We’re off and running…

Welcome to the first Red Roy Mail for 2019. The players are back into pre-season training, there are big numbers on the track and the enthusiasm levels are high.

February is membership month at Fitzroy and we have a special prize on offer for one lucky fan – could be the only way to get hold of one of these fab player training singlets. Read more below.

There was a very special event at Edinburgh Gardens for one of our beloved Roy Boys, which we want to tell you about.

And check out some important dates for your diary – Golf Day on Sunday 24 March and Season Launch on Saturday 30 March – and in the next edition we’ll have some big news about Round 1.

Photo: Fitzroy-ACU Senior player Alice Batterton leading out on a training run. By Peter Harrison.

Chesh goes out on a high – on life, love and football

If you believe in karma – and most rusted-on Fitzroy supporters profess to that faith – it was only fitting that one of our favourite and most loyal sons be repaid in kind when he married the love of his life late last month.

So after days of sweltering summer heat, the weather turned soft and sweet and a gentle breeze and some cooling drops of rain floated over Edinburgh Gardens as Tom Cheshire and Ella Hempenstall wed in the heart of North Fitzroy.

It’s fair to say that Chesh’s miraculous last-minute goal in the semi-final against Williamstown in the wet (one of the VAFA highlights of the year), was pivotal in securing the 2018 grand final, the first senior flag for the Club since the Reds and Fitzroy merged in 2008, and the most senior victory in the Club’s amateur history.

And fitting that this stellar effort, followed by an equally impressive finals campaign, was Chesh’s swan song to a long career as a faithful Fitzroy footballer – from baby Auskicker in 1995, through the Fitzroy Junior Football Club ranks from 1998 and, from 2007 until his retirement at the end of the 2018 season, in the U19s, Reserves and Seniors as a gritty and influential midfielder and inspirational leader. Throughout, Chesh has been a mainstay for the Roys, staunch through thick and thin for over 23 years.

So much so, in fact, that Chesh has not only played for the full 10 years of the modern Fitzroy's existence, but holds the record for most senior games of any current Fitzroy player.

Such great service to the Club has not been restricted to playing footy but taken into the professional realm of Chesh’s life and work.

Selfless like his mother (many of you might not even be aware that our President Joan Eddy has that honour), self-deprecating like his father Frank, and socially-minded like them both, Chesh has always hidden his light – and accomplishments – under a bushel.

After studying a Bachelor of Youth Work at RMIT and a Masters of Education at La Trobe University, Chesh has spent the past few years working for the Department of Education – teaching a combined curriculum to primary and secondary kids who are incarcerated in Victoria’s juvenile justice system. While he’s taught in three different centres, Chesh spent the past year at Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre.

Chesh’s partner Ella also works in the caring professions. A qualified occupational therapist, Ella will be leaving her job in orthopaedic rehabilitation at Epworth Hospital where she helps patients recover from back, hip or knee surgery, when she and Chesh head off on their next adventure to live, work and travel overseas together.

And so, happy for them and sad for ourselves, we say goodbye and good luck to Chesh and Ella, knowing that our loss is the wider world’s gain.

Photo top right
Happiness personified: Tom Cheshire and Ella Hempenstall beneath the grand old grandstand at Brunswick Street Oval on their wedding day. Photograph Emily Weaving

Photos below:
Top left: Support reciprocated – career-long team mate and life-long friend Rory Angiolella (left) and Jack Parkinson accompany the groom through Edinburgh Gardens to the wedding ceremony. Photograph Phyllis Quealy

Top right: No occasion too grand for a Fitzroy beanie but what was Rory thinking with the 1970s visor?

Bottom left: We’re all fans of #10! Photograph Phyllis Quealy

Bottom right: Chesh in action during his best-on-ground performance in the winning 2018 semi-final against Williamstown. Photograph Phyllis Quealy

February is Fitzroy membership month – join in the fun!

