New Life Members honoured at Sandover, Dhara Kerr Medal nightMonday, September 15, 2025 - 7:57 PM - by Denholm Melrose

The 2025 Sandover Medal and Dhara Kerr Medal count at Crown Perth on Monday night saw five new Life Members welcomed into a long list of champions before them. Three were inducted as WAFL Life Members and two more as WAFC Life Members.

WAFC LIFE MEMBERS

Ian Miller

Miller played 291 games, including 15 State appearances, won a Sandover Medal, a Simpson Medal as well as being a Captain, Premiership Player and WA Football Hall of Fame Inductee, Perth Football Club Team of the Century member and Hall of Fame Inductee and AFL Life Member. It’s an unbelievable resume held by one of the most decorated football personalities, Ian Miller. Over 14 years, Miller put together an incredible playing career and followed that by spending 33 years working at the West Coast Eagles.

Gerard Neesham OAM

One of the State’s most influential playing and coaching figures, Neesham is a two-time Swan Districts Fairest-and-Best winner who won three premierships between 1983-1985, two with Swan Districts and one with East Fremantle. Neesham became head coach of Claremont and took them to a premiership in 1987. The Tigers would play in six Grand Finals in the next seven years, winning four premierships, which led to his appointment as the inaugural coach of the Fremantle Dockers.

WAFL LIFE MEMBERS

Dean Turner

With decades of service to the East Perth Football Club as a player, sponsor and administrator, Turner played 143 matches for the Royals and won a Best and Fairest award in 1981. Turner played a futher 110 VFL/AFL games for Fitzroy and West Coast, before being named an East Perth Life Member in 1999. Turner leaves a lasting legacy in Western Australian Football circles and particularly with the East Perth Football Club.

Tony Notte

Swan Districts games-record holder Tony Notte spent 17 years at the club, only hanging up the boots in 2025 after 323 games, the fourth most of all time in the WAFL. Notte was drafted by West Coast with pick 20 in the 2007 National AFL Draft and represented the Kia WAFL State team six times. He won two Best and Fairests, co-captained the club from 2018-2021 and made the WA Italian team of the Century in 2024. Notte produced 194 consecutive league games between 2011-2022, and his dedication to the WAFL and to Swan Districts is unsurpassed, held in the highest regard by all teammates and foes across the competition.

Tom Bottrell

Bottrell accomplished a 12-year, 200-game league career from which he was the vice-captain of South Fremantle’s 1997 premiership. He represented WA in the State game two years later and earned life membership at the Bulldogs before calling time on his decorated career in 2003. Bottrell then spent five years as CEO at Swan Districts, three years as CEO of South Fremantle and four years as an executive manager at WA Football. He was the founding CEO of the Stephen Michael Foundation and was inducted into Bulldogs Hall of Fame in 2021, a decade after his family achieved the same feat.