Personal call from Raelene Castle

Status
Not open for further replies.

immortalbulldog

Eternal Doggy
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
4,846
Reaction score
688
Following Friday nights board meeting I felt the need to email Raelene Castle and the Bulldogs to voice my concerns over the direction the club was headed.
The main points of my email were:
*My disappointment at the resignation of Steve Mortimer and the fact that he was so worried about the state of affairs he felt the need to speak out in the first place.
* My concern over the apparent neglect of our juniors and lower grades.
* Concerns over Haslers inability to adapt to the modern game.
* Concern over our recruitment and retention
To be totally honest I expected a stock standard email or no reply at all

Today I received a phone call from an unfamiliar mobile phone and was surprised to hear Raelene Castle to the end of the line. She said she wanted to discuss the email I sent and anted to explain the clubs position on a few issues and where we are headed.

Firstly she wanted to emphasise that Steve Mortimer broke protocol and resigned because he realised and acknowledged he had done the wrong thing. I said it sounded like he had no other option and he was forced out. Her reply was that Steve is a man of integrity who speaks from the heart and he willingly resigned so the club could move forward.
She stressed that his association with the club has not ended and he will be part of a mentor program who will work with the players and juniors to preserve the 'Bulldogs DNA or culture' that has been spoken about lately. Other players she mention were Terry Lamb, Brent Sherwin, and a few others who will probably come to me later.

In addressing the juniors she said the club will be creating a full time position to develop local talent and to guide them in the transition to u20's and so on. They will be working with Des and the new recruitment officer to also bring talent into the system from around Australia and NZ. When I questioned whether the club was happy with the decline of the U20's since Des arrived she said they definitely were not but they had made the decision to treat u20's as a stepping stone to nsw cup and 1st grade and to ensure each year they have 4 or 5 players who will be ready to do that. She said the divide between u20s and NRL is too great to expect players to step straight into NRL so they don't want to leave the best players there too long.

As far as recruitment goes. Don't expect to see Lolohea at the club next year. Reading in between the lines I would expect a backline similar to this:
1) Abbey
2) Bmoz
3) JMoz
4) Hoppa
5) Lee
6) Reynolds
7) Mbye

She said losing Brett Morris for the start of the year meant Hoppa went to fullback instead of being outside Moses. She hinted that this changed their playing style because Holland and Mbye are both inexperienced and Des wanted to take pressure off them.

She also said they had an aging roster at the time they let Ennis go and he was offered hundreds of thousands more than we could offer.
She said hooker is a vital position and they have Woolford coming next year which they are excited about. Wink wink.

All up we chatted for about 20 minutes. I was really impressed that she took the time to call. The pessimists here might say she's simply in damage control but it was the exact opposite of what you hear from her in the media. No bullshit, no dancing around issues she was real and she was forthright, she was honest and she was passionate about her job and her vision for the club. She was not trying to convince me to renew my membership because I'd told her I was going to regardless. All in all I was impressed with what she had to say.

I'm not saying I've totally changed my mind on the whole situation but I definitely feel better about 2017 now than I did yesterday.
 
Last edited:

Boxer

THE BOSS
Joined
Mar 31, 2015
Messages
0
Reaction score
0
Following Friday nights board meeting I felt the need to email Raelene Castle and the Bulldogs to voice my concerns over the direction the club was headed.
The main points of my email were:
*My disappointment at the resignation of Steve Mortimer and the fact that he was so worried about the state of affairs he felt the need to speak out in the first place.
* My concern over the apparent neglect of our juniors and lower grades.
* Concerns over Haslers inability to adapt to the modern game.
* Concern over our recruitment and retention
To be totally honest I expected a stock standard email or no reply at all

Today I received a phone call from an unfamiliar mobile phone and was surprised to hear Raelene Castle to the end of the line. She said she wanted to discuss the email I sent and anted to explain the clubs position on a few issues and where we are headed.

Firstly she wanted to emphasise that Steve Mortimer broke protocol and resigned because he realised and acknowledged he had done the wrong thing. I said it sounded like he had no other option and he was forced out. Her reply was that Steve is a man of integrity who speaks from the heart and he willingly resigned so the club could move forward.
She stressed that his association with the club has not ended and he will be part of a mentor program who will work with the players and juniors to preserve the 'Bulldogs DNA or culture' that has been spoken about lately. Other players she mention were Terry Lamb, Brent Sherwin, and a few others who will probably come to me later.

In addressing the juniors she said the club will be creating a full time position to develop local talent and to guide them in the transition to u20's and so on. They will be working with Des and the new recruitment officer to also bring talent into the system from around Australia and NZ. When I questioned whether the club was happy with the decline of the U20's since Des arrived she said they definitely were not but they had made the decision to treat u20's as a stepping stone to nsw cup and 1st grade and to ensure each year they have 4 or 5 players who will be ready to do that. She said the divide between u20s and NRL is too great to expect players to step straight into NRL so they don't want to leave the best players there too long.

As far as recruitment goes. Don't expect to see Lolohea at the club next year. Reading in between the lines I would expect a backline similar to this:
1) Abbey
2) Bmoz
3) JMoz
4) Hoppa
5) Lee
6) Reynolds
7) Mbye

She said losing Brett Morris for the start of the year meant Hoppa went to fullback instead of being outside Moses. She hinted that this changed their playing style because Holland and Mbye are both inexperienced and Des wanted to take pressure off them.

She also said they had an aging roster at the time they let Ennis go and he was offered hundreds of thousands more than we could offer.
She said hooker is a vital position and they have Woolford coming next year which they are excited about. Wink wink.

