FOOTBALL: Bunbury man Casey Woodward has taken Aussie rules football to Germany and just celebrated winning a flag for the Hamburg Dockers.
It was Hamburg’s tenth season in the Australian Football League Germany competition and their first grand final appearance.
Woodward is the captain and assistant coach of Hamburg who helped shape the season from an early stage –dragging the team out in the snow for training and practice matches.
The tough pre-season allowed the team to hit the ground running and make sure a repeat of last year did not occur.
Last year Hamburg missed out on the finals by percentage and did not want to leave anything to chance this season.
The German competition has its challenges with the Hamburg Dockers travelling up to eight hours in mini vans down the famous German autobahns to towns like Munich and Stuttgart for their games.
Last weekend Hamburg played the dominant team of Rhineland Lions from Cologne.
The Fremantle Dockers have been been a huge part of Hamburg’s development and history with the WA team supplying guernsys, shorts and balls to the club.
At 6am on Saturday a group of about 40 people associated with the Hamburg Dockers will be watching the AFL grand final together.
They hope Fremantle can replicate Hamburg’s success of their first ever premiership.
