Early in season 2004 Mitch Grant and Sam Radford arrived at Beardsworth Ave.
Now 6 years down the track the journey is over for Mitch and Sammy, they have both announced their retirement and will play their last games this weekend against Karingal.
From a personal prospective Mitch achieved All Australian Selection 2004, Vic Country Selection 2004-2005, MPNFL Inter League Selection 2004-2005 and MPNFL Team of The Season Selection 2004-2005-2008. He is a Premiership Player, 2008 Chelsea FC Best and Fairest and has been Captain for the past two seasons. Mitch will finish with 97 Senior Games at Chelsea.
Sammy Radford achieved MPNFL Inter League Selection 2004-2005 and MPNFL Team of The Season Selection in 2005-2006-2008 and won the Clubs Goal Kicking in 2005. He was a Premiership Player in 2006. Sammy will finish with 111 Senior Games at Chelsea.
In the early days when they first arrived at The Club there were some ill informed persons who challenged The Recruiting of Mitch, Sammy and others, they were not locals they said and some even went to the extent of branding the Clubs “Seagull Nick-Name” with an unwanted version that related to their previous Club.
Mitch and Sammy hated this, as far as they were concerned Chelsea was now their Club, it was where they wanted to play out their Football Days. And that is how it worked out and after 6 seasons each and a combined total of 208 Senior Games, their outstanding service leaves no doubt as to their contribution as Chelsea Seagulls.
We wish Mitch and Sammy well in their retirement; they have been outstanding Players and Clubmen during their time with The Chelsea Football Club.
They had come to play with former Sandringham Team Mates Tim Scott-Branagan, who had been appointed Senior Coach that season and Rick Hayward, who had arrived a couple of months earlier. Their impact at Chelsea was immediate and The Club saw finals action in 2004 and 2005 before achieving the ultimate goal of a Premiership in 2006.
Last Modified on 21/08/2009 13:34