Old Boys in the News – September 2017

Our Old Boys have been busy boys in all sectors, including:

• Congratulations to Matt Crouch (SPC 2008-13), pictured above,– being named All Australian for the first time in what promises to be an amazing career. He is only the fifth Old Boy to receive such an accolade following Danny Frawley (SPC 1976-79, PY1981) in 1988, Mick McGuane (SPC 1980-85) in 1990 and 1992,- James McDonald (SPC 1989-94) in 2006 and Drew Petrie (SPC 1995-2000) in 2011. In partnership with his older brother Brad (SPC 2006-11) the Crouch brothers also broke the record for the most possessions a brother duo has ever accumulated together in an AFL season. To read more, go to this link– and this link

• Keep an eye out for the Crouch brothers, Matt and Brad at Adelaide in this weekend’s AFL finals, along with Jacob Hopper (SPC 2014-15) at the Giants and at Richmond, the talented SPC trio of Dan Butler (SPC 2009-14), Dan Rioli (SPC 2012-15) and Shaun Grigg (SPC 2001-06).

• We congratulate College Legend Drew Petrie (SPC 1995-2000) who retired from AFL football this week after the West Coast Eagles lost to Greater Western Sydney in the finals campaign after more than 300 games at the top level. To read more about Drew’s plans, go to this link

• Well done to Blake Thomson (SPC 2011-15) and Matt Short (SPC 2008-13), who have been named in the Victorian Bushrangers’ One-Day Cup Squad. To read more, go to this link– and this link

• Keep an eye out for Matt Begbie (SPC 2006-11) who has announced he is leaving the Wendouree Cricket Club this season to return to playing with the Melbourne Cricket Club in the Victorian Premier League. Good luck Matt!

• Well done to Dan Cronin (SPC 1986-90,PY1991), managing director of The Western Hotel in Ballarat, which took out the Regional Best Bar Presentation and Service at the AHA national awards for excellence at the awards ceremony in Queensland this week. The popular drinking hole for our Old Boys represented Victoria in two categories. Well done Dan and your team!

• Our Old Collegians were up in the awards at the BFL Henderson Medal Night this week. Congratulations to Clay Bilney (SPC 2011-15) who won BFL Rookie of the Year, Ash Simpson (SPC 2007-12) with the BFL Mark of the Year and Dallas Martin (SPC 2011-16) who won the – Under BFL 18.5 Best and Fairest. Our current College school captain Mitch Tuddenham finished runner-up. Current Year 12 Nick Canny (son of Phil Canny (SPC 1979-84)) won the BFL Under 18.5 goal kicking award. To read more, go to this link

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• Callum Linnane (SPC 2008), joint winner of the College’s 2017 Young Achiever of the Year Award,- is currently performing in The Australian Ballet’s performance of Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland at the Melbourne Arts Centre. While tickets for all shows are nearly sold out, there is a “behind the scenes” opportunity being held on Friday, September 29 for anyone interested in seeing the amazing work which goes into such a grand scale show.- To find out more, go to this link

• Charles King (SPC 2008-11) cleaned up at Ballarat City’s awards night recently. See what he won at this link

• Lake Wendouree’s Isaac Kirby (SPC 2005-10) was in doubt to play in the Ballarat Football League preliminary final at the Eastern Oval after suffering knee soreness. To read more, go to this link

• Well done to former North Ballarat Rooster Steve Clifton (SPC 1999-2004) who has been awarded a VFL life membership, to read more, go to this link

• Mitch Brown (SPC 2002-06, PY 2007) shares the reality of what it is like to be de-listed from the West Coast Eagles in this emotional interview at this link

• Jacob Wheelahan (SPC 2010-15) lined up for the North Ballarat Roosters and Blake Graham (SPC 2012-13, PY 2017) for the Western Jets in the AFL Victoria -young guns- game at Port Melbourne recently.

• Well done to Jacob Brown (SPC 2011-16) who helped Hepburn take out the Central Highlands Football League grand final and won medal as the best player in the grand final. For more, go to this link

• We wish Josh Muir (SPC 2004-07, PY 2009) all the best as the accomplished artist takes up a residency in Mexico for a month-long stay. To read more, go to this link

• Check out what Nathan Sims (SPC 1998-2003) is up to in the rowing circles at this link

• Well done to Jacob Hopper (SPC 2014-15) who has extended his AFL stay with the Giants, to read more go to this link and also the earlier speculations at- this link

• Congratulations to Daniel Rioli (SPC 2012-15) who has been shortlisted for the AFL Goal of the Year Award after his stunning effort earlier in the season at the MCG against the West Coast Eagles. The competition is pretty fierce though for Dan to win the award – he only has to overcome two amazing efforts from Eddie Betts and Buddy Franklin! Best of luck Dan! For more, go to this link

