in her role as the clubs physiotherapist . The older members of the team are very much looking forward to having Gretchen around. The club greatly appreciates Gretchen's involvement with the team. If you are in need of a physio you can contact Gretchen's via the club.

Up Coming Events
AFL Grand Final Day 30th September Kenny’s Bar & Grill
Pencil this date in your diary as it gets bigger and bigger each year. The club (and Kenny’s of course) put on a selection of finger foods. There are raffles, sweepstakes and other events, not to mention the biggest day on the AFL sporting calendar. Friends, family and supporters are welcome. Start time is 4pm, much earlier though for the die-hards.

Thanks To Our Sponsors
Grant McFlinn at Mike Pero Mortgages and Sandy March at Kenny’s Bar & Grill – Hereford St in the city. The club would especially like to thank Sandy and Kenny’s Bar & Grill who have been supporters of the club since 1998. This season Kenny’s is sponsoring our player of the day award as well providing prizes for this Friday’s quiz night. If you are heading into town and want great, well-priced meals and drinks call in to Kenny’s Bar & Grill. You can also view the mighty Saints premiership shield, match ball and team photo at Kenny’s.

Farewell BJ & Sara & Nick Jones
Saints legend, premiership player and all round good guy Dr Ben BJ Jansen and lovely fiancé Sara made a farewell appearance for the Saints in our practise game against the Takapuna Eagles last weekend. After spending the last 6 months in the Hawkes Bay area with other ex-saints Tim Eagle and Bernie McEntee BJ and Sara are of to Coff's Harbour to further Ben's medical career and catch some waves.
Star player Nick Jones is also leaving our shores and joining brother Marcus (and ex saint) for his big OE. Good luck with the travels Nick and we look forward to seeing both you are Marcus back at the club.

See you all on Friday and/or at Sunday's game

Regards,
Greg Cairns



May 2006 Newsletter
Hello Everyone

Welcome to the first web site edition of the Mt Roskill Saints newsletter.
Since our last edition there has been loads happening on the local AFL scene.

In February Saints senior coach Peter Boyce led the Auckland AFL team to a successful defence of their NPC title. The team easily accounted for Wellington, Canterbury & Waikato with Saints player Lewis Hurst being one on the stars of the tournament.
The NPC tournament was also the basis for selecting the New Zealand Falcons team to play in the Australian Country Championship later this year.
Saints players selected in the squad are Lewis Hurst, Matt Callaghan, Morgan Jones and Steve Fairweather. Unlucky to miss out was Mike Tagg.

Many of our team members have had eventful off seasons. Steve & Tineke Fairweather are expecting their first baby shortly as are Dion Nash and wife Bernice Mene. Getting married in the off-season were Morgan Jones & Jo and Jarrad Wallace & Nicole (great stag do going by the text received from BJ at 4.45am. Most recently ex pat Aucklander Dr Ben BJ Jansen has just announced his engagement to Sarah.
Congratulations guys (and gals).

On a sadder note we bid farewell to Dave Baker. Dave has been transferred with his job back to South Australia after two seasons with club. Not only has Dave given outstanding service to the club in the coaching and playing departments he also organized a sponsorship deal as well as donating the reserves player of the day award. The sponsorship deal with Multiplex Construction paid for the club’s new scoreboard. It goes without saying Dave will be greatly missed around the club. From all of us Dave, good luck to you Cassie and the kids back in Aussie.

The club’s AGM was held on the 12th March. The main items discussed were the club’s website (now up and running), the new club logo (see above) and the new under 16 competition starting this season. Minutes will be available to members shortly.
The AAFL AGM was also held in April, amonst items discussed were the playing of games on Saturday, AFL Grand Final day function and AFL coaching accreditation courses for 2006.

At this stage we will be playing the first round of matches on Sunday and the second round of matches on Saturday. This season’s fixture will be posted on the web site when available from the AAFL.
The NZAFL Coaching courses will be run on Saturday & Sunday May 20th / 21st 2006. We want at least six people from the club to attend, as we need at least three coaches this season. We are one coach down with Dave Baker’s departure.

During the off-season it is important we are all on the look out for potential recruits for the club. Put up flyers at your local rugby, league or soccer club if you can. Make sure you get contact details for any potential player and put them onto the club’s web site for further information. There is information regarding the rules of the game and playing positions on this site.

Finally, thanks to Lewis Hurst & Fraser Mills for setting up the club’s web site. Lewis also designed the new club logo. Well done guys you’ve done a great job.
We are on the lookout for sponsors for the web site; if you know of any interested parties, please let me know.

Good luck to Matt, Lewis & Morgs with the NZ Falcons. They are training Friday nights and Sunday mornings at May Rd if you would like to go along and support.

Hope everyone in keeping well and staying fit.

Cheers
Greg Cairns





Website launched!

Past Posts

Pre Season Training to begin

July update

Bowls Day 2010

Mt Roskill defeated by Waitakere

Mt Roskill defeated by Uni

Mt Roskill defeat Manuwera

Mt Roskill Saints defeat Takapuna Eagles

Mt Roskill Seniors lose to University, Reserves still undefeated.

Mt Roskill defeat North Shore

Mt Roskill defeat Waitakere

Mt Roskill defeat Manuwera

Round 4 Game - Round 3 Results

NEWS UPDATE ROUND 1 & 2

CHANGE OF TRAINING NIGHTS

CLUB SPONSORSHIPS & TRAINING

GOLF DAY & PRE-SEASON TRAINING

SAINTS GOLF DAY & NEWS UPDATE

NEW RECRUITS REQUIRED

Season 2009 Draft Fixture

June Newsletter

Notice Of Mt Mt Roskill Saints AGM - Senior Coaches Position - Recruiting

LIFE MEMBERSHIPS AWARDED

AAFL Grand Final Results & 2008 Awards Winners

Preliminary Final Results

Semi Final Results And This Weeks Game

Round 10 Results & Week 1 Of AAFL Finals

Saints News - Round 9 Results - Round 10 Game

Round 8 Results – Round 9 Game

Round 7 Results & Round 8 Game

Round 6 Results & Round 7 Game

Round 5 Results - Round 6 Game

Round 4 To 5 Update

SAINTS AFL GRAND FINAL DAY FUNCTION

ROUND 2 SEASON 2008

ROUND 1 SEASON 2008

AUGUST NEWS UPADATE

Saints Training Tonight (20th August)

JULY NEWS UPDATE

Saints Training Starts This Sunday

SAINTS TRAINING UPDATE

SAINTS NEWS UPDATE

Newsletter April 2008

Grand Final Match Report & Prize Giving

Saints Grand Final Day Special Mentions & Prize Giving

SAINTS ADVANCE TO AAFL GRAND FINAL

Match Report For Round 10 & First Week Of Finals

Round 9 Game - Round 8 Match Report & Other News

Auckland AFL Round 8 - 28th Oct - Saints verses Raiders

Match Reports For Round 7

Round 2 Update And Saints Quiz Night

Round 1 2007 Update

FIRST GAME THIS SUNDAY

TRAINING THIS SUNDAY + QUIZ NIGHT

KEY DATES IN AUGUST

Saints July Update

Saints Appoint Coach For 2007 Season

News Update

Saints Transport Trailer Complete

CLUB AGM - COACHING POSTIONS - APRIL UPDATE

Club Update 19th March

February - March Newsletter

January Newsletter

Saints 2006 Award Winners

AAFL Preliminary Final Results

AFL Grand Final Day - AAFL Round 5 Results

Saints Quiz Night & Round 1 Results

September Newsletter

May 2006 Newsletter

Website launched!

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