Tony Fisher (#1)
Tony Fisher has been the Commercial Manager of New South Wales Juniors since 2017. Prior to that he was NSWJRU President in 2016 and Commercial Manager from 2013 to 2015 alongside being the VP SJRU in 2012 & 2014-15.
Tony has been involved in Junior Rugby for many years and during that time he has been President (2012 to 2016) and Vice President -Development (2011) of Sydney Junior Rugby Union and President (2007 to 2009),Vice President (2006), Treasurer (2004 to 2005) and Referees Coordinator (2010to 2011) of Wahroonga Rugby Club. He has also managed various Wahroonga Rugby club teams and Gordon Junior representative teams.
Other current roles that Tony has in Community Sport include as Member of the Metropolitan Advisory Council of NSW Waratahs Rugby (since2019), Council Member of the University of Sydney Sport Foundation (since2020), Life Member of Sydney Junior Rugby Union (since 2016) and Life Member of Wahroonga Rugby Club (since 2009). As an active referee Tony is a member of NSW Rugby Referees, Central Coast Referees and Sydney North Referees.
Tony has spent a huge amount of time trying to improve the junior rugby landscape. Amongst his highlights would be the role he has played in committee and constitutional reform across SJRU and NSW Juniors. Both organizations benefited from his guidance and financial acumen. He was a big part in relationship building – greatly assisting the various affiliate bodies to find a way to work together. Perhaps his ability to turn around an argument to look at it from another angle might be his greatest strength, “but if I turn your argument around”.
There are too many positive things we can say about Tony in such a short nomination. His guidance and calming influence has helped many outside of the roles that he actually filled himself.
Geoff Ferris (#2)
Geoff Ferris was a long term President of Western Zone and sat on SJRU Committees for many years – a more in depth profile is being prepared.
Kerry Brady (#3)
Kerry has been a long standing servant of SJRU & NSW Junior Rugby holding positions across all committee levels. She is a past President, Secretary and VP Reps of NSW Juniors and is also Life Member #18 of NSWJRU.
Kerry served as Competition Manager for Sydney Junior Rugby Union and her present role is Shute Shield Competition manager. There are also many other roles within clubland that Kerry has held over the years – such as Rugby Manager at Eastern Suburbs 2007-2012.
Throughout this time Kerry has shown a great passion for junior rugby and her knowledge is second to none with regard to running large events such as the State Championships and other Representative fixtures.
Kerry has been an integral part of helping define the competition space and her stewardship has helped steer the competitions and pathways to the much stronger position that it enjoys today.Over this time we have seen such things as the Sydney competitions move from Zone to whole of Sydney/Graded competitions. The National Representative pathways have changed many times over this period but we have always maintained a vibrant NSWJRU Pathway.
As a testament to Kerry’s achievements – in 2013 she also won the ARU Nick Farr Jones Spirit of Rugby Award.
Here is a quote from Waratah’s media on 24th October 2013:
Sydney Juniors administrator Kerry Brady has won the prestigious Nick Farr-Jones Spirit of Rugby Award for 2013. Chosen for consistently upholding the spirit and ethos of Australian Rugby through her work with Sydney and NSW Junior Rugby Union, Kerry received her award at tonight’s John Eales Medal Ceremony, sharing the stage with fellow NSW winners Michael Hooper and Israel Folau.
Among the three-man panel to decide the winner, Nick Farr-Jones praised her outstanding contribution to the grassroots game.
“Kerry’s contribution to NSW Rugby over a number of years has been exceptional, her sensible management style and her ability and enthusiasm have impressed us that much over the years, that we jumped at the opportunity to bring her onto our Community Rugby staff” said the NSW Rugby Union Chairman of the Union’s decision to appoint Kerry as Sydney Junior Rugby Union’s Competition Manager in March of this year, after she had previously been Rugby Operations Manager at Eastern Suburbs.
Also quick to praise her contribution was NSW Waratahs Head Coach Michael Cheika.
“I had the pleasure of working with Kerry this year, she’s got a real passion for what she does, she really wants to see the juniors be a big part of rugby in this state. I speak to a lot of clubs and they say Kerry’s work around junior rugby is brilliant, she’s a deserved winner.”
In 2021 the ‘Kerry Brady Shield’ was created for the U16 Girls NSWJRU State Championships in tribute to Kerry’s service to the game.
Ben Gregory (#4)
A long time servant of junior rugby, Ben officially joined NSW Rugby as General Manager of SJRU in October 2021 – a role he still holds.
Having served as a Junior Club President, Secretary and countless other roles at Hunters Hill Juniors – he served 15 seasons on the junior committee at his local junior club from 2008-2023.
Ben previously joined the Board of SJRU in 2009 and spent a number of years in the SJRU Grading, Development and Representative Portfolios till 2015. Serving as an advisor to the SJRU U18 Rep program since then.
He joined NSWJRU in late 2013 as VP of Reps, until late 2016 when he became President of NSW Juniors. He was also a Director of NSWRU & Waratahs from 2018-2021. He stepped down from the NSWRU & Waratahs Board and as President of NSW Juniors to accept the role of GM at SJRU. He returned to the role of VP of Reps for NSWJRU in late 2021.
Ben was awarded Life Member #4 of SJRU in 2020. He is also Life Member #32 of Hunters Hill Rugby (awarded 2014) and Life Member #24 of NSWJRU (awarded 2022).
