There is a planning, team rules and strategy session this Saturday the 4^th of February at Freer’s gym from 10am. This is an essential session for you to attend where we hope many of your questions will be answered about training, game days and selection (and plenty more).

We look forward to seeing you all there followed by a great afternoon and evening at the Committee drinks at The Elephant & Wheelbarrow from 4pm.

Regards,

The Coaching staff 2012 

The Denver Bulldogs are looking to host 1 or 2 players for our season (May to October). We provide housing and part-time work. Please take a look at the guidelines in the attached document and circulate to anyone who may be interested. It is a great opportunity to spend time in the United States and travel.

The Denver Bulldogs are the most successful USAFL club with 8 premierships for the men and 2 for the women. You will be joining the reigning USAFL champions should you make the trip to Denver!

Please note the 21 years old age minimum.
Denver Bulldogs Scholarship Guidelines 2012.pdf

Direct inquiries to Max Eckstein (president@denverbulldogs.com).

Andy Vanica
Denver Bulldogs Australian Rules Football Club
www.denverbulldogs.com

Martin suffered a massive stroke last week and had been in a critical condition in the PA hospital in Brisbane since. His condition deteriorated and Martin lost his fight for life late Tuesday.

Martin was great contributor over many years and his passion for the club, his bright cheerful smile and trusted camera will be sadly missed at the Red Lions den.

We wish to offer our sincere condolences to all of Martin’s family.

This is a fantastic effort by the boys and congratulations should go to all those involved in this monumental achievement.

Thanks must also go to Peter Herring and Peter Rosengren for hosting a spectacular home final at UQ Oval 7 today. It was great to see for the first time in a long while that UQ Red Lions Supporters outnumbered the supporters of our opponents. Thanks to all who came along to watch our guys wrestle victory from their opposition.

Having won today, both teams go straight into the Grand Finals, which will both be held on Saturday the 3rd of September at O’Callaghan Park, Zillmere Road, Zillmere. Reserve Grade will play at 11:30am and Senior Grade will play at 2:15pm.

I urge everyone to get down on the day to support our guys in their pursuit of the dual Premiership, something which has not been seen at the club since 1984.

I look forward to seeing you all there.
Regards,
Scott

I am delighted to announce that following a successful ground inspection this morning at UQ Oval 7, the ground has been approved to host Red Lions finals in 2011.

With two rounds remaining in the Home and Away Season for State Association Division 1, our Seniors are currently sitting first on the ladder on 54 points, followed by Caloundra on 48, while our Reserves sit first on the ladder on 58 points followed by Caloundra on 54.

Should our teams finish first on the ladder after Home and Away they will skip the first week of finals and go straight into the second week. Should they finish second they will play first week of finals against third place.

Finals will be hosted at UQ Oval 7 only if the Senior team has hosting rights, which means we will host at Oval 7 on the 13th of August if the Seniors finish second OR the 20th of August if the Seniors finish first. Reserve grade games will always be played wherever the Senior grade games are held.

I urge all of you to keep the 13th of August and 20th of August tentatively booked to come and support our guys at Oval 7. This is the first time in many years that we have been able to host finals and it promises to be an excellent day of football.

I would also encourage you to get down to the final two Division 1 Home Games over the next two weekends, both of which are being held at UQ Oval 7, to support the guys heading into finals.

Congratulations to all teams for their successes and admirable performances to date and best of luck for the rest of the season and in finals. I hope to see many of you down at Oval 7 in the coming weeks!

Regards,
Scott.

As you may have heard, over the weekend just past one of our fellow University clubs, UQ Rugby, lost one of it’s members in a tragic accident during one of it’s games.

Halley Appleby, aged 21, suffered a serious neck injury as a result of a regular legal tackle and was rushed to hospital but unfortunately he did not recover.

Attached below is a letter I have sent on behalf of the club to the UQ Rugby Club. I would like to ask that all Red Lions wear a black arm band at this weekend’s games as a sign of respect for Halley.

I would encourage any of you who have friends in UQ Rugby to offer your support in this tough time. If anyone personally knew Halley I would also encourage you to come forward if you are in need of comfort or support and let us know if there is anything we as a club can do to help. In times of such tragedy it is important that we all stand by our brother University club and offer our support where we can.

