'Family club' fractured as Kiwi Raelene Castle resigns

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Vlasnik

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'Family club' fractured as Kiwi Raelene Castle resigns as Bulldogs chief executive


Bulldogs boss Raelene Castle gives fullback Brett Morris a hug following an NRL win.

ANALYSIS: When Raelene Castle first began as Canterbury chief executive, everyone wanted to know whether she or Des Hasler would be running the club. Four years later, it is evident neither of them is the top Dog at Belmore.

The New Zealander announced her resignation on Thursday, although she will remain in the role until the end of the season. Soon after the news became official, she tweeted there was "still plenty to achieve" before handing over to her successor. Most notably, the Bulldogs have the challenge of becoming salary cap compliant as they undergo the biggest roster overhaul in their history. However, her role in the process – like that of coach Des Hasler – will continue to diminish.

The 'family club' has become increasingly fractured in recent times, as evidenced by Steve Mortimer's parting from the boardroom. It is about to undergo further change and the end result will chiefly bear the pawprints of chairman Ray Dib.

Castle took over from Todd Greenberg after the latter was promoted to head office. It has become evident that the current Bulldogs chief executive and the former one have fallen out with the respective chairmen. Castle has moved on of her own accord and the fact that she will remain in the post until season's end suggests the pair can continue to work together. Whether that is the case with Greenberg and Grant remains to be seen.

In both cases, the fraying of the relationships between chair and CEO have been laid bare in missives to clubs. Castle, while trying to resolve salary cap headaches of her own, had also been tasked with representing the clubs on the matter as the players' union and the NRL attempt to thrash out a collective bargaining agreement.

She emailed club bosses to complain of a breach of protocol when the players' union met with a select group of chairmen. One of the chairman chiefly responsible for organising the meeting was her own. The popular narrative is that Castle was gone the moment she pressed 'send'. What we know is that, a fortnight later, she has announced "the time is right to look for my next challenge."

It had already become apparent that Castle had been sidelined in matters of retention of recruitment. While she has been involved in every single negotiation since taking over from Greenberg, player managers were increasingly dealing with Dib directly. Hasler - forced to part with some of his most loyal staffers during a power shift at Belmore - was no longer calling the shots. Neither was Castle.

Dib was ultimately responsible for luring Aaron Woods and Kieran Foran to Canterbury, although Hasler's connection to the latter undoubtedly played a role. In the case of Foran, Castle texted Warriors counterpart Jim Doyle to deny reports the playmaker was a done deal at Canterbury, oblivious to the fact Dib had ensured it was so.

The arrival of Woods and Foran will create headaches, welcome and otherwise. There is not yet a salary cap figure for next year, but the Bulldogs have undoubtedly blown it. Castle will have a role to play in the ensuing firesale of players, contracted and otherwise, alongside Dib. How the club emerges from the overhaul will be her legacy. Dib will also be judged on the success of the process when the members go to the ballot box to appoint a board early next year.

Castle has undoubtedly made a positive impression during her time at the helm. The former New Zealand netball boss became the first female club chief executive since Liz Dawson at the Adelaide Rams in 1997-98 and Donna Burke at Cronulla in 1988-89, but quickly earned respect in her own right. There have been many challenges, like the Andrew Fifita and Des Hasler contract negotiations.

She has overseen a competitive side but, like Hasler and Dib, has been criticised for not getting enough bang from buck after falling short of a premiership. However, the fact rival clubs chose her to be one of only four CEOs to represent their interests in salary cap deliberations is a vote of confidence and she could well emerge at a rival club or even achieve her ultimate ambition of running the game in the future.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/rugby-league/92996655/
 
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Alan79

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Journalists will produce any shit for a story these days. I wouldn't be surprised if she got a tap on the shoulder from Dib after her recent email in contradiction to him arranging the meeting with the RLPA, but seems to me like things are pretty stable within the club otherwise. And the ongoing discussion that we've busted the cap shits me. We replaced quite a lot of established players, including the overpaid dinosaur with rookies, so to suggest that we're not cap compliant repeatedly is a huge leap in logic. I certainly don't think we've got a lot of space left but I highly doubt we're going all out to offload players.
 
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bowleggedwog

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"There is not yet a salary cap figure for next year, but the Bulldogs have undoubtedlyblown it". If this is true there needs to questions asked. We haven't signed anyone for a few yrs while other teams like the sharks keep adding to their roster. How many of our players are on overs.
 

beastwood89

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First of all I agree the journalists who wrote this article is as dumb as dumb and dumber.

Secondly that's Sam Perrett in the pic hugging Rae.

Thirdly I'm fucking glad she's moving on for both parties.


Fourthly how is the family club fractured?
For your sake I hope we don't run paths because the only thing that will be fractured are your ribs.
 

Trafford10

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Main point in the article.
Does Ray Dib pull all the leavers at the club, including the football department?

