Dear Members,
Welcome to the final quarterly Chairman’s address for 2022 and whilst a little delayed in the timing, we wanted to take the time to incorporate as an end of year address into the regular quarterly update.
The last quarter has been rewarding, exciting and also encouraging for the future of the Sharks and I would like to start by sharing some exciting news that will assist our pathways program and give us an edge as we scout for young talent.
Thanks to one of our Board Members who has provided their assistance and very generous contribution in providing a ‘Shark House’, which is already being utilised by our young out-of-area recruits. The transition to life in Sydney and in our case specifically the Sutherland Shire, can often be difficult and daunting for young footballers and access to this house, with live-in dedicated houseparents/carers, can only assist their development in providing these young men the best chance to achieve their dreams and goals.
The house is an enormous addition to the Sharks in allowing us to be competitive in the area of recruitment, enhancing our ability to attract and then nurture talented young footballers.
Finally on behalf of my Board of Directors we wish all Sharks members and fans a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we look forward to seeing you when the NRL season gets underway in 2023.
Nominations Committee
The role of the Nomination Committee is to continue to monitor and report on the composition, skill set and effectiveness of the Board.
From a governance perspective, it is fair to suggest the current Board continues to work in well with management to navigate the growth, stability and success of the Club.
On the back of the commitment and work ethic of the current Board over the past few short years, it is satisfying to see the business starting to realise the success that we, together with management, had set out to achieve.
The Board still has a long journey ahead to take the Sharks to the next level and this starts with our ’10 Year Plan’ currently being workshopped for the Group. The current operating rhythm with stability and consistency in the Boards composition, we are confident that we will deliver success to the wider Sharks community on behalf of our members and our stakeholders.
Remuneration & Appointments Committee
With no new Executive appointments in the prior quarter there was no activity during this period.
Our Club continues to be very fortunate to have best in market throughout our entire executive management team, from Football to Leagues, and filtering down throughout the entire staff structure.
Building Committee
The Club continues to work with our development partner Aoyuan and its building head contractor Parkview Constructions, with the ongoing progress of the final stage of the Woolooware Bay Precinct.
The Club is gearing up for its fit out to commence early in the New Year.
From all reports, the uptake of commercial and retail leasing within the new development remains strong and on track. Likewise, the residential apartments have been in great demand. All in all, the new precinct, inclusive of hotel facilities and the new Sharks Club as the centrepiece, promises to be a first-class offering in the Sutherland Shire.
We continue to be on target for the Club’s completion in 2023.
Football Committee
In covering off the end of the 2022 season and the start of the 2023 pre-season, there is plenty to report from a Football and Football Committee standpoint.
Firstly, congratulations and commiserations to Craig Fitzgibbon, his staff and the NRL playing group for their efforts during the recently completed season. Finishing second, with 18 wins in equalling a club record was an outstanding result, and while to bow out of the Finals series with consecutive losses was disappointing, the lessons learned leaves the team well prepared to return stronger in 2023.
It was a year in which five players made NRL debuts, Nicho Hynes became the fourth player from our club to be named the Dally M Player of the Year and Kayal Iro, representing our partner club the Newtown Jets, was the NSW Cup Player of the Year.
Following the season we had two players represent New Zealand in the World Cup, two play for Tonga, three for Samoa, one each for the Cooks Islands, Greece and Italy, with staff members Daniel Holdsworth (Samoa), Tony Grimaldi (Italy) and Dr George Pitsis (Greece) also enjoying an involvement in the tournament in various capacities. Four players from our 2022 Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership squad also represented at the Women’s World Cup.
Looking ahead to 2023, with the pre-season already underway, we welcome two new players to our top 30, with Oregon Kaufusi joining us from the Eels and Niwhai Puro from the Panthers. We have 28 of our top 30 confirmed, along with the four development list players. In addition, there are currently 15 players on full-time NRL training contracts.
