Chairman's Speech
The Hon Ben Morton - Chairman - Perth Bears Rugby League Club.
Dinner to mark the first Board meeting of Perth Bears Limited.
Perth Bears Home Ground - HBF Park - Perth
Monday 4th August 2025
Ladies and Gentleman.
The Bears are Back!!!
NRL is Back in Western Australia!!!
These two statements - while said separately now - won’t be for much longer.
It’s now our job to bring these two statements together as one - as we build the Perth Bears Rugby League Club together.
Thank you Emma and particularly Ken Wyatt for your welcome to country. Your welcome is very appropriate and greatly appreciated as we commence our journey as a new club. Personally Ken, we have been on a few journeys together over the last 15 years or so - and I’m delighted to be walking beside you on this one.
Everyone in this room tonight is special. But I would like to acknowledge a few special guests.
The Premier of Western Australia, the Hon Roger Cook MLA. Roger is a strong supporter of Rugby League in Western Australia. As a former player and now Premier it's right to acknowledge that without Roger’s tenacity, passion and support we would not be here today. Thank you.
Demonstrating the support we have across the different levels of Government - I welcome Federal Cabinet Minister Madeleine King - a very strong supporter of our game and of the Bears.
I would like to acknowledge former State MP Peter Tinley as past chair of the State Government's NRL Working Group who joins us tonight.
To my fellow Directors of Perth Bears - Please identify yourself as I mention your name.
James Bracey
Peter Cumins
Daniel Dickson
John Dumesny
Emma Garlett
Joe Hockey
Jacqueline Johnstone; and
Christina Matthews
I thank fellow Directors for their enthusiasm and commitment to this club. We are just getting to know each other and already I can report to you that we have a commonality of purpose and enthusiasm that will be an essential ingredient of our success.
I've heard some descriptions of our Board as - there’s WA People, Bears People and some others…
that’s not the approach we will be taking.
We come together from all around Australia and bring diverse backgrounds and experiences to the Board - and our board benefits from that. But when we sit around our Board table - we sit together - with a common purpose - as Perth Bears Directors only.
A very big welcome to our CEO Anthony De Ceglie and Head Coach Mal Meninga both of whom officially started their roles with the Perth Bears on 1 July. You will hear more from each of them later in the night.
Welcome also to our soon to be Assistant Coach Ben Gardiner.
Tonight, Directors could have had an exclusive private dinner with themselves to get to know each other.
But that's not the approach we wanted to take. Instead in partnership with Bob Cronin and John Sackson from NRL WA we wanted to share this moment with key Rugby League stakeholders identified by NRL WA.
Thank you to Bob, John and the Team at NRL WA and most importantly to the club and game representatives in this room tonight. We wanted to make clear very - that this is a journey that we are on together.
Tonight is also an opportunity to hear from you.
We have spread our Board out across the room - in your conversation with Directors - don’t ask what’s going to happen with this or that - instead - tell them what you think is important - tell them what you would like to see - let us hear from you.
So how will all this work…
I often get asked this question. So, let me explain.
The Perth Bears are not a relocation, not a merger, not an amalgamation, not a takeover, not a successful bid with developed and approved plans, and not an existing club being granted an NRL licence like the Dolphins.
We are brand new! We are more like a start up company - we have had to set up accounts and sadly even introduce ourselves to the ATO in the last few weeks. All the boring stuff that you don't want to know about.
We are a result of an agreement between the Western Australian Government and the Australian Rugby League Commission.
There are no pre-existing plans to implement - that might sound like a problem - but instead it’s an exciting opportunity to build this club and develop our plans from the ground up by listening, learning, and respecting. This is an essential step in taking our rugby league communities with us.
Whilst our club is new, we are not without history - we move forward on the foundation of the history of both the North Sydney Bears and Rugby League in Western Australia. We will respect, reflect, and celebrate those histories as we create our own culture, values, and opportunities for the future.
This is not a marriage of convenience between Rugby League in Western Australia and the North Sydney Bears - it's an exciting new period in our histories. Our supporters on the West coast and East coast have had their ups and downs over the decades, and they look to us as Directors of this new club to add to and forge a new history.
We take on this challenge, responsibility, and privilege with a strong foundation based on the proud history of the North Sydney Bears and Rugby League in Western Australia. The first item on our agenda today was a presentation on the rich history of the North Sydney Bears from Greg Florimo and Tim Blazey followed by a presentation on the proud history of Rugby League in Western Australia from Rod Fielding. Thank you all.
In demonstration of our two histories and future, a panel discussion with Greg Florimo (NS Bears), Matt Fuller (Western Reds) and Mal Meninga (Head Coach) will be held later this evening.
Our next Board gathering will be to join the North Sydney Bears at their Legends Round at North Sydney Oval later this month. We are delighted to have been invited.
The Boards’ attendance at this round at North Sydney will be a strong demonstration of our commitment to respect, reflect, and celebrate the history of the North Sydney Bears as we create the culture, values, and future of the Perth Bears.
There are no ownership or shareholding arrangements between the North Sydney Bears and the Perth Bears. The two organisations are and will remain separate and independent - however, there will be no more significant partner to the Perth Bears than the North Sydney Bears. The success of each individual club will contribute to the success of the other.
Nothing in what we are doing will change the fact that the birth place and spiritual home of the Bears in Rugby League will always be North Sydney. We will honour that.
