Dear Bulldogs Football Club Member,
Firstly, I would like to wish you all a Happy New year and hope that it brings you and your loved ones much happiness.
It is hard to believe that barely two years ago I first reached out to you to introduce the 2018 Bulldogs Reform Ticket. Like many in our Bulldogs family, we believed it was time for a change in the leadership and direction of our great club. We were incredibly grateful and humbled that the membership supported us and gave us the chance to shape the Bulldogs.
The current Bulldogs board is proud of the work we have done and overseen in our two years since being given the great honour of guiding our beloved Bulldogs club. We came to power promising to restore respect to our club, and in doing so restore The Bulldogs Way as the club’s guiding light for everything we do. From how we treat our people, to what we expect from them, the Bulldogs are a club that will support our family to be the best they can be, but also one that demands results. We have not only a Board that lives and breathes this philosophy, but we also have in place a Senior management team who also believe in it and are putting it into practice. CEO Andrew Hill is supported in this by Club greats Steve Price GM Football and Head Coach Dean Pay. Our current squad have embraced the family values and our culture of looking out for each other while accepting the expectation of hard work and results. As a clear endorsement of this, the Bulldogs Ambassadors have come back to the club in bigger numbers every year, keen to support the next generation of Bulldogs forge their own history here. We truly believe we are building something special back at the Bulldogs.
We are also very proud of the reform we have achieved across many parts of the club as well as the cultural changes:
- Return to being a development club which has underpinned Bulldogs successes in the past
- Junior League re-boot
- Significant changes to the governance of the club, including board decision making; salary
cap, recruitment and retention oversight; experienced and high performing senior management team
We have a board that is united on one key issue - we all truly love the club and are working hard for what’s best for the Bulldogs not ourselves. We want us back where we belong – at the top of the Rugby League world on and off the field.
As we approach the 2020 elections, I wanted to introduce our 2020 Board ticket. Essentially, we see the first 2 years as the reset, where changes have been made to support the new direction and have us ready to capitalise on opportunities for success. We now want the chance to convert that hard work in setting the foundation and look to build ultimately towards success on and off the field. We are seeking your support yet again to continue with what you have seen over the last two years, to have the chance to take this rebuild to the next level. While we have 4 of the 2018 Reform ticket seeking re-election, we have assembled a new team for 2020:
Lynne Anderson, John Khoury, John Ballesty, Paul Dunn, Adrian Turner, and Peter Mortimer
This 2020 Board ticket we believe is a great mix of the skills and experience needed to guide the Bulldogs over the next two years. After two years of re-setting the club, we saw the opportunity for a refreshed team focusing on commercial/membership/football development areas. We undertook a professional board review, where all current directors seeking re-election were analysed for both skills and gaps against the Club’s Strategic Plan for 2020. Candidates looking to be a part of this board ticket were mapped against this, and interviews were conducted in line with good corporate governance.
Two of the new candidates for our 2020 Board team should be well known to Bulldogs members in former players Peter Mortimer and Joe Thomas. Both are passionate believers in the Bulldogs Way. Both are also successful businessmen post their playing careers and will strengthen our commercial acumen and networks. Our third candidate, Adrian Turner, is a Belmore local, who understands the connection with a passionate and loyal membership. Adrian also brings more than 20 years corporate experience across hospitality/financial services/utilities and transport industries. In particular he brings extensive experience in Corporate governance and risk management.
Just as we have done for the last two years, we want to engage directly with our members. We will be reaching out to you as we did in 2018, but also will hold further Member Forums where we hope you will come along and meet with us personally, bring your thoughts on both how you think the club has performed over the last two years, as well as your hopes for the future of the Bulldogs. We are keen for you to meet all of our board members personally and see for yourself why we believe we have a great team for supporting our collective Bulldogs Family dreams for 2020/2021.
Member Forums:
- Wednesday 15th January 2020, 7pm Mt Lewis Bowling Club
- Wednesday 30th January 2020, 7pm Bankstown Sports
- Wednesday 4th February 2020, 7pm Campsie RSL
Thank you yet again for all your support and loyalty to our club over the challenging recent years. While much work has been done, there is still a way to go to be where this club’s proud history demands we be. 2018 and 2019 will be remembered as the years we re-set the Bulldogs back on our much loved and successful Bulldogs Way. We know the fans recognise this. While we have not made the finals, we are acknowledged for the way the club is fighting back, for the young men who are giving the club their all. But 2020 MUST be a step forward. The 2020 Board Ticket is more determined than ever to drive this club forward. We know from experience that the hard work is more than worth it.
Yours sincerely
Lynne Anderson