St Mary’s Update March 24

To our St Mary’s players, club members & supporters We want to take this opportunity to keep you up to date with League and Club decisions surrounding the COVID-19 situation. As you will all understand we are in new territory and the rules are changing daily.  Whilst we accept our season has been delayed until the end of May there is still a lot of uncertainty. Our Board met last weekend to discuss the challenges facing our club. Our main priority was on how to keep our players and members engaged within the current environment. We encourage our players to look after their wellbeing and keep connections with their friends and fellow players (via social media platforms and phone calls). It is important to maintain fitness and we encourage players to do what they can within the current distancing rules. No formal training will be organised by the club. We understand that you are all feeling the impact of this situation and encourage you to speak to other club members, teammates, coaches, wellbeing representatives and coordinators if you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed or anxious.  Our club is committed to helping maintain both the physical and mental health of our members and here to support you in any way we can. Unfortunately the Board has had to confirm the postponement of the following planned club activities Don Mathieson Golf Day Official Opening of the clubrooms Trots Night Sth Africa Trip As you will understand we are guided by AFL Barwon and their recommendations so please use the following link where many questions you may have will most likely be answered. https://play.afl/covid-19/faqs We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Our Sponsors need your support ! At this time when we know many businesses are struggling we ask you to support our loyal club sponsors who have stuck with us in good and bad times. Below is a list of our Sponsors if you can use their services in any way. Platinum Sponsors KFC Geelong and Colac Stores J. McMahon & Sons Shell Grit Merchants   P J & T Motors P J & T Excavations Blood Motor Group Champions SUPA IGA Grovedale Geelong Travel Civil Mart Buckleys Entertainment Centre Goodyear Autocare Geelong NAB Gold Sponsors Adroit Insurance Group Alliance Victoria Refrigeration Apprenticeship Support Australia Bartlett’s Waste Management Elephant & Castle Hotel Enzed Geelong Jack Rabbit Winery K & M Paints M&R Distributors Plan Group PreMix King Ritchie Bros The Inn / Geelong Hotel Pizzas with Attitude Silver Sponsors A & K Tucker Excavations Bayside Garages Belmont Denture Clinic Coulter Roache Clubs United Driscolls Australia Geelong Diesel Golden Farms (Turi Foods) Insight Logic Ivy Street LBW Accountants Loving Construction McGrath Real Estate North Geelong Engine Reconditioning  Promote – it – Trophies & Clothing Roderick Insurance Brokers Russell McMahon Painter and Decorators Southpoint Garden Supplies Victoria Group Training Winks Eyewear Wizard Car Wash In Kind Advanced Digital Images Australiafruits Belmont Stereo Cleanaway Corio Bay Sports Medicine Centre Gull Geelong In2memoribilia Kings Funerals Smellies Standby Security Steamatic Geelong Regal Sleep Solutions Top Cat Signs & Designs

Don Mathieson Pavillion Upgrade On a much more positive note, our new rooms look amazing and are nearly complete.  Handover is planned for this week and we can’t wait to move in and put our St Mary’s stamp all over them.  We hope to be able to show small groups from each age group through the facility and let everyone see what great rooms they have to look forward to . The total cost of rooms including in-kind work is approx. $2.7m. Currently we foresee our shortfall in funds to be only $50k so anyone who wants to donate and get their name on the honour board can still donate through the Australian Sports Foundation here. Below are a few photos showing the rooms at present.