As our senior sports writer Adam Bourke wrote this week, Tom Cole has had the toughest year of his life. 

While Tom and his family and friends will be celebrating West Coast’s grand final win this weekend, there will no doubt be some quiet moments as they reflect on the past six months and the loss of his father, Russell.

As Tom’s mum Donna told Bourkey before the big game, the tattoo of number 66 on her son’s wrist represented his dad’s footy number.

"In the preliminary final (against Melbourne) the final margin was 66 points,'' Donna said.

"I couldn't help but think of Russell. Hopefully, he's up there pulling some strings on Saturday."

It seems Russell did just that. Congratulations, Tom – and the Cole family.

It’s also important as we close the winter sport season to give a shout out to the Addy’s sport and photography team. They work every weekend, all year – and put in some long hours particularly during finals seasons. The past few weeks they’ve covered so many finals in many different sports, and produced some outstanding work. 

So to our sports team of Bourkey, Westy (Luke West), Kieran Iles and photographers Darren Howe, Glenn Daniels and Noni Hyett, thank you. 

If you haven’t seen much of their work, you can check it all out at this link.

Have a great week,

Nicole

Nicole Ferrie, editor