I want to give you a brief rundown of our priorities heading into the holiday season as we get ready for Christmas and take a few weeks off before the 2024 season. Despite the year’s challenges, we have been developing a platform that positions us for a significant 2024 campaign.
We have critically reviewed every element of our football program during the off season to ensure we make the necessary improvements for 2024 and beyond. We have increased the focus on Club connection, and all of our players, coaches and staff are united and committed to implementing the necessary changes to ensure future success.
Brad Arthur, his coaching staff and the players are all working hard preparing for a successful year ahead. The enthusiasm amongst our emerging talent is infectious and our senior players are leading with a new found purpose. The entire football department is determined to return to finals football and challenge for a premiership in 2024.
The commitment to performance excellence and value-based behaviours and standards, encompasses everyone in our Club from coaching staff and players to admin staff and the Board.
This includes our NRLW program as well. With four decades of experience as an NRL assistant coach and player, we have selected Steve Georgallis as our NRLW Head Coach for 2024 and 2025. Steve will help our female players progress and thrive.
The Eels will have a team in the Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership in 2024, which will complete the pathway for female players from Junior League to NRLW. This is an exciting step for our women’s program. It’s amazing to watch the exponential growth of female participation in our Junior League, which has increased by 50.9% annually.
Despite significant difficulties on the pitch, our Club accomplished a number of noteworthy firsts in 2023. Among them were an SG Ball championship, a notable rise in Junior
We also commenced construction of our Centre of Excellence; a world-class sporting precinct due for completion in February 2025 and we honoured the Club’s Premiership winning players with personalised premiership rings, acknowledging their invaluable contribution to our legacy.
In addition to our SG Ball premiership, our remaining Elite Pathways teams showed promising progress with all four Eels teams reaching the finals, an insight into the Club’s future pipeline of talent, many of which will transition to our NRL and NRLW programs in the coming seasons.
We have always maintained that we are more than just a football club, we are a community. This year, over $1.5 million in value was delivered to our community through initiatives including donations of merchandise and apparel to support fundraising initiatives and those in need, complimentary tickets and game-day experiences, and school programs. Additionally, players and staff provided over 400 volunteer hours.
