WHEN you think of the most prestigious awards to be won in a footy club, thoughts immediately go to the best-and-fairest and the best clubperson.
One is for the champion player of any given season, the other for the genuine club legend who plays a huge role in ensuring the team gets on the ground in the first place.
Then there are those who have given their blood, sweat and tears over many years, and they earn the next honour up – life membership – which guarantees you will always be remembered as part of the fabric at any club.
Peter Geddes is one of just 89 of those people at the Frankston Football Club – and a big part of why the Dolphins still exist in the VFL.
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And as of Friday's Dolphins awards night, he will join the rarefied air that befits only the most special of servants – the honour of having his club's best-and-fairest named after him.
The ruckman arrived at Frankston Park in 1977 after winning Melbourne's Under-19 best-and-fairest in 1976 and played "about 180" of his 502 games at Frankston Park over the next 11 seasons.
He was part of the club's only VFA premiership team in 1978, winning the award that is about to carry his name in 1979 and the competition’s JJ Liston Trophy in 1984 before going onto play for another 10 years at local level.
But his heart has always been at the Dolphins through his involvement in its past players group and he answered the call when they were knocking on death's door in 2016, going on to serve four years as president and reinvent them as a destination for Peninsula footballers.
Despite all he has done, a humble Geddes said he was surprised to receive the call from his replacement as president, David Friend.
"I was a bit blown away – I'm obviously delighted and really proud … one of the things that happened when I got involved when the club went under a few years ago was remembering the time I had as a player and the other players I was with," he said.
"Over the time I was there I would have met a couple of hundred players – and just the opportunity to play VFL footy was something I didn't want to be taken away from the current crop.
"Being associated with a players' award, I'm really rapt to have that honour because the club is there at the end of the day for the players – they need to have that opportunity to play VFL footy and if it didn't exist on the Peninsula most of them wouldn’t bother – it's a long way away and they've all got jobs.
"The board has been looking at trying to refresh the club and one of the principles was trying to connect the past with the future and make sure we have that ongoing connection to the club and this is another means of doing that."
Geddes' playing time at Frankston coincided with one of the club's most successful eras in the VFA – the Dolphins won that Division 2 flag in 1978 to earn promotion into Division 1, building to finals appearances in 1981, 1986 and 1987 and a Grand Final defeat to Preston in 1984.
It was a sustained run he believes the club can taste again and is on the right track to achieve after having not played a final since 2008 – a sense of pride after its plight drew him into the rescue mission.
"It was never my intention to join the admin of the club, it was just circumstance – (at the end of 2016) it looked like the club was about to fold, the administrators were about to pull the pin and we had to approach them and ask them to wait and we were able to do that and get a few weeks to get a plan together," Geddes said.
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"The board had to present to the VFL and I (went from) a past players' perspective to see what was happening … I could see we were headed towards a cliff and I ended up speaking at the meeting supporting the presentation and they gave us 12 months to get our club together and come back.
"From that time on I guess in my own way I just started to take over and ended up president of the club for those four years until we were able to clear out our debt, get our licence back and get control of the club again.
"It was important when we reinvented the club that we didn't just go back to the status quo, which for the half a dozen years before we went under was that we would win one or two games a year, we would limp along, we weren’t a club of choice.
"Something wasn't quite right with how the club was trying to maintain its currency in a high standard VFL environment that is quite demanding – so it was important not just to come back but to reinvent ourselves, which I think we have done really well.
"David and the current board are kicking on with that really well – the night football has changed the nature of going to Skybus Stadium.
"The era I was in we expected to win games and make finals and I'd like to see us get back to that level as well and with the region we represent we really should.
"The (Dandenong) Stingrays put out a whole bunch of really good footballers every year who are not drafted, so if we pick up a few of them like a Mitch Cox, Connor Riley, then you get people who have slipped the system in the Peninsula or Gippsland leagues who want to have a go at VFL footy, then you get the Will Fordhams or Nathan Freemans or Josh Begleys who come out of the AFL system and are still hungry to play good footy.
"If you're on the Peninsula you'll have played footy for Frankston or at Frankston – we want everybody to pass through Frankston."
Twitter: @BRhodesVFL