By Reserves coach Bernie Carter

Finally, the season had arrived after a long pre-season and lots of new faces to the club and players graduating from the Under 19s. All we wanted to do was get the season started. We were all hoping after the last few years, we could finally complete a full season.

We started off well in round 1 with a good win over Beaumaris with some new and old faces. Round 2 was against our friends AJAX and was a hard-fought win in the end. Round 3 we had the privilege of playing on ANZAC day at Brunswick Street Oval. What a special occasion this was, and a good win followed against Williamstown.

Our first loss for the year was against University Blacks in round 5 but was a good test for us to see how we were going. The next two rounds produced some very close games, winning by four and six points respectively, and being able to bring in some of the young talent from the Thirds Gold who acquitted themselves well.

This bought us to that strange time of the year where we played one game in five weeks due to the fixturing and keeping the boys on track was fun. We came out of the mid-season break and had a good win against AJAX and then faced our biggest challenge in the University Blacks. We came away with the win and the belief that we could match it with anyone. The confidence of the group just grew.

We played our first game at 2.00pm which was quite strange against Haileybury but a great experience for the team leading into the twilight game for the Seniors. The last four rounds of the year saw three wins and one loss, and putting us in a great position by finishing on top of the ladder, full of confidence, and ready to play finals: a great credit to the players.

The highlight of the year for me was seeing the influx of new and younger players developing over the course of the year and players getting the opportunity to play their first Senior game for the Fitzroy Football Club.

I would like to thank our President David Leydon and the Board for all their support during the year, my assistant coach Leigh Quinn for his support, Mahns and the Senior Men's coaching panel, the supporters who cheer us on week in and week out and travel great distances to watch us. All the volunteers who give their time for us to be able to play, especially our fantastic goal umpire Dave Barnes and our hard-working Team Manager Sharon Torney and the constant banter we share each week to keep me grounded.

Most of all l would like to thank all the players who represented the Reserves this year because without your commitment and efforts we would not have achieved what we did.
The HUNGER, PRIDE, HUMILITY and HARDWORK you displayed this year could not be questioned and l am so proud of you all.

Thank you.

Go Roys 2023

Image: Rod Graham