We have heard from the CEO Ryan Webb
It’s been a testing off season for the club and it’s great that we will finally get to look ahead and watch our team play this weekend as we take on the Titans at home.
Everyone at the club was disappointed with the recent actions of some players. Much of this negativity stems from poor individual decision making and it’s something we are working towards correcting, as it takes attention away from all the positive work around the club, has potential to hurt our on-field progress, and disappoints our fans and community.
The Dragons will always act quickly and strongly in terms of discipline when appropriate, but we must be conscious of legal proceedings and processes that need to be followed to ensure we act on the right information and outcomes.
We respect the intent of the NRL’s no-fault stand down policy and appreciate that they have taken into account the changing circumstances around Junior Amone’s case and allowed him to play. As a club we remain conscious and respectful of the ongoing legal proceedings.
Progress continues on the Community and High-Performance Centre. There is still a lot of work to do but we are pressing forward and there is genuine excitement building throughout the club as the benefits of the facility become more and more apparent to everyone from our commercial team, community department, pathways programs, NRLW and of course the NRL.
The Dragons are supporting a new podcast hosted by Christian McEwan of i98 FM, which is aimed at keeping you informed of all things Dragons. We have given them licence to not only focus on the positives, but to challenge our thinking and actions and we’ll aim to be as open and transparent as possible. Our players and prominent members of the club will be guests throughout the season and I was fortunate to be the inaugural guest this week. Keep an eye out on our social channels for the first episode being released in the coming days.
NRL
We now have 29 players signed following the addition of Paul Turner from Gold Coast and the upgrade of Toby Couchman to the Top 30 list.
Paul gives us coverage across our halves and fullback. He is an impressive young man with a lot of talent and we hope to see some good football from him throughout the year.
It will be exciting to see Toby, a local product of our development pathways, make his debut this weekend and we hope this will be the first game in a long career in the Red V. Toby and his twin brother Ryan have just completed their first pre-season with the club and it’s great to see his hard work rewarded.
We remain active in the recruitment space to fill the final spot in our Top 30 roster.
NRLW
A big recruitment effort is currently underway, which is highly complicated as there are very few players under contract across the league and the new CBA and salary cap are still being finalised.
With four new teams entering the competition this year (Cowboys, Sharks, Tigers and Raiders), there are plenty of opportunities for players to find themselves more game time and strong financial outcomes so there will be a lot of movement in that space.
Jamie Soward is working hard to pull our squad together and will no doubt get the best from the group from the moment they start their pre-season around May.
Community
Our community team did a tremendous job arranging for our players to head out and visit over 30 schools in our region last month. The schools and kids were thrilled (as were our players) and we look forward to a lot more work in the community this season after the last couple of COVID-restricted years. You can view the Kogarah school visits gallery
here.
I would like to congratulate Zoe Raymond, who was selected by elders and players as the winning artist to have her work featured on our 2023 Indigenous Jersey, which will be worn during our Round 12 home game against the Roosters. We were fortunate to have 21 artists enter the contest, which focused on the truth telling account of the Biddea’gal and Dharawal people battle against the colonists in the early 1800s led by supreme Aboriginal warrior Pemulwuy. You can view all submissions
here.
Red V membership
We continue to be awed by the passion of our Red V members and the loyal support we receive. It’s been positive to see an increased uptake of new memberships for 2023 and this is putting us well on track to reach our 20,000 member target.
The players and I enjoyed the opportunity to meet some of our members face-to-face at Kogarah last week and we plan to have many more such opportunities for people to connect throughout the year.
Commercial
We were thrilled to announce KFC as a new apparel partner of the club. Having a strong multinational brand such as this align with the Dragons shows the confidence in the direction of the club on several levels.
This weekend we look forward to welcoming our corporate partners along to Netstrata Jubilee Stadium for the first time this year.
In Conclusion
As always, I’d like to thank everyone for their support of the club this season and look forward to a successful kick-off to our 2023 NRL campaign this weekend.
Yours faithfully,
Ryan Webb
CEO – St George Illawarra Dragons