Anyone who signs up for a Fitzroy membership before the end of February will go into the draw for our prize pack, which features the new FFC players’ singlet and a voucher from Bontempo Pizzeria.

We’ve had a lot of interest in these singlets and the only way a non-player can get one is to win this prize!

There are some other great parts to the package too. Our friends at Bontempo Pizzeria on Brunswick Street will provide a $50 voucher to the winner. And although it might be hotter than hades right now, a hand knitted Fitzroy beanie will come in handy in mid-June; there's a brand new batch and they're looking good. So this prize has you covered all year round. There might be some other surprises too.

This year we have some new member benefits, designed to encourage people to come down to Brunswick Street and join in with the after-match festivities and/or the famous barbecue. Check out the membership packages on our website. There is also a business membership package.

And fear not if you got in early. If you already have your membership for this year, you’ll automatically go into the draw.

All you need to do is pick the best membership for you, sign up and pay online by midnight on Thursday 28 February.

The winner will be drawn and announced at the season launch on Saturday 30 March at the Fitzroy Victoria Bowling Sports Club.

Book in for the Fitzroy Golf Day – 24 March

Bookings are now open for our 2019 Golf Day and this year we’re heading out to Freeway Golf Club in North Balwyn.

Join our players, supporters and sponsors on Sunday 24 March for a bit of fun in a friendly two-person Ambrose format starting at 1pm.

You can book online for yourself and your partner or book separately. We can partner you up if you want to book as an individual.

There'll be prizes for the winner, the longest drive and closest to the pin. The Fitzroy IT team are very keen to defend their title, so take them on and see if you can knock them of the winners' board!

D Squad works to build bigger bodies

Fitzroy’s Fitness Coach, Steve Hurl, has expanded his team and with the addition of Todd Finn from the Northern Knights, their work with the senior men’s development squad is bound to reap benefits as the season goes on.

We caught up with Steve about his plans for the pre-season and how things are shaping up. (Read carefully and take note of Steve's warning for the whole playing group in relation to this month’s training camp at Portsea!)

What did you identify as the key things the teams needed to work on in the pre-season to improve?
As a collective, with a young group, it was identified the players needed to develop an increased overall running capacity (endurance and speed) and increase strength levels to match it with the bigger bodies and higher game speeds seen in the Premier B competition.

Have you sought to create a more structured pre-season this year? What are the teams doing differently?
With the club moving up to Premier B this season we've sought to add more structure to our pre-season. The addition of Todd Finn has allowed us to carefully create a structured periodised training outline to maximise our training and help reduce injury/prevent fatigue. This season all players have access to a strength training program which aims to increase their strength levels, prevent injury and allow the players to undertake the on-field training necessary to be successful. Throughout the season we'll look to have a very structured recovery protocol to ensure players are at their best each week.

Tell us about Todd Finn – what’s his background? How will he be helping Fitzroy this year?
Todd comes to us from the Northern Knights Football Club where he has spent the last two season working in rehabilitation with the 18s and overseen the physical preparation of the Under 16s squad.

Todd has previously assisted in the physical preparation and rehab of the Melbourne University Blacks in their last season at Premier level. Adding Todd to the fitness team has allowed us to be more structured with our training, taking some load off me with programming and other areas such as load monitor/GPS tracking.

Together we'll be helping to implement the fitness program throughout the pre-season, assisting on matches days, helping with the in-season preparation of players and helping to monitor, assess and design rehabilitation programs for injured players, to allow them to get back on the ground as soon as possible.

Fun Fact about Todd: Todd has a family connection at the Fitzroy Football Club with his grandmother, Esma Griffin, being a lifelong supporter, and his cousin Ben Finn having played football for Fitzroy.

I understand you’ve been running the D Squad at your gym (with Nathan Ligris and Max Davies as mentors). What extra has the squad been doing? Who has impressed you?
Boys are adding extra kilos in the gym and increasing their strength levels and improving their boxing skills and the fitness demands that come with boxing!