From an NRL staffing perspective, Jackson Selby has stepped up to take on the role of Head Physiotherapist, with Michael Nicolas, previously with the Jets, his assistant. The highly respected Tim McGrath will consult to, and mentor our two physios. Jessica Adams has been appointed NRL Sports Science and Innovation Manager.
Our Jersey Flegg, Matthews Cup and SG Ball teams have also commenced pre-season training, our under-21 Flegg team under a new coach in former Sharks First Grade player Andrew Dallalana. The Flegg Sharks will be looking to build and improve on their sixth-place finish in 2022, where they were just one point from third. George Ndaira, our 2022 Flegg Coach has moved onto coach the Jets, replacing Greg Matterson who coached the Newtown team with distinction for over a decade. The Jets were Minor Premiers in 2022.
Brad Kelly (Matthews Cup) and Dave Howlett (SG Ball) return to coach our 17’s and 19’s teams, with their competitions to begin on February 4, while we have appointed Daniel Miladinski as our Elite Pathways and Physical Performance Manager to oversee the development of all our junior representative and academy players.
In the Women’s space, we look forward with anticipation to our first season in the NRLW competition, with Tony Herman appointed as Head Coach. Having previously coached the Sharks Women’s Premiership side, the Sharks to a NSW Cup title, along with various junior representative teams over a number of years, Tony has a wealth of coaching experience and under his guidance we are positive about the teams prospects in their inaugural season. In another exciting announcement, Ruan Sims will assist Tony with the NRLW squad while also coaching our NSW Women’s Premiership team. We now await the finalisation of the CBA before we can begin to sign players and assemble a squad. Neil Stanley, with previous experience in coaching the women’s game, comes to the Sharks from the Wests Tigers where he will look after our Tarsha Gale team.
And while previously mentioned in the introduction, our Homestay House is set to enhance our junior development program as we welcome House Parents Renee and Kent Tatana and thank Sharks Welfare Manager Morgan Te Oka for her tireless efforts in bringing it all together.
Audit and Risk Committee
The Football and Leagues Clubs have just completed the Budget process for the coming year, with Management working very hard to put the Club on a path that assures our future.
Covid was an enormous obstacle and impacted our ability to trade and our major revenue source at the Leagues Club at Woolooware is yet to reopen - these problems have made the task even harder. The budget for 2022 aimed to break even and we expect to meet that goal and do better when the end of financial year audit will be finalised in the coming weeks. This is a great achievement during what has again been a challenging year but management have done a tremendous job to navigate through those challenges, see through the year and finish on a positive note.
Our Budget for 2023 again aims to continue this good work and at the very least break even ahead of the Woolooware club trading, thus joining Sharks at Kareela as a profitable Club and a welcoming venue for members and their guests to socialise and relax.
The Committee, and all the Directors, work hard to ensure Budget plans can be achieved, that management is being realistic and controls are in place to protect the future for the members and our NRL operations. Everyone in the Club management, finance and operations team contribute to deliver this bright future by ensuring we meet our budget and run our combined operations within our means - to ensure we have a Sharks football team to support and great Clubs to enjoy with family and friends well into the future.
Investment Committee
Unfortunately for all businesses and consumers it has been much of the same in financial markets since the last update. The RBA has continued increasing the Cash Rate which now stands at 2.85% after a further increase of 0.25% in November with market consensus of a further rise next week and possibly again early in the new year. The further rate rises are being instigated to control inflation which had risen to 7.3% but has now dropped back to 6.9%, still well outside of the preferred 2-3% range of the Central Bank.
From an investment viewpoint, the committee has in the past month reviewed the Metrics investment in depth with focus on the performance of the underlying investment itself. Given the returns of the investment are pegged against a margin above the increasing RBA cash rate, our returns continue to improve. At this point in the investment and economic cycle, there is a consistent return being provided backed by a stable portfolio and we will continue to review this regularly against the Board approved investment hurdles.
The next meeting of Investment Committee and Management is scheduled before Christmas where discussion will focus on the investment performance and other possible alternatives should they be presented for review.
Steve Mace
Chairman
Cronulla Sharks
