AGM speech to members.

(Below is the speech I delivered on Monday 8 April)

Thank you to the outgoing committee.

Gary our outgoing President. I first met Gary when he was a keen Minis grandparent with Penrith RSL during my 7-year tenure as President. I know at the core of Gary’s motivations in leading the Emus, was the hope to have 3 generations of the family play for the club—Gary himself, his son Shaun, and his son Josh. I hope we can still make this a reality for you Gary.

Gary’s board will accept any member’s criticism but the battles they have guided the club through should be acknowledged as unfamiliar and challenging. One of those I am guilty of contributing to when I suggested on a zoom meeting around covid-time on the back of a second removal from Sydney, to investigate the possibility of participating in the John I Dent Cup in Canberra. This two-year venture saw local players from Penrith rewarded for their talent with never-before-seen numbers in Academy, 20s, and other development teams, now on their pathway to Super Rugby.

Suchita our Secretary. I first met Su as a colleague teaching here in Penrith in 2012. We have maintained our contact since through rugby with her son playing at RSL too. Su has worked countless hours with Gary and Jim (Hook) before him. Many of these hours and tasks have been thankless, such is volunteering. Su is a loyal servant to Penrith Rugby and would be willing to serve in any role again. I have encouraged her to take a break. I have tried to sell her to take something like the hiatus I’ve enjoyed. Ultimately the frontline work is taxing. I hope Su, all the work, uni, and family commitments don’t increase to give you the time you need to recharge.

To our other outgoing board members, Phil, Lou, Jerry, Glenn, and others I might have missed, who have been part of the board over recent years. I want to acknowledge the work you have also done. I know with Gary and Su, you have all contributed your expertise, talent, time, energy, and dare I say own money at your own expense. Looking into the not-too-distant future I hope you feel welcome to return and be part of the club with an expectation to spectate rather than serve.

To our Members, on behalf of the new board, I would like to state clearly that this will be mostly an interim board. The newly elected nominees are prepared to serve for varying lengths of time while we essentially headhunt suitably qualified directors to fulfil these important roles.?

As President, I aim to represent the current membership mostly here tonight, albeit with some missing celebrating the anniversary of the 1984 tour. Moving forward I want to be transparent with direction, decisions, and appointments as we look to rebuild. We will work on ways to keep safe the traditions and values many of you hold close to your hearts.

While waiting for the AGM I worked with many of you on the new website, penrithemus.com -Many previous websites have entered various black holes sadly with the data and images lost forever. Thank you to everyone’s contributions to date with the new website, fact-checking, and offering leads where things were unclear. It has been genuinely enjoyable interacting with everyone. More contributions are welcome! Especially if you have any of this old information from the previous websites.

Please note, this won’t be a cosmetic rebuild. Many people have suggested we have a marketing problem and proposed we start with a rebrand. Following my son to the Two Blues after the first SRU removal, I saw firsthand the impact of rebranding. I believe we don’t need this additional heartache right now. We need to rally around what we have.

The immediate focus will be to plot the course. Starting with the higher purpose here, the club’s vision statement is “To be the Club of choice for Rugby participants within the Nepean Valley region, supported by excellence in administration and coaching”. Let's keep it and hope it quickly becomes our common purpose.

All decisions will be based on this statement. This will be developed further with stakeholders in the coming weeks and months.

Among our current membership, there are very keen people willing to serve as Directors, but I want to emphasise that we need to align with the club’s aims. We must have people in these positions who are not just capable of doing these important roles, without burden to their personal and professional lives.?The benchmark has to be excellence.?

Nothing short of excellence.

We need the best people we can find and it has to be the right time for them to fulfil the role.?

If you dealt with me in my previous role as President of Penrith RSL, I believe in focus and devoting energy accordingly. ‘Doing one job and doing it well’. And so it will be the same this time around.

So what can you do?

Next week the Penrith Future Fund will be active in time for the end of the financial year for taxable donations by individuals or businesses. Please consider donating.

Soon after, the hope will be to have a new membership product that will aim to engage rugby lovers who want to see us be successful from wherever they are in the world.

Following this, the club shop, fundraising events, and so on.

These actions will require our people to deliver a positive message in the community, to our supporter base, previous sponsors, and future fans, that this time will be different.?It has to be.

We intend to enter Subbies in 2025.

Despite being an SRU District Club, we know we will be the lesser of all the local clubs. We will probably start in the lowest division. We won’t have their number of teams, footballers, or their social or winning culture.?

However, like our vision, we will aim to provide excellence in administration and coaching and build to being the club of choice for local players, in our patch of Penrith and eventually beyond.

There are several issues outside our control for planning beyond 2025.?

We have to work out if rejoining the Shute Shield is our immediate or even ultimate goal. It’s a consideration for the board when working with the relevant unions.

We need rugby and its pathways to enable us to be successful, or do we accept our role as a feeder club and wish our juniors and locals success elsewhere…

Ultimately, can the kids from Penrith make it while remaining in our community? It is these items that will directly impact the focus and immediate aims of the club determining its participation and pathway goals.

Are you with us?