James Butler (pictured on the track, top right) dropping big bombs! Plenty of lip service from Ligger. Clayton boys are very dangerous. New-comers Harrison Grace and John Jorgensen are on fire! And Max Davie is as solid as a rock.

We’ve purchased some new training equipment, which means we now have some equipment at Ramsden Street and BSO. How is that helping?
The addition of the new equipment has been instrumental in allowing us to have more options when designing or training for the squads. The addition of this new equipment will allow us to take the players to the next level and allow us to better rehab our injured players in a timely manner.

Is there anything exciting in store for the pre-season camp?
Bootcamp will be the toughest yet! We're not heading to Portsea for a picnic, so be prepared ladies and gentlemen.

Bontempo continues to back Fitzroy

Bontempo Pizzeria, who provided our best-on-ground awards to all teams throughout the 2018 finals’ series, has come on board in a big way for 2019.

Joe Kavanagh from Bontempo on Brunswick Street has generously agreed to provide the first ever best-on-ground awards to both Fitzroy-ACU women’s teams for 2019 - $60 vouchers for the best player each week.

Not only that, but Bontempo will also provide the one-percenter awards to the Men’s Senior and Reserves sides.

Since opening, the local restaurant has also backed the junior club in a big way, with awards for their teams too.

Thanks for following

Thanks for getting on board and following our social media channels in record numbers in 2018. Winning a premiership or two didn't hurt!

The annual review of Fitzroy’s social media numbers showed very strong growth in Instagram followers and Red Roy mail subscriptions after the process was made easier by Fitzroy IT.

2018 by the numbers:

Red Roy Mail: 750 subscriptions (includes members, players and coaches, plus those signing up via the website) – up approximately 50 per cent
Facebook: 4100 followers, up 12 per cent
Instagram: 1170 followers, up 74 per cent
Twitter: 2560 followers, up 6 per cent
Website: over 120,000 visits and 200,000 page views
The introduction of the Risk Care Round Up in 2018 helped attract a strong weekly following and contributed to the Facebook and website numbers.

Congratulations Ash

With AFLW Season 3 set to start tomorrow night, there'll be a couple of familiar faces involved on and off field.

A huge congratulations to Ash Riddell, who'll debut with the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos side when they take on Carlton on Sunday. Ash played with Fitzroy-ACU in its inaugural season and came back to speak at our women’s footy lunch last year. While at Fitzroy she took out the Debbie Lee Medal for best first year player in the VWFL and it’s great to see her stepping up into the big league.

Fitzroy-ACU Senior Women’s Assistant Coach, Maeve Barton, is part of the support crew with the North AFLW side too.

Our very own Sam Batterton will also be behind the scenes with the Melbourne Football Club’s AFLW team, working as a rehab coach. And Sam reminded us that we should look out for the progress of former Fitzroy junior, Maddy Guerin, who's on the Melbourne list.

Good luck to all! There are sure to be many Fitzroy connections and they're bound to grow as the competition does.

We'll bring you more on VFLW-affiliated players as the season gets closer.

Season launch all set for Saturday 30 March

Saturday 30 March will be a stern test for the full club as we take on Marcellin in all grades at Brunswick Street Oval -- a nice curtain raiser to the season.

The games will be followed by a season launch at the Fitzroy Victoria Bowling and Sports Club from 5.30pm.

Hope to see you there as you meet the new coaches and hear about the season ahead.

Important dates

Friday 15 to Sunday 17 February: pre-season training camp at Portsea
Sunday 17 March (TBC): pre-season game v St Bernard’s (men’s squad)
Saturday 23 March: pre-season game v Uni Blacks (men’s squad)
Sunday 24 March: Fitzroy FC Golf Day, 1pm start.
Saturday 30 March (day): pre-season game v Marcellin at BSO (men’s and women’s squads)
Saturday 30 March (pm): Season launch, Fitzroy Victoria Bowling Club, 5.30-7pm.
Saturday 6 April: Round 1, 2019.