The start of the night was the video of the join the Western Front which was narrated by Luke Darcy. For those who haven't seen it- there is some action of the Westgate Bridge and Footscray railway station amongst other things, with players pumping weights.
New coach Brendan McCartney was introduced to the gathering- he spoke quite well. Brendan has plans on trying a few different things- he warned everyone not to be too worried about some possible weird moves during games. He is a supporter of numbers at the ball and believes we will enjoy the game plan.
We were informed that the club made a $120,000 profit, which the club was happy with but match day revenue was down from the 2010 figure which was somewhat concerning
Ian Veal mentioned how the embezzled money that the club parted with has been recovered. As it is now a Police matter- this was not expanded on and the subject was closed.
Ten new players were introduced to the meeting- Brendan McCartney wants the likes of Mitch Wallis, Will Minson and a couple of others to help these young recruits and be role models for these young lads.
Dale Morris was made a Life Member of the club- Simon Garlick playing a game of 'guess who as he read out the clues. Starting with he made his debut in 2005, then the unfortunate injuries that Dale Morris has had to endure.
Other to be made Life Members were cheer squad stalwarts- David Porter and Gary Munn.
Board member Henry Jolson was also elevated to that of Life Member. President David Smorgon mentioned his role in changing the allegiance of his good mate Henry Jolson from being a Collingwood supporter to a bulldogs supporter after Henry became involved some years ago. Henry is leaving the board after completing the now compulsory reign of three terms of 3 years. Henry Jolson has a wonderful velvet voice- I assume he would be a good singer. I was sort of hoping he would have broken into 'Swannie' but not tonight.
Henry was up on the official table at the beginning of the night- before being asked to hop down and make way for new board member Chris Grant. Yet he was called back up to receive his Life Membership later in the evening.
A few other people were handed the 'Presidents Award' for their service to the club.
At the conclusion there was one question asked by a bloke sitting near the front enquiring about the BULLDOZE THE DEBT campaign. Simon Garlick wanted to know why this bloke wanted to ask it tonight as apparently according to Simon Garlick, this chap is a regular caller to the club on the telephone.
After this one question David Smorgon introduced Gary Kent - who is our new marketing guru.
That was it for another year- the main advertisement is how the west is the fasting growing area in Australia and we have to claim it for ourselves.This was mentioned many times this evening- so it looks like we need to convert those in St Albans, Sunshine, Deer Park, Melton etc. from Collingwood fans and other fans to (although this wasn't mentioned on the night) to 'bulldog fans.
It is all about both bulldogs and western, though the word bulldogs was mentioned more times.
So all over till the 2012 Annual General Meeting.
