by gazzamagoo » Fri Sep 23, 2022 7:58 pm
A letter from Greg Edwards to all members of the CDFC.
Dear Gary,
With the emergence of the warmer weather and the clearer autumn days comes the football finals. The sun shines on those involved, and the cold lingers a little longer for those who are not.
Its every club’s objective to be playing in September, and missing out doesn’t get any easier to accept. Performance wise, I look at our season being played in two halves, our first half being a time where we debuted many new players, we were unsettled by injuries, and found ourselves delivering inconsistent performances where the opposition were able to score quickly to separate the scoreboard early in games. Then it was about trying to claw back large deficits for the remainder of the game. This is the hard way!
The last 9 games of the season delivered the optimism and consistency we were looking for, winning 3 games, losing 3 games by less than a goal and having a chance in the other 3 games. During this period, our game style was embedded with crisper ball movement and predictability, our kicking efficiency (4th best in the comp) and handball efficiency (3rd best in the comp) elevated our scoring opportunities, we held the ball inside our forward 50 for longer and we were the best tackling team in the competition from rounds 10 to 19 (ranked No 1). Two of our three losses during this period were against Port and the Crows, where both had 17 and 18 AFL listed players available, including 4 players 200cms+ (Port).
So, we leave the 2022 season disappointed and a bit frustrated. We also leave 2022 with a good understanding of the capabilities of our current playing list, the talent emerging and the gaps we have in our senior talent base. There is no question we need to add some talls to give ourselves an opportunity against the AFL teams when they’re at full or near full strength. We have some outstanding young talls coming through our development programs, and they’ll get an opportunity when ready. Adding talent from outside who can play at the level is important, and making sure we develop our own talent is paramount.
Organically, we know we’ll have some great additions to our team straight away, from injury. Marcus Barreau is one of the best hidden talents in the SANFL, Aaron Nietschke is ready for his first full pre-season in 4 years and can’t wait to get into the summer training and Shay Linke will be back with the group after missing most of the season with his arm and pelvic injuries. Blake Launer and Jordan Tippins will be back after suffering season long injuries early in the season, and young players such as Ollie Shaw, Luca Whitelum, Adam Deakin, George Kendall, Zac Buechner, Bailey Reeves, Isaiah Dudley, Lewis Cowham and Jack Carpenter will be looking at continuing their great development over the summer.
We’re in good shape, perhaps a bit behind some of the other teams this season, but our upside is greater than most.
In addition, behind the scenes we have been working hard on having our development zone expanded to include another country zone and a larger metro zone. Broadly, our current zone is largely made up of the Salisbury, Elizabeth, Munno Para, Golden Grove (which we share with North and Norwood), Gawler and the Barossa Valley areas. To paint a picture, compared to other SANFL clubs, we have the largest population of 9 to 16 year olds, and the smallest football participation in the same age group. There are many reasons out of the control of the club for this situation, in the main it is the impact of society issues in general, plus other sports in our heavily populated areas.
We have 18 clubs to provide us with young talent across our zones, with some of those metro clubs struggling at junior level, a few without junior teams. As a comparison, other SANFL clubs range from 36 clubs down to around 20 clubs. This has been a massive focus for me and our Talent Manager Scott Stevens through 2022, and have presented our case to SANFL. We wait for confirmation, but we believe we have presented our case well enough to earn an expanded zone for our Clubs future. This is critical to the future successes of our club at all levels, including at senior level. As soon as we have confirmation, we’ll let you all know.
We have welcomed Mark Ross to our Club recently, who will take up the role of Football Manager. This is an important appointment, one which will ensure we are well resourced in our football department and have a key focus on the management of our playing list, recruiting processes, coaching structure and player welfare and development. Mark will work closely with Scott Stevens on the promotion of our emerging talent, as well as with our senior coach and coaching/support group regards program improvements and technology.
Off the field, we’re starting to see some change around the Club. The new changerooms will be ready to use by the first week of October, they are very impressive indeed and may have our senior men’s team very envious!
We will soon see our oval fence ripped out and replaced with a new picket fence and new sponsorship signage to go up before the 2023 season. As part of this, we will be commemorating every player who has played at least one League game with the Bulldogs with a plaque on the each picket. This will create some history at oval level, and our members and supporters will get an opportunity to purchase a plaque from the Club to place under their favourite player. This will be a way you and your family can always have a connection to our great oval, and our history. This project is the start of the masterplanning process with the Playford Council for our oval precinct, and we are very grateful they were able to support the installation of the picket fence ahead of time. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, our club is indebted to the Playford Council, their willingness to support us in so many ways has been enlightening for me since arriving.
Our Board has been working really hard behind the scenes on assessing some important opportunities which have been presented in recent times. Whilst its too early to mention what these opportunities are, I can assure our members that they focussed on making us a stronger club, on and off the field. I’m sure you agree, this is where we want our Board to be focussed, on making impactful change, assessing new opportunities, steering the ship and taking the organisation forward. I am proud of the efforts of all of our Board members in 2022, it isn’t an easy role, it doesn’t pay anything and you ride the performances of every area of the club, the good and the not so good!
We are about to launch a Car Lottery, partnering with our great friends Novita, who will share the funds from the lottery with us. The car is being provided by Peter Page Hyundai who’s support of the club over many years has been awesome, and continues to be. This is another key fundraiser for the club, so your support will be much appreciated.
Our new website will be launched during October, this will give us more opportunities to provide more information, more photos, history and player and club news to our members.
For those who were lucky enough to attend the recent Magarey Medallists celebration luncheon, I’m sure it was an event you’ll never forget. Certainly, one of the best football functions I’ve been to. Next year, we are planning to have a premiership reunion event for all 9 premierships, and the following year we will hold our inaugural Hall of Fame induction event. These will be stunning events like the Magarey luncheon, the type of functions you’ll remember forever.
So here we are in the off season, reviewing the year and preparing for the next one. Meeting with our players, coaches and support teams to ascertain their views and feedback. Meeting with potential new recruits, highlighting why we are the club for them, where we are going and how they will help us get there. Talking and meeting with our wonderful sponsors, planning membership and working on new merchandise lines and products. Throw in end of financial year, new budgets, capital projects and many other things. It’s a busy time, but it’s the most crucial time for the club. This is the time of year we reset and get ready to go again in everything we do.
To you all, I promise our best efforts in all of the above. Stay with us, we’re investing in our business, and in particular our core business (football) to give us the best chance to achieve the outcomes we all want.
Have a great off season, see you around the club!
Regards,
Greg Edwards
Chief Executive Officer | Central District Football Club