The North Sydney Bears will become a second home for Western Australia Rugby League supporters and young players in development when in Sydney.
I noticed on social media, when I was doing some social media snooping that you would expect a former pollie to do, that Tim Blazey rightly put a few agitators in their place.
He said something along the lines of:
The West Coast guys - to be comfortable - have to know - that Perth Bears is a Perth club, to be run out of Perth and committed to grow the game in Western Australia.
The East Coast Guys - to be comfortable - have to see - that through this new club in Perth the history and legacy of the North Sydney Bears is being respected, honoured and carried forward.
I could not have said it any better. It was bang on!
I mentioned before that we are not a successful bid - with well developed plans that get implemented at the get go. This issue begs a few questions I would like to address.
As we all know there was a private bid led by Peter Cumins, Brian Cumins, Terry Creasey and Matthew Thurston - three passionate and invaluable supporters of Rugby League in Western Australia. That bid did not proceed.
Despite the obvious personal disappointment of those involved - without request from the Perth Bears - the plans, research and work contained in that bid has been provided to the Perth Bears, at no cost.
We are not bound by the bid documentation in any way - but the documentation will be of great assistance and input to our planning.
We express our thanks and appreciation to Peter, Brian, Terry and Matthew and recognise their continued selfless commitment to Rugby League.
So what is your role in all of this? - it’s not just about the Board!
The Constitution of the Perth Bears - as agreed by the A.R.L.C. in consultation with the WA Government makes our objects very clear.
Our formal objects are split into two parts - the first deals with the teams.
It’s all pretty obvious to us that we are fielding a Western Australian NRL team in 2027. And that's of great excitement to us all.
What is also of excitement is that our objects are to also own, operate, manage and develop a sustainable Western Australian team to participate in the NRL Women’s premiership.
We will have loads of work to do on this front - in due course.
I would like to recognise Kailey Thompson who is seated on our head table representing Women’s Rugby League in Western Australia.
Kailey is the captain of the victorious WA State Women’s team who won the Affiliated States & Territories Championships in Melbourne in early June. Kailey’s home club is the Ellenbrook Rabbitohs and she’s just got back from the NRL Magic Round in Newcastle where she played as part of an invitational team. Great to have you here Kailey.
The second part of our objects might surprise you. Perth Bears is not just about a team or a club - it’s about assisting you in the development of Rugby League in Western Australia.
To quote specifically from our constitution - To assist in developing the sport of rugby league in Western Australia, including by working cooperatively with the ARLC.
I’m allowed to let you into a little secret - to demonstrate how important this is to us. Mal has agreed for me to reveal to you that one of his key KPIs in his employment contract is linked to the increase in number of junior registrations in Western Australia. When I asked Mal - if i could mention it - he said - “just make sure they don't think I’m being forced to do it! It’s a really important thing I want to see happen.”
Our success will be your success and vice versa - we will work alongside NRL WA as we develop our plans to cooperate on this objective. Today we received a presentation from John and Gus on the current state of the game in Western Australia. My interstate Directors were pleased to learn what was already working so well.
As we develop our plans for the Perth Bears. You and your club need to work with NRL WA to develop your own plans for the growth of your registrations. Ask yourself, what happens if your registrations increase by 50% or even double over the next few years?
It’s very likely that the parents of a kid inspired to play rugby league over the coming years will have their first real interaction with our game at your field with your managers and coaches - let’s do the work now to ensure that interaction is a positive one - please don't be caught out by this - the impending growth of our game should not surprise us.
I want to recognise all of the club officials here. We are looking forward to working with you.
I want to call out Josh Cruice, President of the Karratha Kangaroos Junior Rugby League Club. Thanks so much for coming down - it’s a big commitment - we hear so much good news about what’s going on up there in Karratha. I understand that the Karratha Kangaroos is a finalist in the community club of the year awards. We have every finger and toe crossed for you in the lead up to the awards announcement.
Our commitment to Rugby League is not just to Perth but to all of Western Australia.
Our commitment to developing the game in Western Australia is about all of your clubs and it's about Perth Bears. I consider it a direct failure of the Perth Bears if over time we are not supplied with great future players from our local Western Australian clubs and community.
(Not pointing the finger at Melbourne storm with that one)
So what are the next steps…
Our CEO Anthony De Ceglie will have a little more to say about these later.
But while it is tempting to get straight into the details and decisions, it is critical that first we understand our objectives, purpose, vision, values, and strategic priorities to ensure that we understand each other and who we are - That is what this first meeting is about along with the boring but essential administrative stuff.
After getting our foundations right and ensuring we are headed in the one direction we will be able to decide individual initiatives over the coming weeks and months at future Board meetings.
Putting aside player recruitment, of course, where there is a clear starting gun, people won't remember if a decision was a few weeks or months longer than they wanted - but they’ll remember if it's the wrong decision for years, if not decades to come.
Not every decision we make as a Board will please every fan, every time. But by doing it properly and together . I hope that in the minds of most fans we will make more right decisions than wrong ones.
We have a very short runway and not much time. Our CEO, Head Coach are on board, the Chairman and Board are in place and over the coming weeks, months and in the lead up to 2027 you will see the Perth Bears take off.
Go the Bears!
The Hon Ben Morton
Chairman
Perth Bears Rugby League Football Club
www.9news.com.au
