It’s the first Member’s Update of 2023 and despite some mixed results on the field, there has been plenty to celebrate of late.
In this Member’s Update, you will hear from our Chairman of the Board, John Khoury as we share an update on general business and the Bulldogs season to date.
A message from Chairman of the Board, John Khoury
Dear Members,
As a proud, local junior myself, nothing brings me greater pride and joy than the phenomenal achievements of our junior representative teams in the 2023 season.
We proudly had players representing the Bulldogs badge across all junior representative premier competitions from Harold Matthews all the way to the NRL, including in the women’s space with representation from the Lisa Fiaola Cup through to Harvey Norman Women’s.
All these teams had an incredibly productive offseason and whilst there is still some way to go for our Academy programs development, having three of our junior representative teams make the Grand Final this weekend is a wonderful achievement. A special mention must go to the Tarsha Gale squad who have remained undefeated to date this season.
I’d like to congratulate all the players, Coaches, staff and management across our Harold Matthews Cup, Tarsha Gale and Harvey Norman Women’s teams and of course wish them the best of luck in their matches, later today. My thanks also go to our General Manager of Football Phil Gould, General Manager of Pathways Adam Hartigan and General Manager of Female Pathways and Junior League Barry Ward along with their respective teams, for the extensive work that they have done in implementing and developing our pathways systems this year.
Your efforts are a testament to the strength of the Bulldogs Academy and a small glimpse at the potential that this Club has for the future. We are especially proud of the growth within our female pathways systems, which we hope can one day soon be complemented by a full pathway all the way to the NRLW.
Whenever the opportunity comes, we know we will have talented individuals developed and ready to make their debut in the Blue and White.
In the meantime, I’d like to encourage as many of our Members to come along, enjoy these grand final matches and support the future of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.
Our three sides will play today, Saturday April 29 at Leichhardt Oval, Mary Street, Lilyfield:
12:45pm HARROLD MATTHEWS CUP – BULLDOGS V KNIGHTS
4:15pm TARSHA GALE CUP – BULLDOGS V SYDNEY ROOSTERS INDIGENOUS ACADEMY
6:00pm HARVEY NORMAN NSW WOMEN'S PREMIERSHIP – BULLDOGS V MOUNTIES
In February, we hosted the Club’s 88th Annual General Meeting at the Canterbury League Club. It was a well-attended event where the Board and Management were able to present a comprehensive update to our Members on the Financial Year and business highlights from 2022. We also bestowed Life Membership upon Aiden Tolman and Josh Jackson who were unanimously voted in by all those in attendance that day.
It was wonderful to see the on-going and unwavering support of our Members and I thank all our Members for their on-going trust in the Club’s 2023 strategy. We are a strong and unified Board with your support.
Also keeping our Club stable is the support we have seen in the journey that our players are on, under the expert stewardship of Head Coach, Cameron Ciraldo. Injuries aside, we have seen the great potential of our squad and even an understrength team continue to show up and do us proud with their efforts on the field each week. Our current position on the NRL Premiership ladder is not reflective of what this team can achieve, and I have full faith in the direction that this young and resilient side are heading in.
Recent signings and contract extensions also mean a bright future for the Club. I thank our Head of Recruitment, Peter Sharp and Chief Operating Officer, John White, and their teams for managing all our player signings so professionally. As we know, this isn’t an overnight feel-good story but rather a journey that we are thankful to have our members with us for.
So too can be said of our Corporate Partners and we are pleased to have welcomed the likes of KFC, Future Form and Vari Group onboard as well as the recommitment of long-term partners Young Academics, M&J Chickens, BodyScience, Illuvium and ShoeGrab. Their support, along with all our corporate partners puts our Club in a strong financial position, and our sponsorship program on track towards a record achievement in 2024.
We are fortunate to be taking many of our partnerships forward on multi-year agreements which enables our corporate team, as spearheaded by Head of Partnerships, Stuart Martin, the flexibility to focus on great servicing, return on investment as well as growth of business for long-term, sustained success.
Recently, the NSWRL and NRL announced that they are expecting record participation numbers in the 2023 season.
Currently, our 100+ year CBDJRL has over 3,000 participants and 206 teams nominated for the 2023 season. While 100% of our junior league competitions will have kicked off by the end of the weekend, it isn’t too late to register, and I encourage you to get in contact with your local club to get involved.
To find a local club including one of our 12 junior league clubs, go to playrugbyleague.com and enter your postcode. Rugby League is a great way to connect within the community and we encourage everyone to get involved. As a reward for joining the Bulldogs extended family and to keep inspiring the next generation of Bulldogs’ players, each CBDJRL coach, manager, volunteer, and registered participant receives a complimentary Bulldogs season pass. We wish all our clubs the best of luck with kick off this weekend.
As is our commitment to being a grassroots and community Club, we have enjoyed a series of junior league and junior rep coaching clinics, plus coach education sessions over the past couple of months.
