While the NRL and NRLW teams move towards the finals, with both looking to improve their position on their respective competition ladders over the next few rounds, a good deal of time and energy has also centered around the new Leagues Club in Woolooware.
Many will be aware the Club has recently accepted the handover of the original building and Leagues Club shell, as announced at our Members Information Night. Designs and plans are now being finalised with our building partners Xenia Constructions and the build and fit out is set to get underway.
This CEO Update and those to follow in the months ahead will include a major focus on the various stages of the Club construction. Now with some certainty around delivering a Leagues Club for our members and their guests, I look forward to keeping you informed as to the progress of the build.
In other business relating to the Sharks, we begin with Sharks at Kareela, which is, and will continue to be, our second home in the Sutherland Shire.
Sharks at Kareela, now being headed up by Venue Manager Nathan Bougoukas, has reported strong trading figures in recent months and we thank our members for their patronage, especially when the NRL team is on the road. There is a great atmosphere around the Club when full of Sharks fans and we have no doubt Sharks at Kareela is the place to be when you can't get to the game.
Also, congratulations to Gina and her team at the Cove Bar and Grill for again being recognised at the ClubsNSW Perfect Plate Awards. Gina's food offerings compare with anything available in the Sutherland Shire and beyond, in presenting an excellent dining option.
We will delve more into football matters (see a more detailed football report below), however, behind the scenes plenty of work is continuing as we aim to provide memorable game day experiences for our members and fans and look to make an impact in the local community.
It was a special day for the club on Sunday as we celebrated Old Boys Round, welcoming more than 120 former players and officials at Woolooware Golf Club for their annual reunion before hosting them at the Cowboys game. Despite the inclement weather, we enjoyed a strong turnout thanks to the hard work of our Great White Committee, who put out the word and organised the celebrations.
Tying in with the Old Boys festivities, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo was on hand at half-time to retrospectively present Sharks Immortal Andrew Ettingshausen with his 'NRL 300' ring in recognition of ET being the fifth player to reach 300 NRL games in 1999. Congratulations ET – a club legend in every sense of the term.
We hosted another VIP guest at yesterday's match – NBA-bound local Tyrese Proctor, who has just been drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Tyrese grew up in the Sutherland Shire and remains a massive Sharks supporter, so it was our pleasure to have him at training during the week – a visit which received widespread media coverage – and in Club67 on game day. We'll be watching his career unfold with interest.
Commercially, since our last CEO Update we held a successful NRLW season launch event at Hoyts Cronulla and more recently announced NRLW partnerships with Bath Haus Cronulla, who are the team's new Recovery Partner, and with Alltech, a payroll outsourcing business which added the NRLW song sponsorship to a similar partnership they have with our NRL team. Let's hope we get the opportunity to sing our song loud and proud after wins by both teams in the weeks to come.
In relation to our membership department, we have closed the books for 2025 and while we came up agonisingly short of making it to 18,000 members, we did break our previous record. Thank you to those who signed on and have shown your support this season. You will receive communications shortly around 2026 Sharks Memberships and let's look to eclipse the record next year. In the meantime, there are a number of member events still upcoming so be sure to come along.
Sharks Have Heart has also been active over the last few months, having recently conducted their extremely successful School Holiday clinics, engaged with local community groups including Stellar Experiences, who delivered a dance routine at the NRLW game last weekend and at an NRL home game prior to that, while taking place in the next week will be our junior league blitz as our NRL and NRLW teams visit every Cronulla-Sutherland Junior League club.
In terms of merchandise, last week we celebrated the one-year anniversary of our Sharks Store in the Woolooware Bay Town Centre, where a range of outstanding specials were offered. Plenty of Sharks fans snapped up the bargains and now in stock is the 2025 Indigenous Jersey, which is a striking design and a fitting representation of our Indigenous men and women players. The NRL team will twice play in the jersey in the coming weeks, and it is sure to be a fan favourite. Go on-line or visit the Sharks Store for all your Sharks gear and merchandise needs.
While in digital and marketing, our engagement numbers across all platforms have been trending upwards, there has been some excellent content produced recently, and there is more planned for the run into the finals. Stay tuned to all our digital channels to be updated and entertained with all things relating to your Sharks NRL and NRLW teams.
We have two NRL and NRLW home double-headers remaining in the run to the finals, and we look forward to having your support at each of those matches. Let's get behind our Sharks teams in the weeks to come.
As mentioned previously, following will be a more comprehensive report relating to our Leagues Club, as well as a more detailed update on football matters.
Thanks again for your continued support.
Sharks Leagues Club at Woolooware Bay
As announced at our Members Information Night, held in early July and attended by Sharks NRL and NRLW coaches Craig Fitzgibbon and Tony Herman and a room full of interested members, the Club is now in a position to move forward with the construction of their new Leagues Club in Woolooware.
This announcement came after reaching an agreement with Woolooware Bay developers Novm and Capital Corporation for the handover of our club site, where all parties managed to bring what had been a long and drawn-out process to an end.