Regards,
Scott.
UQAFC Letter – To UQ Rugby

It’s been a long and tough pre-season at the UQ Red Lions AFC with some wins and some losses both on and off the field, however the outlook for 2011 is bright. Now that things are settling down we’d like to bring you up to date on what has been happening and what is planned for 2011 and beyond at the Red Lions.

Committee and Coaching Changes
During March, Tim MacKinley has been appointed Division 1 Senior Coach for 2011. Tim has an excellent track record at the Red Lions as a successful coach since 2006 including:
• Assistant Coach to Kym Lynch in Div 1 Reserves – 2006 (Premiership Winners)
• Co-coach with Andrew Nuske in Div 3 – 2007
• Coach of Div 3 – 2008 (Grand Finalists)
• Coach of Division 1 Reserves – 2009
• Assistant Coach to Ian Carter in Div 1 Seniors – 2010

Assisting and mentoring Tim in the Senior Coaching role will be our Coaching Co-ordinator, Travis Warren. Travis brings significant experience as a player and coach to head up the coaching group and we are delighted to secure his ongoing involvement and support. AFLQ have also recognised Travis’ skills and experience by appointing him as Queensland Under 18 coach for 2011. Congratulations to Travis on his appointment and we wish him every success.

Division 1 Reserves this season will be coached by long term club members and experienced footballers, Darren Harvey and Justin Long. We look forward to the Reserves enjoying a successful year under their direction.

Jarad Evans has returned for the third year running to head up Division 2 as the Senior Coach, with Old Boy Peter Rosengren stepping up to Coach the Division 2 Reserves side. Assisting both Jarad and Peter across Division 2 will be Ben Hollis, who assisted Jarad last year with Division 2, and Adam Fry, who is new to the club from coaching roles in Rockhampton with junior sides.

With the appointment of Tim MacKinley as Division 1 Senior Coach, Barry Watkins has offered to relieve Tim of his Vice President’s role on the Committee for 2011. Tim remains as a Committee member as Club Advisor. Barry has been heavily involved with the club as a player and administrator for over a decade in various senior Committee roles and brings plenty of experience to the VP role.

The Committee currently comprises:
• President – Scott Young
• Vice President – Barry Watkins
• Secretary – Dugald Reid
• Treasurer – Chris Burgess
• Coaching Co-ordinator – Travis Warren
• Club Advisor – Peter Herring
• Club Advisor – Tim MacKinley

We welcome feedback from supporters of the club and encourage you to contact the committee if you have any questions, comments or offers of assistance to help out the club in any way. Contact details for all Committee members can be found here: www.redlions.org.au/about/office-bearers/.

Volunteers
We are also delighted to welcome two wonderful volunteers to the club who are fantastic assistants to Jarad and Pete in the Division 2 group. Under the watchful tutelage of Jim Derrick, Kofi Afari has accepted the role of Manager for the division. Kofi’s medical studies are carefully balanced with helping out on game day and at training and we’re sure he’ll be delighted with his exposure to the regular injury count of an AFL season. Keeping the guys on the track each and every week in Div 2 is Johan Homstrand, a Masters of Physio student from Sweden. Johan, his partner Linda and their young lad Erik are spending the year in Brisbane with Johan offering to act as a dedicated physio for the Div 2 group. Thanks to all 3 gentleman for their support of the club.

If you can help the club on game day or even at training (scoreboard attendant, goal umpire, time keeping, canteen help – all good fun!) or know of someone looking to help out a club in any way please contact the club at president@redlions.org.au.
We would be delighted to have supporters of the club help out in any way they can.

Withdrawal of the UQ Bulldogs from 2011 Competition
Unfortunately the club has had to withdraw the Joint Venture Under 18s team, the UQ Bulldogs, from the 2011 competition. Due to the recent floods in Brisbane we have spent a large majority of our preseason training away from the University grounds while Oval 7 has been under repair. With this lack of exposure to the University for such a crucial period of the year, we have found that player enquiry in that age group has been significantly affected.

