Stav Says - East Fremantle Football Club coach Steve Malaxos
EAST Fremantle Football Club celebrated the first day of Naidoc Week on Sunday as it hosted Perth Football Club.
Celebrations included traditional Aboriginal dance and welcome as part of our pre-game ceremony and the awarding of three medals for the first time.
In the Colts, we awarded the Ryder Medal. Patrick Ryder played three games in the 2005 season before being selected in the 2005 national draft by Essendon.
He has since played 129 games with the Bombers.
Patrick’s father Revis played 37 games with the club and now coaches the Mullewa Football Club of the Great Northern Football League, part of our Midwest Regional Zone.
The medal was won by Andrew Stokes. In the Reserves the club awarded the Gary Dhurrkay Medal. Dhurrkay played 46 games including the 1994 and 1998 premierships.
Gary also played 51 games at Fremantle Dockers and 21 at North Melbourne. The Medal was won by Adrian Ricciardello.
In the League game, the club was awarded the Kevin Taylor Medal.
Taylor played 101 games with the club and kicked 247 goals. He also played 14 games at South Melbourne and one at Fitzroy.
He was a member of the 1979 premiership side, a game in which he won the Simpson Medal and kicked his 100th for the season on the way to the Bernie Naylor Medal.
He represented WA between 1982 and 1984 and was selected in the 1983 All Australian Side. The award was won by Cameron Sutcliffe.
It was also fitting on a day in which we recognised the contribution of indigenous footballers to our great game that Brad Dick made his League debut for the club. East Fremantle won Sunday’s League game.