Long-time Club Doctor Greg Hickey received Richmond life membership at Monday night's Annual General Meeting.
Hickey has served the Club in the role of Assistant or Head Doctor for a total of 20 years.
Recently Hickey has been tireless in his management of the effects of the pandemic on the Club's football program. On top of his usual medical commitments, Hickey has carried the responsibility of ensuring our players and staff have remained safe and Covid free.
In 2020, this included the screening of each and every person entering the Punt Road Oval facility prior to heading to the Queensland hub. Throughout this time, Hickey also checked and reported every single Covid test taken by those on the program.
Aside from the Covid issues in the last two years, the AFL continues to impose an ever-increasing workload on Club Doctors with respect to the documentation and management of various issues, such as concussion and drugs policy. Hickey handles all this with diligence and the utmost professionalism.
The role of Club Doctor also requires quite a bit of off-site work, be it assisting in players’ surgical procedures, following up with other specialists, home visits, phone calls at all hours of the morning, the list goes on….
Hickey is held in high regard amongst his sports medicine peers and we could not have a better person representing the Richmond Football Club in the wider community.
Joan Chapple was also awarded the Alice Wills Award in recognition of outstanding dedication and commitment by a volunteer to the Richmond Football Club. Chapple, a 77-year member of Richmond, has volunteered at the club for decades in various activities including assisting Alice Wills whenever needed for events such as family days, preparing newsletters and selling merchandise.
When the new club rooms were completed, Chapple worked in assisting the club on a daily basis looking after the players' area and preparing breakfast for the players.
Chapple has also volunteered to fill media spots and to appear on television advertisements whenever required.