Also at the Members info night we confirmed the appointment of building company Xenia Constructions to take charge of the club building works and fit out.
Xenia Constructions, who have been engaged in the process for a period of almost 12 months, boast an impressive body of work in both NSW and Queensland.
They have extensive experience in a variety of sectors including fit-out of both industrial and commercial, with Xenia responsible for hospitality destinations such as Squires Landing at the Rocks, Babylon Rooftop within the heart of Westfield Sydney and for iconic community spaces including the Coogee Surf Life Saving Club.
Their portfolio reflects the scale and diversity of the projects they have been involved with and there is great confidence that they will deliver an impressive club facility.
Xenia have already been on site, which is a couple of weeks ahead of schedule, with plans, detailed design and reports all well underway.
As outlined below by Gerard McNamara from Xenia, the demolition of the former façade will signal the beginning of the new club's construction process.
“Site establishment is expected to commence around mid-August with sheds, hoardings, loading areas to level two and fencing works to facilitate the construction activities,” Gerard detailed.
“Mid-September the demolition will commence to the façade, with temporary waterproofing and the new structural elements that support the façade and incorporate the associated main entry awnings and decks to the level three function rooms.
“Concurrently some of the high-level services will commence along with services risers, floor leveling and infill slab works, all to accommodate the fit-out works to commence in the new year.”
The Club build will take around 12-15 months to complete, with a projected opening date of mid-to-late 2026.
Alongside Xenia, we look forward to keeping you informed throughout the construction process and to ultimately re-opening the doors to our new club. We are confident it will be a Club you will be proud of and it will become the focal point of the Woolooware Bay Town Centre.
Football Update
Much has taken place since the previous CEO Update, however pleasingly the NRL team has come through a difficult period and bounced back with successive victories over the Dolphins, Roosters and then Rabbitohs, before our win in the wet yesterday against the Cowboys.
As we do whenever we come up against North Queensland, the two teams played for the Paul Green Medal. Congratulations to a well-deserved recipient in Addin Fonua-Blake and thanks to Amanda Green, the Green family and to Paul's many friends for again embracing the occasion and allowing us to honour Paul's legacy.
The win against the Cowboys gave us another boost and while it is a bunched competition ladder, the team is well placed to continue our push for a Finals berth with four matches, five rounds when including the bye, before the end of the home and away season.
With all games either at Sharks Stadium or in the Sydney region, we hope we can count on your continued support during the back end of the year.
As for the NRLW, despite having a long list of injured players, with two wins from the five games they too are still in the hunt for a spot in the finals and we wish them the best in the weeks to come.
In relation to the NRL squad we have recently celebrated a handful of milestones, with Chris Vea'ila making his NRL debut and Hohepa Puru playing his first match as a Shark in the NRL, while we congratulated Blayke Brailey and Briton Nikora on achieving 150 NRL games and Addin Fonua-Blake on reaching 200.
Well done to all and we look forward to watching you play many more games in Sharks colours.
On top of the on-field achievements, our inspirational captain Cam McInnes has been nominated for the Ken Stephen Medal in acknowledgement of his contribution away from training and game day.
Cam works just as hard in the community as he does when taking to the field and we encourage Sharks fans to get behind him as he looks to emulate Nicho Hynes who was our most recent winner of the NRL's most prestigious community award.
In the NRLW space and now five weeks into their season, Tony Herman and his team have rewarded eight players with top grade debuts at the Sharks in 2025.
Jacinta Carter and Chantay Kiria Ratu played their first games for the Sharks in round one and since the season-opener we have also seen Jaydika Tafua, Steph Faulkner, Grace-Lee Weekes, Tyla King, Anne-Marie Kiria-Ratu and just this weekend Leki Leilua step up and into the Sharks NRLW team for their debut matches.
Also, in the days before the NRLW season kicked off, Vanessa Foliaki announced her retirement. An Australian and NSW representative, we thank Vanessa for her service to the Sharks and wish her well in her future endeavours.
Away from the two senior teams, and we can report the Jets in the NSW Cup and the Sharks Jersey Flegg team are both inside the top four and nicely positioned with five games remaining. The Sharks Harvey Norman Women's Premiership team has also started strongly with four wins from their first five matches to sit third on the competition table.
Last but far from least, in a testament to the health of our academy program, we congratulate four young Sharks named in the Australian Schools teams following the national championships in Coffs Harbour.
Sharks SG Ball team members from 2025 and Endeavour High students Tom Dellow and Jake White, along with Callum Grantham who attends Newington College, were selected in the Schoolboys side, with Tom also named player of the series at the national championships. They will all be a part of an Australian team to play PNG later in the year. From the national schoolgirls titles, Felila Fakalelu, who was singled out as player of the final playing for the winning NSW CHS team, was chosen in the Australian Schoolgirls squad.
With the pointy end of the season now upon us, we wish all our Sharks teams every success and encourage members and fans to get to as many games as possible and to be vocal in your support in the weeks ahead.
