Fremantle coach Ross Lyon and captain Matthew Pavlich will be among eight new AFL Life Members to be inducted at the League’s 2013 Annual General Meeting in March for their services to Australian Football, after having their awards confirmed by the AFL Commission.
Lyon and Pavlich qualified automatically during the 2012 season by reaching 300 games as a player or player and coach.
AFL Chief Executive Officer Andrew Demetriou said the Commission congratulated each individual on his award and that the game looked forward to thanking each of them personally again for their contribution to football, both on-field as players and coaches and off-field for their service as administrators / officials.
Pavlich, the games’ record-holder at Freo, will begin the 2013 season with 279 games already to his name, along with 25 pre-season matches, one state game and three matches for Australia.
The club’s captain since 2007, he is also a six-time All Australian, having been honoured in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, and has won a record six Doig Medals.
Pavlich participated in his 300th official game back in round 16 against Melbourne at Etihad Stadium
He said it was a big thrill to qualify for AFL Life Membership.
“You don’t start out playing with the hope of gaining this sort of honour,” he said leading up to that game.
“I guess it means that I’ve been around for a while and that I’ve been fortunate enough to play enough games over the journey to achieve it.
“It’s a nice feather in the cap.”
Lyon qualified for Life Membership on the basis of his combined tally of premiership games, pre-season games and state games, both as a player and a coach.
He played 129 senior games for Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears between 1985-95 and coached St Kilda between 2007-11, beforetaking his current role as senior coach at Freo.
Lyon reached his 300th official game in round 14, 2012, against Collingwood at the MCG. He said it was his love of the game that kept him involved for so long.
“It’s something you have to work hard every day to be a part of and I’m really respectful and grateful of the opportunities the game has given me,” he said.
Lyon said he had never taken his position in the game for granted and felt “privileged” to have an honour such as AFL Life Membership bestowed upon him.
“When it’s all finished, you’ll look back and say you’ve been resilient enough to withstand the rigours of AFL football and play a part in some way at different clubs,” he said.
“We all have our moments with the game, but overall, when you do look back, you build some magnificent friendships and meet some people that you feel blessed to have been involved with.
“Particularly my time at Sydney, during the premiership period, and then the players at the Saints that went to grand finals.
“They’ll always hold a special part of my AFL journey.”
The others to be inducted are recently-retired triple premiership Geelong Cats’ full back Matthew Scarlett, former West Coast dual premiership player and current Gold Coast Suns’ coach Guy McKenna, and Essendon and Port Adelaide premiership player and now Richmond coach Damien Hardwick.
Life Membership was also conferred under the provision of ‘Special Service to the Game’ to Richmond Team of the Century member Michael Green, former Collingwood premiership player and club president Kevin Rose and West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett.
The Jack Titus award for conspicuous service to the game will be presented to Port Adelaide’s Alf Trebilcock, who will begin his 45th successive season at the club in 2013.
