A jolly group of West Coast Eagles filled their Christmas stockings yesterday and headed up to Princess Margaret Hospital to spread early Christmas cheer.
Daniel Kerr, Brad Ebert, Mark Nicoski, Josh Kennedy, Dean Cox, Matt Rosa and Ash Hansen joined children in the hospital's Megazone to play games, sign autographs and hand out presents.
Click here to view some photos from the players' visit. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the '2009 PMH Visit' gallery.
The club’s PMH Foundation ambassador Matt Rosa said his teammates were always happy to give back to the community, especially at this time of year.
“To see a smile on the kids' faces is pretty uplifting for us, it’s a tough time for them around Christmas so it’s good to know we can help a little bit.
“I’ve been coming here for a few years with Brent Staker and Mark Nicoski and it’s something we’re always happy to do, come down here and give a little bit back, have a chat to the kids and hopefully get their minds off what they’re going through.
“It’s good to meet kids along the way and help them through their troubles. We’ve met some pretty special kids in here who are mentally very strong for their age, so it’s about keeping them as happy as they can be, just helping them through it.”
Rosa said the visit to PMH was a welcome break in what has so far proved to be a gruelling pre-season campaign.
“It’s been pretty solid, leading into Christmas we’re going to step it up a fair bit. The boys are all training really well and they all seem to be coping really well.
“A lot of the bike sessions and the swim sessions have been pretty tough. We’re definitely ramping it up there, so it’s been good.”
The young midfielder believes the squad’s skill levels are high for this time of year and that the team is better placed now than it was 12 months ago.
“This pre-season we’re doing a lot more ball work earlier than we have in the past so hopefully that helps us in the long run.
“We changed our game style pretty dramatically last year and having that extra year of experience doing that I think has helped us a lot. Getting that connection with each other, everyone knows where everyone’s running now and their strengths and weaknesses so that’s helped us a lot.”
The West Coast Eagles Football Club has been a proud partner of the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation since 2005.
In addition to hospital visits and player appearances, West Coast has raised over $160,000 which has gone towards medical research and treatment facilities.
Recent contributions to the hospital include a patient cooling machine for the paediatric intensive care unit, a cardiac monitor for the infant ward, an overhead warmer for the neonatal ward and designing the children’s sensory room.
