Ok. It was a presentation from Andrew Lancaster (Chairman), Ryan Webb (CEO) & Flanno, MC was Jeremy Latimore. Ryan Webb did a brief presetation on the state of play re financials (very healthy) & high performance centre (plans with Council talking with preferred builder, expected to be completed end 2025). We are spending more on the development of juniors than most clubs in the NRL. Then they took questions, some of the highlights I remember are.
- Lancaster assurred everyone despite the press we have a unified Board & they work toward the same goal - future success
- Webb & then Flanno stated they have and are pushing the one club theme & creating the Dragons Way culture on & off the field. Flanno said he has & will continue to spend a lot of time on skills training which he said has not been pushed in the past (to his surprise) but it will take some time to come through, Talked about the players fitness & the fact they lost over 100kg in the off season.
- Flanno embarrassed about last weekend, players didnt follow the game plan & were flat. He said he cant explain why maybe it was a let down from the previous week & Dolphins played very well & played mistake free football but we let them play well & he stated it wont happen again !!
- When asked about Lomax confirmed he gave him premission to talk to other in the off season but nothing came of it. He repeated what was has been in the press he is in our bext 17 but at the moment his best position for the team is on the wing but that may change. A question from the floor commented that his passing ability is not up to standard but Flanno would not comment on specifics but to say he is working with Lomax to improve his game like all of the players. Lancaster said he is strong on players who sign contracts that they should be committed to the club for that period & is not a fan of players breaking contracts.
- Wants to play semi finals this year & believes he has the team to do so (in a far better position than when he took over the Sharks) if they perform & thats his job to get them to perform to their potential. Emphasised how many good juniors we have coming through (such as Egan & also some promising halves) but many are a couple of years off being ready for first grade but he knows he needs some players to strengthen some positions partucularly hooker and a big bopper up front. Said he was very confident of getting AFB but he decided that he was a better chance of winning a competition with the Sharks. Flanno then commented he was very foolish (words to that effect). Whilst there is no one specifically in the market place at the moment or have a contract up at the end of 2024 players become available for various reasons & we will be activly out there if someone becomes available.
- Overall very positive Flanno spoke well & with passion he doesnt like losing & will continue to work as hard as possible to change the players mentality & raise their performance levels to where he thinks they should be.
They were my main take outs, a very positive meeting, if another member was there & I missed any points please add to this.