The only true definition of a great club is one that is made up of great people."
I don't know if that's been said before, but I'm saying it now and I'm prompted to do so as I write my final review of the Seymour Football Netball Club.
The past four-and-a-half years covering the fortunes of the Lions were an absolute pleasure for me and as I think back on the reasons why, it always comes back to the people.
It's why this club has continued to flourish, when logic says a small town competing against big budgets and populations shouldn't.
It's why this club has also flourished in both football and netball, when most other clubs seem to get one or the other right.
It's why this club has the best away ground support of any in the league, year in, year out.
And it's why this club will continue to go from strength to strength in the years ahead.
And what seasons they promise to be. But I'd better say a few words about the one just gone.
Let us start with the champs - I reckon I could just about hear the roar 1100km away when then final whistle blew in the A-grade netball final and what a result for so many years of hard work.
Congratulations first and foremost to coach Ash Chapman and the players of course - all season it looked like the only thing that could beat them was themselves, and that proved to be the case.
But let us also not forget all those long-serving netball stalwarts behind the scenes who have also worked for this day for so long. When I first came here in 2011 there was a determination that the Lions were going to be a netball powerhouse once again and with the raw talent developing in the wings Ash's appointment was the catalyst to make it a reality.
He's delivered, and the exciting thing is that not only is the A-grade side young enough to keep the Lions at netball's forefront for years to come, but there are so many talented youngsters waiting in the wings - whether in that brave B-grade side (hard luck girls), B-reserve or under-17s - to show how good they are.
And they've got a standard to aspire to now - I don't think we'll need to wait like Pauline O'Sullivan did for her daughter Rosie to play before another A-grade flag comes to Kings Park.
Then there's the footy. When Brent Colbert said in the Telegraph preview at the start of this season that he reckoned the senior team was a top three or four contenders, most would've thought he was being optimistic. If it had been bandied around three months later at Princess Park, most would've come out with the most famous line from The Castle.
But this side then showed what it could do, in a run every bit as memorable as that in 2012. This one didn't make a grand final, but it is probably the making of a lot of young blokes who we've all known for some years have been good enough at this level but we've just had to be patient in waiting for them to show it week in, week out.
Those young players had a core of high quality, experienced teammates to guide them, and with Ben Clifton coming home in 2016, that is only going to make an already fearsome midfield even stronger.
These Lions are poised to pounce, and why wouldn't you want to be on them?
Good luck too to the new president, and while I suppose it has to be ratified at the annual meeting it is great to see Craig Velt step up. I'd also like to thanks Trevor Gunn and Gerard O'Sullivan, the presidents in my time there, for all their support (as well as all the coaches and players in both sports in all grades).
Before I sign off, I must say how great it was to see Harry Wheeler win the Eamonn O'Connor Award once again. Few, if any, people outside the club give Harry the credit he is due. For my money in the five seasons I watched GVFL, there would not have been any harder-working or more consistent player. His work ethic should be an example to everyone.
When the Lions had dark days, especially at the start of the past two seasons, he was often the only shining light.
With one notable exception, and that relates to "Euwie" himself. None of us who were there at Mooroopna the Saturday after his passing will ever forget that day.
Not just Harry, but every Seymour player performed extraordinarily in impossible circumstances and, to put it bluntly, were robbed of a miracle.
At the time I wrote the headline "You did him proud", but you also did your club proud and showed why it is such a proud club.
It backs up the opening sentence really. Which is a good note for me to go out on.
By Chalpat Sonti
Former Editor, Seymour Telegraph.
Last Modified on 27/09/2016 17:36