It's almost impossible for any club not to be profitable in 2023. The NRL gives each club the exact amount of the salary cap every year to pay the players in the top 30. On top of that they provide another 3 to 4 million to each club annually as a grant to assist in running the club. This was designed to stop clubs going broke and running cap in hand to the NRL asking for a 'loan' to keep them afloat. We have done this, as have saints and the sharks to name a few.
Then it just depends on sponsorship and membership money, gate takings, and how much money you can get in merch, against what you're willing to spend on admin and junior development.
Some of the management decisions I have an issue with:
1. Building the centre of excellence at Concord rather than SW Sydney. It should be clear that our junior development and identity should be focused in this area. Not saying we abandon the inner city area, just focus more heavily in SW Sydney.
2. Not having 1 home ground. Multiple home grounds were needed at the start of the merger but a decision needed to be made at least 15 years ago about our location. Again, we could have focused on SW Sydney and would have most likely been able to leverage the govt into at least partially paying for a new home ground there. It's clear this is very unlikely to happen at LO anytime in the short to mid term. A lot of people will say we don't draw crowds in SW Sydney, but I think the reason for this is we haven't even tried.
3. Because of the above we haven't been able to establish any real identity. This hasn't helped in attracting players over the years.
4. Hanging onto the past. Watching the tigers win the comp was one of the best 6 month periods of my life. However, the path to future success does not lay in what happened 18 years ago. Constantly going back to the well isn't going to produce the same result.
5. Inviting TV cameras into a club that was clearly going to struggle, for all to see the deficiencies. That was an embarrassment. It was clear it was going to look bad and it did.
There's nothing wrong with recognising the past, and having the former emblems on the back of the jersey, maybe have 1 game at LO a year, but we need to let go of the past to have a productive future. BTW I come from the Balmain side of the merger if you thought I was an embittered Maggie.
Just my 2 cents worth anyway.