Richard joined the SMJFL Board in December 2018 and was appointed as Chairman in December 2020. He is a member of the Governance and Stakeholder sub-committees.

With a long history of involvement in community, sporting and school groups, Richard is passionate about the sustainability and resilience of SMJFL member Clubs. Our Clubs perform an important role in our community and Richard recognises the commitment of our (mainly parent) volunteers in providing opportunities for our young people to play footy. All three of Richard’s children play junior sport, whilst Richard himself races B Grade Masters cycling.

Richard is the Chief Operations Officer for CEDA, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, an independent, not-for-profit membership organisation. CEDA provides thought leadership and policy perspectives aiming to deliver better economic, social and environmental outcomes for Australia.

He is also an Advisory Board Member of Cortex Health and serves on the Finance Committee for Lord Somers Camp and Power House. Richard holds Bachelors of Law and Commerce from the University of Melbourne, and a Graduate Diploma in Transport & Distribution Management from RMIT. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Tracey was elected to the SMJFL Board at the 2016 AGM and appointed as Vice Chairman at the 2019 AGM.

Tracey has a passion for local sport having been involved in volunteer roles at various sporting clubs for over 12 years, both in junior football and little athletics. Previous positions held at Mordialloc-Braeside JFC include overseeing merchandising and as both Junior and Senior Vice President.

In 2012, she was appointed a Life Member of Mordialloc-Braeside JFC and still takes an active interest in the club. Tracey’s son now plays for the Parkdale Football Club.

For the past 28 years, Tracey has been a practising solicitor in the areas of commercial litigation and employment law. Tracey has been running her own firm ‘Davies Lawyers’ for 5 years. In addition, Tracey is a past board member of Chisholm TAFE and Parkdale Secondary College. Tracey is excited to bring her legal expertise and experiences to the Board to assist the SMJFL and its stakeholders. She is looking forward to working hard to promote the needs of the SMJFL.

Matt comes from an automotive background and has 28 years’ experience in the automotive industry. He has been self-employed for 16 years and currently owns and manages a prestige automotive service workshop in Glen Iris.

Matt’s two sons play football at the Waverley Park Hawks JFC and his own personal involvement with the club spans eight years in various on- and off-field roles. He was President of the club in 2012-13 and also served a season as Vice President in 2015. He has been involved as a committee member for five years. In an on-field capacity, he coached his youngest son’s team from Under 9s through to Under 11s. Matt is very passionate about girls’ football and was instrumental in the establishment of the Hawks girls’ team in 2013. Over his time at the Waverley Park Hawks JFC he has seen the club from 9 teams to 17 teams in 2015.

Matt’s own junior football career started and finished with the Glen Waverley Hawks and has also played junior cricket with Glen Waverley United. In addition, he has played several years of senior cricket, squash and raced triathlon.

As a member of the Board Matt is keen to promote involvement with junior football for both boys and girls. He understands the challenges that local clubs face in the current competitive sporting market and also sees the importance of keeping boys and girls involved in sport and their community. He believes in giving players of all ability a chance to be involved in football.

Away from football, he has also been on the Council of St Catherine’s School since 2002 and Chaired the Building and Property Committee since 2004.

Lewis Bearman 

Lewis has had an involvement in Australian Rules Football for over 30 years and was the SMJFL Chairman from 2015 – 2020. He is a Life Member of the Carlton Football Club having spent over 20 years involved there in a football support role working closely with a number of past coaches including Robert Walls and David Parkin. He has also been involved with junior football for over 10 years with his son Aaron playing over 100 games for East Malvern.

In his time at East Malvern, Lewis has spent 3 years as a team manager, 3 years as a coach and 3 years as President of the East Malvern Junior Football Club. Through these positions, Lewis has gained a broad understanding of the challenges that volunteers, parents, players and junior football clubs face in fielding teams in a junior football competition. Lewis is passionate about the growth of girl’s football having been a strong supporter of the Youth Girls team at East Malvern during his Presidency. East Malvern was one of the first clubs in the SMJFL to field a standalone Youth Girls Team.

Lewis is a life member of the EMJFC recognising his contribution to the club. Over the past 10 years, Lewis has had involvement with 4 different leagues the Waverley JFA, the Yarra JFL, the MSJFL and subsequently the SMJFL. He will be able to bring these broad experiences to the Board table as a Board member of the SMJFL. Most recently Lewis has chaired the SMJFL Player Retention Working Party looking at ways to ensure that players aged between 14 and 17 continue to play football, identifying initiatives to stem the dropout rate in this age bracket.

Lewis has had a long career in financial services, specialising in Investment Management and Superannuation. Most recently Lewis was CEO of Boutique Investment Management firm Perennial Investment Partners. In addition to Junior Football Lewis has been active in the community as a volunteer in the scouting movement, associated with the East Malvern Junior Cricket Club and team manager for Old Caulfield Grammarians Under 19’s.

Lewis will bring his experience and passion for junior football to the board of the SMJFL. He is committed to exploring ways to ensure that participation rates at older age groups continue to increase whilst ensuring that we do not lose focus on grassroots development. Lewis remains committed to improving opportunities for females to further develop and participation at all levels of Australian rules including playing and umpiring.

Louise Nelson

Louise has an extensive background in finance and is currently the Commercial Manager for a large Australian footwear and apparel company. Having previously worked for Accenture and Mayne Health she brings a wealth of knowledge to the board in finance and accounting. 

From a football perspective, Louise has a keen interest in player retention, having chaired the SMJFL Player Retention sub-committee in 2019 and presented a report into player retention across the SMJFL. Prior to joining the SMJFL board in 2019 Louise was a committee member at Caulfield Bears Junior Football Club for five years between 2014-2018. During this time she held the positions of Team Manager, Vice President and was also President for three years. Louise has also been an AFLW Masters player since 2018.

Don Robertson

Professionally, Don is Senior Consultant and a former Director of a private consulting engineering firm, which has grown from less than 20 staff to over 45 staff in the 14 years that Don has been involved with it. Outside of work, Don is honing his skills as a woodworker, is a passionate Richmond supporter, enjoys the occasional skiing adventure and plans to travel widely.

Don enjoys Australian Football at all levels. Administratively, he believes in process – if the processes and rules are right, the right decisions and outcomes will naturally follow.

Don is married with three sons. His youngest son completed 10 years of junior football with the SMJFL in 2017. His middle son umpired with the league for two years. And his eldest son played two seasons of junior football with East Brighton Vampires JFC and St Kilda City JFC.

In 2016, Don was awarded the SMJFL Club Administrator of the Year award. Don was made a Life Member of St Kilda City JFC in 2017 in recognition of his contribution from 2008 to 2016 as President (3 years), Secretary (5 years) and Team Manager (3 years).

Don was a passionate Club administrator for eight years.  After a year on the sidelines and with no child now playing junior football, Don wants to continue his involvement at league level.