Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to take the liberty tonight just to use this adjournment debate to acknowledge two very special things that are happening in my community at the moment. The first is that the East Lismore Hockey Club are celebrating their 75th year as a club this year. It was established in the late forties to form a breakaway hockey team to enter the Far North Coast reserve-grade competition, and the women's side joined a year or two later. Today, 'Easties', as they are known, are one of the strongest clubs in the Far North Coast competition. Several current and former members have played for Australia, including former Kookaburra Grant Smith, who won bronze at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. To celebrate their 75th year, they've had all games from junior levels to seniors reserves, both men and women, played on their home field in Goonellabah on 5 and 6 August. They called it the 'festival of the Easties'. They've had many contributors to hockey in the region. But the standout, a wonderful community contributor, is Clint Mallett, who was inducted as a life member into Far North Coast Hockey Inc. for his work on and off the field, and particularly for his role in 1987 as the founding secretary of Far North Coast Hockey Inc. A great lover of the game is Clint.

Congratulations to the committee: President Daniel Hughes, Secretary Sonia Buchanan, Treasurer Jo Mackney, Vice-President Andrew Helmood, June Blunn, Clint Mallett, Roxanne Tickle, Demi Flynn and Jane Parish. They are a great club. They do a lot of good work in our community besides teaching people to play hockey. They are a great community organisation, and I thank them.

Secondly, I'd like to acknowledge—as there are lot of sporting finals at the moment—the grand final winners from the weekend senior rugby league competition. At the North Coast Group 2 Rugby League Competition that was played on Sunday, the South Grafton Rebels—go the Rebels—played the Orara Valley Axemen. The Rebels came out on top, 36 to 8. I want to congratulate the team, coached by Ronald Gordon: Keiron Heron, Luke French, Nick McGrady, Tom McGrady, Brian Quinlan, Hughie Stanley, Jordan Gallagher, Lewis Cooper, Cooper Makings, Jack Pitkin, TJ Walker, Grant Brown, Grant Stevens, Ryan Binge, Luke Walker, Tyrhys Brown and Aussie Cooper, and the reserves, Damon Kirby, Waylon Caldwell and Keaton Stutt.

The interesting story about this is that, while the Orara Valley Axemen missed on the day, they had taken out the minor premiership, and they're coached by the former NRL player Sam Burgess, who came to the club after retiring from the NRL in 2019. He helped resurrect the Axemen—they'd had a few bad years. He built a great team. They won the minor premiership, energised new fans and got great crowds to the games, as well, which is a great celebration for them this year. So to their team—Liam Dunn, Ronan Singleton, Luke Beaumont, Lathan Hutchinson-Walters, Steven Cetinich, Buddy Hart, Dan Robinson, Cain Bunt, Zac Makelim, Matt Wakefield, Ryan Gill, Macauley Dawson, Justin Hull, Jedaiah Katal, Harry Davey, Vikram Atwal, Oscar Watson, Alex Bunt and Jarrod Hall—congratulations. I congratulate the Rebels on their win and the Axemen for having had a great year.