Some of the biggest names in the history of the Wangaratta Rovers Football Netball Club gathered at the JW Maroney Pavilion on Saturday night, as the latest members were inducted to the club's Hall of Fame.

During an event which also celebrated the heroes of the Hawks' 2025 premiership, new Hall of Famers, netballer Stacey Emms and footballers Neville Pollard, John Welch, Ron Ferguson, Barry Sullivan and Ross Hill, took the stage to have their own contributions to the brown and gold recognised.

Neville Pollard played in the Hawks' 1974 and '75 flags, and while he was then pursued by North Melbourne, he instead accepted a coaching appointment at Milawa, where he stayed for eight years, won two Clyde Baker Medals, and is popularly acknowledged as one of the Demons' greatest-ever players.

Pollard returned to the Rovers in 1983, won the Bob Rose Medal and finished runner-up in the Morris Medal in his first year back, and added a second Rovers B&F in 1984.

He played 139 games with the Hawks and kicked 70 goals.

John Welch was 17 when he starred in the Rovers' 1962 reserves flag, and followed that by playing in the '64 and '65 senior premierships.

At 22 he was eager to try his hand at coaching, and led Whorouly for a year, then rejoined the Hawks the following season and had helped them to the top of the ladder by mid-1968.

A car accident brought his 88-game O&M playing career to a close, but he later helped Hawk coach Neville Hogan in an off-field capacity and served on the club's board for several years, before coaching Tarrawingee for four seasons, including to the 1975 flag.

Returning to the Findlay Oval, he coached the thirds to a premiership in 1980, and two years later took on the senior coaching role, guiding the Hawks to two preliminary finals, introducing future coaches to the club, and blooding several youngsters for the future.

Ron Ferguson transferred to the Rovers in 1986 after an apprenticeship with home club Whorouly and 16 senior games at Myrtleford.

At 21, he played in the Hawks' famous 1988 premiership victory, played in another flag in 1991, and figured prominently in the 1993 and '94 premierships.

He was still playing at his top, right until the end of the 1998 season, when a farm accident in which a fragment of steel entered his eye, signalled the end of his 240-game career.

Stacey Emms had won six premierships in eight years with All Blacks and Benalla Saints when she joined the Rovers in 2005.

She made an immediate impact, helping the Hawks to the 2005 flag and winning the O&M's Toni Wilson Medal, then playing a key role as the Hawks went back-to-back in 2006.

Her second Toni Wilson Medal in 2007 elevated her to the ranks of the O&M greats, as did her club B&Fs in 2007 and '09, and three more grand finals in 2009, '10 and '12 in which the Hawks were defeated by Yarrawonga.

In between came an ACL injury which wrecked her 2011 season, but she remained a model of consistency in her 220 games with the Hawks.

Barry Sullivan has filled many roles at the Rovers since his playing days - as runner, past players president, board member, senior vice-president and football director, and in recruiting over recent years to help build the premiership sides of 2024 and '25.

Onfield, he played in reserves premierships in 1983 and '84 before his breakout year in 1985, when he secured a regular senior berth.

An overseas business appointment saw him watch from afar as the Rovers swept to the 1988 flag, but he regained his place in the side on his return, and was rewarded with one of his most treasured memories of his 112-game career: involvement in the 1991 premiership side.

Part of a family with deep links to the Rovers, Ross Hill grew up worshipping some of the Hawks' greatest players, before running out alongside his idols for his first senior game in 1995.

Vice-captain for four years, and co-captain for a further eight, he played in a grand final with the Hawks in 2002, when they were defeated by North Albury.

After returning from an NTFL premiership year in 2003-'04 with St Mary's, and then a shoulder reconstruction, Hill continued to make a valuable contribution to the Hawks before retiring in 2013 with 306 games under his belt.

He returned to co-coach the Hawks with Sam Carpenter in 2017 and '18.

WRFNC president Wendy Lester said Saturday evening was a celebration of commitment, passion, loyalty and excellence, and that the six inductees' achievements, service and influence had helped shape the history and culture of the Rovers.

The WRFNC Hall of Fame was initiated in 2001, and Saturday's induction, hosted by football journalist Sam McClure, was the first since 2018.