By Tim Mosey

Wests take on Brothers at Sci-Fleet Stadium on Saturday for the Pilecki-Shaw Cup.

The occasion will be marked with the inaugural Pilecki Lunch being held in conjunction with the clubs’ Old Boys Day.

Stan Pilecki passed away this year.

The Wallaby front rower affectionately known as ‘The Pole’ was an icon of Australian Rugby.

Stan hailed from an era when players still smoked on the reserves bench.

There is a famous photo doing the rounds with Stan sitting on the sideline, mid match, cigarette in hand.

“Stan was always a larger than life character,” head coach of Wests Pat Byron remembered.

“He was someone at Wests who always told it how he saw it.

“He’d always talk with the players and coaches no matter how well we were going. He was always down at the club and that dedication rubbed off on everyone.

“The players loved him. Everyone loved him.”

This year’s Old Boys Day will be the first without the Bulldog stalwart in attendance and this isn’t lost on the coach and the players.

“This season hasn’t really panned out the way we would have liked,” he said.

“But we’ve spoken at length and in detail about Old Boys Day and what it should mean to the players.

“We’ve said to the players ‘you’ve played with heart over the past few weeks against top four sides but showing heart and being competitive is not going to be good enough this weekend against Brothers’. We are going to need more than that and we need to win.

“We want to put in a performance this weekend and win for ourselves, win for the Old Boys and win for the club.

“Our goal is solely aimed at retaining the Pilecki-Shaw Cup this weekend.”

Both Premier Grade sides have underperformed this season. If Brothers win they will leapfrog Wests on the ladder into seventh. Wests can finish in sixth if they pick up a bonus point win and Norths lose to Bond without a bonus point.

At Sylvan Rd both second grade and colts 1 sides engage in top of the table clashes one week away from finals.

The irony of this is that the same match ups will likely occur next week in round one of the finals series.

This is a mouthwatering entrée to next week when everything will be on the line across all clubs and grades.

This year Wests have initiated a new social club through Director of Rugby Brendan Walsh and ‘The Kennel Club’ will be at full force this weekend in support.

“From talking with both local and interstate contacts, we recognised that there were many ways, and sometimes too many it seemed, for which support could be offered to Club and Grassroots Rugby,” Walsh explained.

“The establishment of the Kennel Club is an initiative taken at Wests to help create and nurture the important link and pathway between junior, women, colts and grade programs.

“The Kennel Club aims to create a true connection with the current crop of players and coaches with ex-dogs, supporters and the general social and business community for shared benefit.

“The Kennel Cub will also provide a point of contact for those interested to stay or get re-involved with Wests through playing, coaching, managing, volunteering, sponsorship or simply wanting to support in whatever way they can.

“We have just under 200 members based on word of mouth alone and we are all looking forward to this weekend against Brothers and celebrating Stan at the Pilecki Lunch.”

Catch the main action at The Kennel from 1:30 with Colts 1, followed by later second and first grade kickoffs at 3:40 and 5pm respectively.