• Congratulations to the following Old Boys and their businesses with their successes at the recent Ballarat Business Excellence Awards, including Andrew Locke (SPC 1985-88) for Adroit Insurance Group’s Professional Service Award, Paul Tudorovic (SPC 1983-88) at The Athlete’s Foot for winning the Franchise/Buying Group Business Award and Wayne Sharp (SPC 1978-83) at the Ballarat Yacht Club for cleaning up the New Emerging Business Award. To read more, go to this link

• Read how Simon Dwyer (SPC 1976-81) has remembered the forgotten souls, whose ashes have remained uncollected for up to 60 years, by creating a Garden of Respect in his role as director at FW Barnes and Son. To read more, go to this link

• It comes as no surprise that a SPC Old Boy is behind the nation’s best workplace. Well done to Mars Ballarat CEO Andrew Loader (SPC 1985-90) for landing Mars Australia on top nationwide in the Best Places to Work study for organisations that employ over 1000 staff. To read more, go to this link

• The memory of Nathan Shanahan (SPC 1988-93) lives on as a special running group passed through Ballarat recently to honour the memory of Nathan and another CFA member Damien Burke, who both took their own lives last year. To read more about the group’s hopes to raise awareness and funds, go to- this link– and this link

• Who wants to go to the movies! Well done to Showbiz Cinemas director Chris Jones (SPC 1988-93) who has opened the new Showbiz Cinemas at the Delacombe Town Centre. To read more, go to this link

• Well done to Jack Denahy (SPC 2011-14, PY 2016) for qualifying for nationals in boxing, despite a nail-biting loss in a gold medal bout in the lightweight 57-60kg division of the state championships. To read more, go to this link

• Well done to Dan Butler (SPC 2009-14) who has signed two-year deal with the Tigers, for more go to this link

• Congratulations to Joel Cowan (SPC 2013-15) who was runner-up in the CHFL Best and Fairest, for more go to this link

• Jarrod Rouhan (SPC 1993-98) is working as a senior digital producer at Deepend. Check out their amazing work at this link

• We heard from former day student Paul Winter (SPC 1992-97), who is Partner, CFO Advisory at KPMG.

• We also heard from former boarder Tim Hartigan (SPC 1980-82) who is project administrator for Dunlop & Pitson Earthmoving. Tim has been working for the civil construction company for nine years, which is based in Bendigo, and specialises in the development and construction of residential subdivisions. As project administorator, Tim is responsible for about 28 staff over three to five sites at any one time.

• We also heard from Tim Hodder (SPC 1982-85) who is the project manager/agile coach with Bendigo/Adelaide Bank.

• We recently heard from former boarder Joseph Hurst (SPC 1980-84) who is in Indonesia, working as the co-founder of PT Bruder Bebas Indonesia, a consulting company focused on mining and asset management consulting. PT Bruder Bebas Indonesia is a fully Indonesian-owned holding company with the following subsidiaries PT Bruder Utama Nusantara (dealership for quarry and construction equipment), PT Bruder Konstruksi Nusantara (contracting company for quarrying and mining), and PT Bruder Motorsports International (dealership for Beta and AJP enduro motorbikes). All these new companies were established in 2015/16, featuring a small group of expat and Indonesian owners. To find out more, go to this link

• We recently heard from Peter Matherson (SPC 1984-89) who is a builder with his family-run construction company, which looks after work in Melbourne and Geelong.

• The College was saddened to hear of the tragic passing of Ryan- Engel (SPC 2008-13), who was killed, along with his good friend,- when their ute hit a tree in Soldiers Hill, Ballarat on August 25. We- pass on our deepest condolences to their families and friends. To read more, go to this link

• Catch up with what Dan Nicholson (SPC 2007-08) is up to in Port Fairy at this link

• Great to see Old Boy Jake Neade (SPC 2010-12) back in town for the first time since he swapped school uniforms for AFL gear as his Port Adelaide side took on the Western Bulldogs in the big clash at Mars Stadium on August 19. To read more from Jake, go to this link– and this link

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• Look at him go! Well done to Bryson McDougall (SPC 2009-14) who booted 10 goals for the Kangaroos, keeping East Point’s finals hopes alive. To read the match report, go to this link

• Congratulations to the four Old Collegians who have been recognised by the AFL Players Association as being in the top 40 players aged under 22 in the country. Well done again to Matt Crouch (2008-13), Dan Butler (SPC 2009-14),- Daniel Rioli (SPC 2012-15) and Oscar McDonald SPC 2011-13). For more, go to this link

• Tony Frawley (SPC 1971-76) reminisces on the North Ballarat Rebels in the lead-up to a planned reunion as founder and general manager at this link

