Western Magic celebrate five years in AFL Sydney
Image courtesy of Western Magic Media
Originally published in the Blacktown Sun
The Western Magic AFL club has taken some huge strides since forming in 2012.
Based at Blacktown International Sportspark, the Magic have also won three premierships over the five seasons since establishment.
Club and division one team captain Josh Mann recently became the first player to play 100 games for the Magic.
“There is a certain amount of pride in that because I saw the club start from the very beginning,” he said.
“To be the first to reach 100 is pretty cool and something that I’ll always cherish.”
From the inaugural training session with 10 players to a club of more than 100 players across four teams in 2017, Mann is proud to be part of the club culture that’s been created.
“Everyone knows each other and we all train together,” Mann said.
“It’s just a really good culture and that’s what we wanted from the beginning.
“We are a very family-orientated and community-orientated club and that’s what makes it so special.”
For Mann, the family aspect takes on extra meaning.
He grew up playing rugby union before he joined the Magic when brought in to the club by brother-in-law Leighton Corr.
His older sister, and wife of Leighton, Courtney Corr is the women’s division one captain and plays alongside their two sisters.
For Corr, who signed up three years ago after previously playing netball, she said the growth of the women’s game has been fantastic.
“The growth of the game has just been phenomenal because we started the comp with a few teams and now there are 14 teams in division one,” she said.
“You can just see there has been great growth with the AFL women’s league.
“I think the Giants in particular have really spread AFL in the western suburbs.”
In the final round of the Sydney AFL women’s division one regular season, the Magic thumped the Camden Cats 21.27 (153) to 0.0 (0) to finish third and book a final against the second-placed Manly Warringah Wolves in early August.
The division one men’s Magic side are currently sixth after a 28 point loss to the ladder leading St George Dragons on the weekend with four regular season rounds remaining.