All up we chatted for about 20 minutes. I was really impressed that she took the time to call. The pesermists here might say she's simply in damage control but it was the exact opposite of what you hear from her in the media. No bullshit, no dancing around issues she was real and she was forthright, she was honest and she was passionate about her job and her vision for the club. She was not trying to convince me to renew my membership because I'd told her I was going to regardless. All in all I was impressed with what she had to say.

I'm not saying I've totally changed my mind on the whole situation but I definitely feel better about 2017 now than I did yesterday.
Did she say anything about extending desballs contract ?
 

Heckler

Kennel Addict
Premium Member
Gilded
Joined
Oct 13, 2014
Messages
6,333
Reaction score
9,047
Well done on letting us in on the conversation. Its amazing how much you can appease the masses by talking about things rather than dodge. Better than nothing i suppose.
 

Rodzilla

Terry Lamb 1996
Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
42,535
Reaction score
6,140
She also said they had an aging roster at the time they let Ennis go and he was offered hundreds of thousands more than we could offer.
because they had already signed lichaa and didnt want ennis, this is just a weak excuse to save face tbh

the correct non bullshit answer is that they greatly underestimated what ennis did, as soon as ennis left they made the announcement that they wanted 2 premierships in the next 5 years 2015-2019, so that to me says it all about what the club felt about losing ennis, aka him leaving is nothing, aka the team will be better without him
 

too69u

Kennel Established
Joined
Jan 25, 2010
Messages
647
Reaction score
488
Ah that backline looks a lot like the one I posted few days ago ...
 

immortalbulldog

Eternal Doggy
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
4,846
Reaction score
688
Well done on letting us in on the conversation. Its amazing how much you can appease the masses by talking about things rather than dodge. Better than nothing i suppose.
I expect that people who emailed her directly may have a similar story. She said she can't reply to everyone but anyone who emails her directly she tries to call back. Ive already seen others on FB saybthat she called them. Unless you flat out abuse her I think she'all make the time
 

Boxer

THE BOSS
Joined
Mar 31, 2015
Messages
0
Reaction score
0
negotiations are ongoing but they want to concentrate on 2017 for now
I hope that des wakes up and starts actually changing things if we can start looking dangerous and playing football I might start to back des but fuck me his got a lot of work to do.
 

Rodzilla

Terry Lamb 1996
Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
42,535
Reaction score
6,140
1) sign lichaa for $300k
2) dont sign ennis
3) later ennis gets an offer hundreds of thousands of dollars more than we could offer
4) ffs we cant offer him anything more, i dont understand how this could possibly happen
 

immortalbulldog

Eternal Doggy
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
4,846
Reaction score
688
because they had already signed lichaa and didnt want ennis, this is just a weak excuse to save face tbh

the correct non bullshit answer is that they greatly underestimated what ennis did, as soon as ennis left they made the announcement that they wanted 2 premierships in the next 5 years 2015-2019, so that to me says it all about what the club felt about losing ennis, aka him leaving is nothing, aka the team will be better without him
she was a bit more in depth with her answer. She acknowledged the gamble didn't pay off.
 

terrylamb4lyfe

Kennel Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
2,804
Reaction score
282
Thanks for the post immortalbulldog. Actual genuine content strait from the horses mouth is always appreciated over another 'fuck des' thread.

1) sign lichaa for $300k
2) dont sign ennis
3) later ennis gets an offer hundreds of thousands of dollars more than we could offer
4) ffs we cant offer him anything more, i dont understand how this could possibly happen
Unfortunate situation, but we have the benfit of hindsight and everything looks perfect with that.
 

Rodzilla

Terry Lamb 1996
Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
42,535
Reaction score
6,140
she was a bit more in depth with her answer. She acknowledged the gamble didn't pay off.
no her point was that she is blaming salary cap restrictions for losing ennis, huge distortion and misleading explanation of that situation

she should simply say that des is an idiot for doing it and that she has made it clear to him that it was a major mistake
 

blueyedsamurai

Kennel Legend
Joined
Sep 18, 2012
Messages
11,321
Reaction score
2,554
"She hinted that this changed their playing style because Holland and Mbye are both inexperienced and Des wanted to take pressure off them."

Our style of play changed? Also what BS, look at the confidence Penrith gave to Cleary at 18 years of age and they're saying they changed the style to take pressure off Mbye?
 

immortalbulldog

Eternal Doggy
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
4,846
Reaction score
688
no her point was that she is blaming salary cap restrictions for losing ennis, huge distortion and misleading explanation of that situation

she should simply say that des is an idiot for doing it and that she has made it clear to him that it was a major mistake
Check you messages
 

Rodzilla

Terry Lamb 1996
Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
42,535
Reaction score
6,140
Unfortunate situation, but we have the benfit of hindsight and everything looks perfect with that.
no i had the benefit of being smart and knew at the time that they were idiots, they compounded their mistake by playing lichaa 80 minutes as if to say anybody can step in and do that role, that move made lichaa look worse than he actually is because he is a spent force for the last part of the game
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dex

Indiandog

Kennel Immortal
Premium Member
Gilded
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
21,520
Reaction score
6,681
good on her that she called you.

credit must be given where due, but she should be more honest or shall i say dont give BS responses to fans and disrespect them in the "blog with the boss" thingy.
 

immortalbulldog

Eternal Doggy
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
4,846
Reaction score
688
"She hinted that this changed their playing style because Holland and Mbye are both inexperienced and Des wanted to take pressure off them."

Our style of play changed? Also what BS, look at the confidence Penrith gave to Cleary at 18 years of age and they're saying they changed the style to take pressure off Mbye?
Moylan and Wallace control that team.
 

Raikkonen

Kennel Enthusiast
Gilded
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
4,163
Reaction score
1,873
We can't keep using BMoz injuries as an excuse.

It's Des job to have the depth to cover an ageing player

Good on her for calling her though!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top