Player numbers at training have been extremely low (averaging between 5 and 10 players) and regular, widespread messages to all eligible players yielded only a small group of 5 to 10 players. Extensive consultation took place with the joint venture parties, the U18 coaching team and the AFLQ U18s Competition Co-ordinator whereupon the decision was taken withdraw the team. This decision was taken to avoid the significant and long term penalties enforced on clubs that enter teams without enough players.

It is highly regrettable that we are unable to field a team as the U18s serve as an important link between West Juniors and the Red Lions, whilst also serving as a place to nurture new players commencing at the University of Queensland. All current Under 18 players committed to playing this season have the option to play in the Senior ranks or move to another U18s club in the area. Please contact the club to receive this information immediately.

Based on the learnings from this season, planning has already begun for the 2012 Under 18s UQ Bulldogs return. As a vital source of talent and participation for students especially keen to play AFL, we would ask any supporters keen to help with the U18’s program to contact the club immediately.

Return to Oval 7
Much to our relief, Saturday 2nd of May saw us return to Oval 7 for our first home game of the season. We have been training back at Oval 7 for three weeks now unfortunately without change rooms, however on Saturday the change rooms became available with only minor work still to be completed. The canteen still remains out of action for a further 2-3weeks however the builders are committed to a more efficient refit of this space to better suit our needs. In the meantime we are working with a simplified canteen and bar arrangement to provide food and drinks on game days.

The field itself at Oval 7 is in reasonable condition but still has some fairly obvious areas requiring work. Thanks to all club members for their patience when it comes to these issues, as further work may not happen immediately due to the massive task in front of UQ Sport in repairing playing facilities across campus.

Fundraising
In addition to securing the valued sponsorship or the RE Hotel again for 2011, through the fantastic efforts of the entire club we have continued our successful fundraising activities at our Major Sponsors, the Norman Hotel. Thanks go to Peter Herring and Dugald Reid who have been organising and training players to run the raffle activities on Friday and Saturday nights at the Norman Hotel. Thanks also to all players who have volunteered for the raffles and especially those who have volunteered more than once.

In addition to providing the club with urgent funds to help the entire playing and coaching group each and every week, the club has long term plans to keep fee increases to a minimum, offer player scholarships and coaching development programs. These activities make the club a better place and we urge every player and supporter who has not yet volunteered to please contact Peter Herring peterherring@lumineye.com.au or Dugald Reid d.reid@uq.edu.au to offer your help. It is a simple activity that takes only 90 minutes with very little sales ability required and it makes a massive difference to the club. Please get involved!

Donations & Equipment
A big thanks must go out to all of the people so far that have donated time, energy an resources to the UQ Red Lions AFC over the past few months. We will shortly be posting a list of people and organisations who have donated to the club as thanks for their generosity.

Much of equipment lost in the flood is now being replaced including goal post pads, tackle bags, the siren, first aid and physio equipment. Canteen items such as fridges and freezers are next on the list. If any club member or supporter can assist with retail drink fridges in particular, please contact the President president@redlions.org,au.

Social Calendar
Please find attached the Calendar for 2011, including fixtures, holidays and the draft Social Calendar for 2011. Dates of note are the proposed Old Boys Days (of which we will have two this year – one with Div 1 at home and one with Div 2 at home) and the Red Lions Golf Classic, as these events may need to be planned in advance by any interstate attendees. Please check out the Calendar and make sure you book in those dates!

Calendar 2011

Message of Thanks
Thank you again to all the players, administrators and supporters who have assisted the club get back on its feet after the flood. We have some work still to do however I urge you to stick with the club, because we have an exciting year ahead!

Please keep up to date with all the Red Lions news at www.redlions.org,au and we look forward to seeing you down at Oval 7!

Kind regards

Scott Young
UQ Red Lions AFC President.

Each year we require volunteers to help out manning the stalls and talking to prospective players about the club.

This year Market Day is being held on Wednesday the 23rd of February. We have organised with UQ Sport and the Brisbane Lions to have our stall in Cambpell Place next to the Brisbane Lions stall to ensure people know we are there.

So far we have a few volunteers offering to help out on the day, but we need more people to come along to help out and help inform prospective players of the club.

If you can help out at any time during the day (day typically runs approximately 9am to 3pm) please email me at president@redlions.org.au or call me on 0422 494 701.

Club shirts and respectable attire are essential