Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday night I attended the awards presentation night for the Pennant Hills Demons AFL Club. Founded in 1971, the Pennant Hills Demons club has been a great feeder for the Sydney Swans, and such players as Kieren Jack and Jarrad and Mark McVeigh have cut their teeth with the Demons.

The club fields four senior men's teams, a women's team and an under-19s team. Pennant Hills is among the largest non-university community AFL clubs in Australia, with 220 registered players. Unlike some other clubs in their division, none of the Demons players are paid. The Demons are regarded as a model club, with a positive culture promoting club and team before self.

The 2017 season was particularly successful for the club, with the Premier Division team having a tough start but then going undefeated for nine weeks and scraping into the final rounds, before winning every single game in those rounds. Interestingly, seven of the 22 players in the grand final team were under 19, which bodes well for future finals success in the Premier Division. The women's team also made the final rounds in only their second year, and next year, because of the huge popularity of women's AFL at Pennant Hills, they will add an additional women's team.

I had the honour of presenting service awards to the long-serving secretary Bob Wray and club identity Matt Lee. Other awards were given to Chris Yard, Jesse Vidot-Coleman, Mikaela Mahoney, Peter Carey, Jackson Preedy, Kieran Wright, Aaron Crisfield and Josh Boag. I want to say congratulations to the Pennant Hills Demons and wish them every success. (Time expired)