President’s Message.

I have just read the latest message from our President and whilst I acknowledge his monthly updates, there is ONLY 1 LINE about FOOTBALL IN HIS MESSAGE.

I was hoping for an update on

1. Our coach who’s contract is up at the end of the season (8weeks)
2. Recruiting- what we need for next year, etc.
3. Salary cap for next season.
4. What the club is doing to improve the on field performance in 2020.

As a member of a sporting club I need to start reading and seeing more news about what the club is doing to improve the FOOTBALL Side of things.

Well Said

Totally agree. It appears that the football performance is no longer important for this Club.

No direct mention about Salary Cap but reading between the lines where the SANFL say we are still not meeting our commitments then it seem fair to suggest that no change to the salary cap is going to happen when it is acknowledged that the club has no control of this decision rather the SANFL decision entirely  --- I hope I am wrong

Spot on lachlan. If, as the President says, the Board wants to ensure "quality and value experiences to members", get some quality recruiting done and put a full salary cap side on the park for us.

If the club is in such a dire financial situation why don't we as members start doing something about it?
This will need the Boards help of course but for instance...
1.Membership fees could be increased by 50%  or a short term levy applied. After all membership of Westies is pretty cheap when you compare it to other sporting clubs like golf,tennis etc.
2.Years ago raffle books were sent out to each member to sell during the season. Re introduce them and make them twice a year at least until our finances recover.
3. Take a long hard look at the clubs paid employees and if anyone is found not performing as required by their job statement get rid of them and save the money/or replace them with someone who will.
4.Have donation cans set up at the gate at the end of the game asking patrons to leave their loose change behind.
Every little bit helps and soon as we get out of debt the sooner we get the SANFL out of our hair telling us what to do and we can get a full salary cap.
If members don't get on board and active then we deserve to die off as a club. Sorry if the truth hurts but that is what it comes down to.

If, as it was reported from the members' forum, the shortfall in the salary cap that the club seems reluctant to pay is $20,000, that is not a strong argument. We could raise that from several enthusiastic members in a week.

As per my above post.... If we are not competitive on field,supporters drop off. Members drop off,Sponsors drop off. = less money taken in memberships,at the gate and over the Bar and BBQ etc= things get worse not better. The SANFL put more restrictions on us until we close the doors as we can't pay employees ,players or anything else.
WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF DEBT!
Let's just F#@$ing do it.

aldo russian wrote:If, as it was reported from the members' forum, the shortfall in the salary cap that the club seems reluctant to pay is $20,000, that is not a strong argument. We could raise that from several enthusiastic members in a week.

Aldo, I am not 100% sure but i understand that it is a SANFL Salary Cap Limit that the club cannot exceed rather than the club choosing not to spend all of the available salary cap --- two different things --- Even though the club is in constant negotiation at the end of the day it is the SANFL's decision on the level of our salary cap limitation.

I believe what we really need to address the issue is for companies to provide worth while ($$$$) jobs for potential recruits similar to what I have heard another club has so we are competitive in recruiting --- its not just a job required for the player but also his partner in most cases.

Taars - great and fair comment --- we can all sit around doing nothing and moan about things including the Board etc or we can become actively involved in many ways ---- great call mate.

Taars

I know for a fact certain members put money in for Recruiting last year.

But Lachlan as I read it (and I may be wrong) while the SANFL is loaning us money to pay our bills we are not allowed to spend more on players regardless where the money comes from.
I can see their point...why should the SANFL lend you $'s when your not cutting your spending to address the debt.

But that's not club spending, that's money raised by members who are entitled to raise it for a specific purpose.
oldfella you are right about the imposition imposed on us by the SANFL but my understanding is that the board is reluctant to spend the full cap even if allowed to.

Aldo,

Thanks for feedback mate --- be nice if we (the supporters) wee actually told what the situation is rather than silence and guessing hey

Taars

I understand what you are saying, however by the SANFL imposing this restriction it obviously impacts are on field performance. Therefore there must be a flow on effect to the clubs bottom line as the crowd attendance, memberships and catering would all decrease as people won’t turn up to games when a club isn’t winning. So your revenue suffers as do your profits.

I agree with ‘Aldo Russian’ if the club raises money from members to Recruit that’s not spending money.
It’s also my understanding that the board is reluctant to spend the full cap even if they were allowed which doesn’t make sense to me.

If the SANFL is so concerned about our financial position why don’t they have KPMG do a full review of the club which would include recommendations on how we can grow our revenue.

From our 2019 squad we have lost Snelling, Burgess, Noble and now Bates and Middleton have quit.
Other clubs are losing or going to lose players to country footy.
Meanwhile Port have Ryder, Westhoff and Powell-Pepper in their side this week.
The SANFL is becoming irrelevant if not already.

Wolf Pack wrote:From our 2019 squad we have lost Snelling, Burgess, Noble and now Bates and Middleton have quit.
Other clubs are losing or going to lose players to country footy.
Meanwhile Port have Ryder, Westhoff and Powell-Pepper in their side this week.
The SANFL is becoming irrelevant if not already.

One other club is having similar problems, one of North Adelaide's premiership players has just walked out due to lack of interest, and i believe there is an Eagles player, can't remember his name off hand doing the same. Country footy is the way to go sometimes, fewer training sessions, more money, less stress.

All good for the talk on hear but why was it I saw the same 20 people I see nearly every week at the game at the members Forum. I agree Wednesday night was a bad night when have it on a Friday night when the club is busy. Sorry for rant