When bullfrog was around I remember the famous stories of him doing basicly all the recruitment, I guess the coach was consulted.

I had assumed that Des was the driving force behind the recruitment & retention.

When board got rid the Cleal, again I thought was a sign by the board to the football department that the board wasn't happy with how recruitment & retention had gone.
 

D.O.W.

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We are losing players but yet we are over the cap ?
Broncos roosters dragons and sharks all signed 1million dollar players but they are fine lol fuck these jounos write shit.
Bulldogs are an easy target for the media and I'm speculating it's due to its succcess on the field coupled by a wealthy leagues behind it...add to that we are stereotyped culturally.

Manly used to be the most hated team in the competition, but I'd say it's now the Bulldogs and so rubbish articles like that are supposed to sell articles.

All they need to do is look at our current roster... now take a look at the Broncos, Sharks, Cowboys, Storm, Roosters and Raiders rosters and their depth and tell me which club looks like their red-lining the cap?

Whilst we just picked up Woods and Foran, we've already lost Reynolds... it's s dead-set joke to be under scrutiny when a) we are still looking to offload players and b) a salary cap is yet to be determined!
 
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Heckler

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Any other CEO falling of their perch would never attract the limelight like ours do. (Violin strings)

The Family club fractured. This proud club has ALWAYS had blood letting due to its success, creating success as a result.

No one is immune.
 

Chicharito

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We are losing players but yet we are over the cap ?
Broncos roosters dragons and sharks all signed 1million dollar players but they are fine lol fuck these jounos write shit.
In that line of work you gotta have the ability to be able to bullshit big time lol.
 

Mr Invisible

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"Bulldogs are undoubtedly over the cap for next season"

Next paragraph

"Salary cap not officially sorted for next season"

Fucking idiots.

Castle has for long palmed stuff off onto others rather than doing things herself. Heard of this personally.
 

Novdoggie

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Raelene Castle is not leaving, she was pushed. Sure, Raelene didn't take the club to the heights expected, in fact since Greenberg left the club has gone backwards. But she is not the sole reason for the downward direction the club is heading. The board once again take us fans and members for fools, as usual. They want to show us they are doing something about the clubs issues by getting rid of Raelene but are not fixing the real problem. You see, the stench is still hanging around and until this is rid of the next CEO will be a puppet to the stinking board. These are suppose to be men that should stand up and take responsibility, instead they sit behind their desks in their suits rocking back and forth on their chairs pointing the finger just to save their own arses. GUTLESS and SHAME on the Canterbury board!!

GIVE US OUR CLUB BACK AND KINDLY STEP DOWN, PLEASE!!!
 

Bob dog

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We need a CEO in it for the long haul, not just an academic having a go to broaden their resume,
Is the club being used to train people up?
 

c-b-b

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Pretty sure that pic was following the grand final loss in 2014 so it would be Josh not Brett.
 

sleepy dog

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Ray dib in my eyes is chasing a premiership and chasing it hard, the last 5 years everyone's been sitting on the hands and doing nothing it's about time someone wielded the axe, I wouldn't be suprised if ray dib is behind not only the signing of our new players but also the getting rid of players

Good on him about time someone done something
 

_G-Dog_

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"There is not yet a salary cap figure for next year, but the Bulldogs have undoubtedlyblown it". If this is true there needs to questions asked. We haven't signed anyone for a few yrs while other teams like the sharks keep adding to their roster. How many of our players are on overs.
**** the journos.. if we have the blown the salary cap the Rorter$ have nuked it.. yet no chatter about them because theyre all running scared from Politi$
 

finchie

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We are losing players but yet we are over the cap ?
Broncos roosters dragons and sharks all signed 1million dollar players but they are fine lol fuck these jounos write shit.
100%
If and a big if this is the case
Some Kents head should roll and be held accountable for it
We have a dead average roster of plodders and we r over the cap
Worst spine in the comp yet we are over the cap
Figure that one out plz
 

dogluva

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We are losing players but yet we are over the cap ?
Broncos roosters dragons and sharks all signed 1million dollar players but they are fine lol fuck these jounos write shit.

I find it ludicrous that we are the only club mentioned in the salary cap discussion that needs to shed vast numbers of players ( top line ones too still on contract) to accommodate the new. Yeah, we need to let players go but not to the extent that the journalists are saying, unless our roster was not put together responsibly. If we are to believe the stories of late we will need to reduce our squad substantially to around half to accommodate the wages of new players coming in.

There are players as yet still unsigned and being realistic probably won't be re- signed( They need to keep Elliot) and the salary cap STILL has not been settled on.

The Telecrap todays paper; tomorrows fish and chip wrapper, lol.

One thing Castle was adamant about is that at this point in time we are not in the habit of foolishly signing players knowingly meaning we would break the cap; of that she was crystal clear. Those days are gone.( circa early 2000's)
 

Kaz

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Why did they mention Kiwi, she was born in Wagga Wagga.
 
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