• Great to see Ballarat Harcourts’ business owner Jason Gigliotti (SPC 1984-89) supporting the Walk a Mile event in Melbourne recently, with his employees donning high heels to raise money for White Ribbon. To read more, go to this link

• Disappointing to hear Garth Horsfield (SPC 1982-85, PY1987) is closing down his alternative Humffray Street Babushka Bar in Ballarat after almost six years and had played host to hundreds of musicians and various other acts. To read why he’s closing, go to this link

• Our thoughts and prayers are with Charles Edwards (SPC 2009-14) who is recovering in the Alfred Hospital Trauma Centre after suffering severe and life threatening head injuries after falling in Ballarat in early August. A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help the Edwards family support Charles with his rehabilitation. If any members of the St Patrick’s College community are in a position to be able to help the Edwards family at this time please do so by contributing at- https://www.gofundme.com/charles-edwards-rehabilitation. We hope you make a full and speedy recovery Charles. To read more about Charles’ brave fight, go to this link

• Congratulations to Sam Short (SPC 2011-16) and current staff member Eric Hayes who joined forces as player and coach respectively to help steer the Ballarat Miners into a home grand final in the South East Australian Basketball League. Sam played a starring role in the semi final triumph over the Hobart Chargers, making a sensational shot to give the Miners the lead with just 27 seconds to go. It’s the first time that the Miners have made a conference final appearance since 2001. To read more, go to this link

• Great to hear Nicholas (Nick) King (SPC 2008-13) is managing a new Kings Cars dealership in Geelong. Go Nick!

• Jeremy White (SPC 2006-11) has returned to Ballarat after a stint in Portland and is currently working nightshift at Apco -“ a hard ask on these cold and wet winter nights!

• Congratulations to Nathan Brown (SPC 2002-06) who played his 150th senior game of AFL footy recently. Well done Nathan! Read more on how Nathan is feeling and his current mindset at this link

• Best of luck to Dom Barry (SPC 2009-12) and Brett Bewley (SPC 2008-13) whose dreams of a career in the AFL remain alive after both were invited to try out at this year’s AFL State Draft Combines in South Australia and Victoria respectively. To read more, go to this link

• Nathan Holmes (SPC 2014-15) is in the final year of his Film and TV (Media) course at Swinburne University and aspiring to a career in cinematography. It’s great to hear that Nathan visits his hometown of Ballarat regularly and has retained strong connections with his SPC classmates.

• Great to hear Brody Sullivan (SPC 2011-13, PY2016) is now working as an apprentice electrician in the Yarraville area.

• Kristian Rodoni (SPC 2001-03, PY2006) travelled to Cambodia recently to lend his chiropractic skills to those in need. Great work Kristian! Kristian- has taken over- the Ballarat and District Chiropratic Centre and made Ballarat his home with wife- Bridget, also a chiropractor,- and their young son Harvey.

• Time is drawing closer to the 44^th WorldSkills International competition, where Trystan Sammut (SPC 2009-12, PY2014) will be competing in bricklaying as part of the 43-person Australian team in Abu Dhabi in mid-October. To read more, go to this link– and this link.- Trystan’s family are also fundraising in a bid to fly over and support him and have set up a Go Fund Me page to raise funds. If you can help,- go to this link

• A bit of a scare for Matt Austin (SPC 2005-06) after needing an x-ray on his shoulder, Nick Weightman (SPC 2009-14) with an ankle injury and Ben Lusby (SPC 2010-15) having the wind knocked out of him following North Ballarat Roosters games in early August. To read more, go to this link

• Congratulations to Ash Constable (SPC 2008-11) who has played his 100^th SEABL game for the Ballarat Miners. Ash is vice-captain of the Miners. To read more, go to this link

• A big thank you to Matthew Henderson (SPC 1991-96) who visited SPC on August 7 and gave our Year 11 and 12 Theatre Studies’ students a fascinating insight into his life as production manager of the latest musical production Aladdin. Well done Matthew! To read more about Matthew’s life, go to this link

• We say hello to Daniel (Danny) Hay (SPC 2000-05) who is currently working and living in London for a couple of years. Danny headed overseas at the start of the year and is currently teaching at a secondary school and enjoying travelling.

• Great effort by staff member Dom Swinton (SPC 2003, PY2005) who was part of Kelly Sports Greater Ballarat’s triumph in winning back-back franchise of the year awards for its children’s sports programs recently. To read more, go to this link

• Inducted College Legend David Parer (SPC 1962-64) certainly doesn’t stay still for long. After finishing a project photographing humpback whales off Australia, he is now off to Tonga.

• Congratulations to Matt Hanlon (SPC 1991-96) who coached Ballarat Grammar girls to their third Herald Sun Shield division one triumph.