COACHES CORNER - FANS FORUM
The Sharks conducted a ‘Fan Forum’ in the Blue Fin Restaurant at Sharkies Leagues club on Tuesday night, with CEO Greg Pierce, Head Coach Ricky Stuart, Club captain Brett Kimmorley and Marketing Manager Paul Donaghy fielding questions from the crowd.
A gathering of supporter’s club members, season seat holders, football club members and sponsors quizzed the panel, with no issues avoided and with all responses delivered honestly and directly.
In his Coaches Column this week, Sharks coach Ricky Stuart, who welcomed the interaction with Sharks fans, explains why such forums are important in bringing the team and its objectives closer to the fans
“The forum last night was a good opportunity for our passionate and loyal supporters and sponsors to come and ask questions, questions they won’t ordinarily have answered through the media and what they read about us in the papers.
“I know we all gave honest answers and pulled no punches with our responses to their concerns and I had the feeling those who attended went away satisfied in the way we dealt with the issues raised.
“The Sharks is a new venture, a new challenge for me and it is a very big challenge at that. But we want to be successful and I want all the loyal Sharks fans to share in that success and to feel a part of what we are all about. Nights like the Fan Forum last night hopefully gave them that feeling that they are very much involved in what we do as a club and as a football team.
“And last night’s forum won’t be a one off. I’ll have as many of these types of events as you, the real Sharks fans, believe that we need.
“From my point of view, and from the others who sat up the front and participated in the forum with me, it was interesting to hear the fans ask about a number of things we discuss between ourselves in the office every day. That shows me you care about what we are trying to achieve and are very well educated in your opinions.
“With the media coverage we have in this day and age, with all the games being shown on Channel Nine or Foxtel, the rugby league fan is better educated than ever before and I think that came out in our forum, in the opinions expressed and questions asked.
“As far as the club was concerned we were pleased to have the opportunity to get some of our messages out as well, with some people still sceptical about the development of our juniors and the on-going development of our car park land on the south eastern side of the leagues club.
“Never before has the Sharks made the commitment to our local players and to player recruitment as we are planning and currently doing now, with the academy up and running, school programs being increased and with more of a presence from the NRL coaches and players into the local junior league clubs.
“All this is a priority to me personally, as it is to the club. We are trying to throw a net over all our junior league clubs and I don’t just mean in terms of developing the elite players. I have two boys playing in the local competition this year, and I know what it means to the kids to have the NRL stars around at their training and at their games and you will be seeing that happen more often this year and into the future.
“As for the development project of our car park land, Greg Pierce responded that zoning and development applications continue to hold this up to a degree, but we are sitting on a very valuable piece of commercial property and I think it was explained that if we show some patience and do it properly, we will secure the financial future of this club for some time to come.
“Finally, from an on-field performance standpoint, I agreed with you that we need to sit down with Noddy to nut out his future and figure out what is best for him and for the team. You were concerned about Ben Ross but I was able to reassure them that he is doing everything he can to recapture his representative form. Recovering from a knee reco sometimes takes as long as 18 months to be 100 per cent right, but he is working extremely hard to get to where he wants to be.
“It was mentioned that we probably need to find a bit more speed in the backline and I don’t disagree. As I explained, we have possibly one of the best back rows in the competition, extremely skilled and experienced players in the halves and to complement that we are working on combinations in the backline in a bid to find that little extra bit of strike power that you have identified as being missing from our game in recent weeks.
“Thanks to those who attended our fan forum. We were only too pleased to address the issues that we all chat about, whether it’s talked about in the pub, around your dinner table or in your office. It showed last night that what concerns you the fans is not too different to what the players and coaching staff are discussing and working through every day of the week.
“We are a sleeping giant here at the Sharks and I feel with the right directions and decisions made this club will become very successful both on and off the field.”