Tony Cooper (#5)
Tony Cooper has been an active part of the rugby community for many years. His playing career started in Gordon Juniors with Willoughby, School 1st XV, Gordon Junior Reps & Subbies rugby with Chatswood from 1980 – 1984. He then backed up for Golden Oldies in later years with Killara-West Pymble (KWP) Limping Leos until 2009 culminating in playing in the World Masters in 2009.
At KWP Tony took on the roles of Minis & Junior Club Coach and Manager U7s to U12s 2007 to 2012. He was the O35s Club President from 2010 to 2013 and then became KWP Club President in 2013 and 2014, followed by being Club Registrar in 2015. KWP appointed him a Life Member in 2016.
At District level Tony got involved with Gordon in 2011 as U10s Coach. He coached the Gordon TAS team in 2013, 2014 & 2015 and became Gordon Boys Rep Coach U10s to U14s from 2012 till 2016. His involvement with Girls rugby started in 2014 and 2015 when he was appointed Gordon Girls 7s Coach for U14s, U16s & U18s. He was also the Gordon Treasurer, Public Officer & Rep Registrar in 2016 to 2017.
Tony was the Assistant Coach and Manager of the Metropolitan Northern Zone U15s in 2015 and U16s in 2016. He was also appointed as Assistant Coach and Manager of the Sydney U14s Boys Team in 2016, and was the Manager of the Sydney U15s in 2017 and U16s in 2018. In 2018 he was a NSWJRU Representative Selector and Manager of the NSW Gen Blue U16s.
Tony was elected to the SJRU Board in 2016 and was the Director for Girls and Boys 7s for two years. In 2018 he took on the Representatives portfolio and then in 2019 was elected as the Chair of Sydney Junior Rugby Union, making him also Vice President of NSW Juniors. He was also made a Director and Treasurer of Gordon Seniors in 2019. He stepped down from those roles but is coming out of retirement in 2022 to assist managing the Gordon’s 2nd Grade Team. Tony is remembered for many things in his service to junior rugby in the Sydney metro area but in particular he was the driving force behind the establishment and growth of the SJRU Girls 7s program and the establishment of XV’s representative pathways for girls, which has become a core part of junior rugby in Sydney and NSW.
Barry Killham (#6)
As part of Ben Gregory’s research and archiving work for NSW Juniors, it became quite apparent what an important and influential figure Barry Killham was in the history of SJRU and how overdue his recognition by SJRU has become.
Barry’s original club was Terrey Hills. He was elected Chairman of Metropolitan Northern Zone in 1996 and thus was the MNZ delegate on the NSWJRU Committee at that time. He was instrumental in the re-establishment of SJRU in late 1997 to better serve and represent the three Metropolitan Zones across Sydney. In 1998 under Barry’s guidance as the new President, SJRU was incorporated and our constitution completed.
Barry led the SJRU up until the end of the 2005 season. Barry was also very active in NSW Juniors over his time, initially as a delegate/VP in 1996 but also as President in 2003 & 2004. Alongside his NSW Country counterpart David Paul, Barry was a major figure in all junior rugby in Sydney and NSW for a decade.
Amongst the highlights of his term were the introduction of a full-time administrator in 1998 and winning the argument to have SJRU stand alone rather than fall under SRU, as was discussed in 1998. In total Barry was President of SJRU for a massive eight years.
Barry was awarded Life Membership of NSWJRU in 2005.
Ten years of dedicated service is a long time, and we trust you will agree that Barry has indeed rendered distinguished and voluntary service to Sydney Junior Rugby Union over many years and is deserving of that recognition through the awarding of Life Membership.
Barry passed away in [xx] but SJRU is pleased to posthumously honour his service and contribution to junior rugby across the Sydney metropolitan area, and thank his family for all their support of his efforts.
Anthony Hunt (#7)
Anthony joined the Board of SJRU at the end of the 2015 season as the Minis Director, a role which he maintained for 3 seasons. In 2019 he moved to the Finance portfolio before being elected to the role of Chairman in 2020 & 2021. He was also a Vice President of NSW Juniors in 2020 & 2021 seasons. Since the 2021 season Anthony has been serving on the SJRU Judiciary panel as well as managing some of the SJRU Rep sides.
Amongst the highlights of his term was guiding SJRU through the years of COVID, the growth of Girls rugby and various girls’ competitions, and the introduction of a full-time General Manager. His term as Chairman saw the continued evolution of the Rugby AU Size for Age policy within SJRU. The Inter-District Minis Gala model was developed under Anthony’s guidance as Minis coordinator. Anthony also oversaw the introduction of the SJRU Sydney Cups model which was introduced in 2022 as part of the NSW Junior State Champs. The SJRU Board named the U18 Boys Sydney Cup the W.M.A.Hunt Cup in recognition of his service. Anthony’s rugby activities were not just with SJRU & NSW Juniors. He has been a junior coach at the Lane Cove, Norths Pirates and Mosman Junior rugby clubs. He has been a senior Women’s rugby coach and Premiership Winning Coach (2005) at Eastern Suburbs. He has held committee roles at both Mosman Juniors and St Aloysius’ College and is a current member of both Wallabies Frist and NSW Waratahs.