In support of NSWRL, CRL and the Greater Northern NSW, North Coast NSW and South West QLD Regions, our pathways team have travelled to deliver a number of these clinics lately. The team also travelled across the Tasman to deliver additional clinics during our Round 4 match up against the New Zealand Warriors, where an extension of the Bulldogs Academy has also been established.
At a grassroots level, our NRL team also supported a junior league clinic at Greenacre Tigers, and we are looking forward to several more clinics in the coming months.
We have prioritised the community through several initiatives this year and under the guidance of Diane Langmack OAM, our General Manager of Stakeholder Engagement.
Through Diane, we have continued to engage with a number of community leaders, building meaningful relationships. Just a handful of these initiatives include working with Bulldogs alumni Hazem El Masri and wife Arwa Abousamra to deliver our annual Iftar dinner, teaming up with the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway in honour of ANZAC Day and ANZAC Round, working with the team at Deadly Choices to support Indigenous communities, as well as our on-going commitment to children’s mental health and wellbeing through the NSWRL Changing Rooms Project.
Our Head of Retail, Georgia Ravics has delivered a phenomenal result across our retail programme to date, with our 2023 home and away jerseys proving to be widely popular. So too can be said of our 2023 ANZAC Round Jerseys which have all but sold out with only a number of children’s sizes remaining. The meaningful and respectful design of these jerseys are a credit to her team, and I have no doubt that our players were proud to wear these during the Round 8 match.
Proceeds of the player worn jerseys are to be donated to the Kokoda Memorial Track Walkway, a local walkway and education centre in Rhodes that I encourage you and your families to get along to if you can. It is a beautiful, commemorative walkway that helps connect wartime stories with our current and future generations. Lest we forget.
As we honour their service, I would also now like the time to acknowledge and thank two Bulldogs family Members who were recognised earlier this year for their outstanding contributions and service to the Club. My thanks go to Gwen Crumpton, Warren Skuse and their families for their dedication of over 25 years each. A great accomplishment.
Both of these wonderful contributors have many heart-warming stories of their second home here at Belmore, and we are privileged to have had them onboard for such an extensive period of time.
This proud, spiritual home of ours has played host to two games this year so far – a pre-season trial match and our Round 3 Multicultural extravaganza which was a wonderful celebration of intense rugby league against the Tigers, cultural performances, activities and food stalls. It was great to see the NRL choosing our Club again to host the NRL Round Multicultural Launch and recognising us as a leading club when it comes to diversity and inclusion.
The sell-out event created a great atmosphere and one that we cannot wait to recreate later in the year for our Round 20 match-up at home against the Broncos. This will be Members’ Round – a special round dedicated to all our Membership base and supporters.
We expect again that this years’ Bundaberg match will look to be a sell-out, so we encourage all our members to access the pre-sale and secure your seats should your Membership not include your ticket allocation. All Membership packages can be viewed here for inclusions. It will be the first time our Club takes on The Dolphins and we cannot wait to return to the area.
Outside these two matches, there are a number of draw highlights still to come. Personally, I am looking forward to a re-match with the Warriors in Round 11, after falling just short overseas. This match will also be close to heart as we celebrate and honour the memory of Jenny Souris in support of the Jenny Souris Foundation Round.
It was the crowd overseas and at home for the Round 5 golden-point thriller that kept our team in the midst, and I know I speak on behalf of the boys when I say, I am sure they would love an army of blue and white to cheer them on at each of our matches. I hope to see the large and enthusiastic crowds rallied behind our team that we have become renowned for.
We will also be looking to defend the i4Give Cup when we come up against the Eels again in Round 15. With a number of injured players expected to return ahead of this Round, there is no doubt we will fiercely defend the title as we did in 2022, toppling the side in a stellar upset win, 34-4.
While our side continues to build cohesion, off the field we are confirmed to break dirt within 12 months for our new $60m Centre of Excellence – the country’s first NRL gender-equal high performance centre. The three-level world class centre to be built here at Belmore, with a vision to provide all our NRL players and Academy players the tools and support they need to reach their full potential.
The Centre of Excellence is something our area and Club has long deserved and together with the Board, I am delighted that our Club is actively progressing towards its’ establishment.
In 2023, we promised our Members more value than ever before and a new, exciting announcement will come very shortly in this space that will enable our Members to unlock even greater value through their Membership. The Club cannot wait to share more news with you in due time.
For the interim, I am extremely proud to be part of this wonderfully diverse and culturally rich club - a Club that has over 19,500 current Members also belonging to it. We are closing in on our 20,000 Members target and I look forward to celebrating this milestone with you all.
Never before have we felt so connected to our playing group, and insights like those made available through our five-part Kennel Series and all-new Bulldogs Unleashed video podcast have helped us to stay up to date with all the latest Club news. To find all these episodes, you can visit our Youtube channel.
Finally, good luck again to all our junior league teams who kick off their seasons this week, and all the best to our teams on their Premiership quest this weekend. I will be there in support.
John Khoury,
Chairman
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
