Your Club Update February 2025

Members,

2025 is off to a flying start....last Friday we held our 15th Board meeting in Devonport, this was possibly one of our biggest Board meetings since we commenced, whilst a significant milestone in itself it was more about the many important topics on the agenda, and most importantly it was the first meeting of our inaugural CEO, Brendon Gale. 

As you know we are determined to be an inclusive club and one that is accessible to communities across the state. This Board meeting was based around a series of Community events including Brendon's official launch which was held at the Big Penguin, a Devils Clinic with over 100 youngsters at East Ulverstone, a sports night in partnership with NWFL at Dial Park and a stakeholder lunch with key business and community leaders in Devonport.  We were so grateful for the attendance and support of all of these events, it was great to be back on the Coast and meet with so many members of the Club.  We are looking forward to more of these events across the State (and on the big island) over the coming months.

The events of last week kicked off the start of a month of community events for the Club, with the west coast first on the agenda this week. These events are a tremendous opportunity for Brendon to connect in with community and listen to your feedback and input.  I thank all members that have registered to attend and remind those that cannot get along that we will have an online session on 6 March for everyone to be a part of.  We will shortly publish more details of the link for that event, but in the meantime put a placeholder in the diary for 1pm (Tassie time) on the 6th March.

Key themes and topics that we discussed at the Board meeting included:

• Infrastructure is a topic high on our agenda.  We discussed at length all four major infrastructure projects, with a specific focus on our Training and Administration Facility.  We have a real need to see that project underway and are working closely with our partners to accelerate the progress of that project, this is a key focus for our Board.
• The Board also considered and approved our member campaign for March this year, our major campaign that will celebrate one year of great progress, but with a strong request to all of our members to keep supporting us, this next year is really crucial to the build of the Club and we cannot do it without your support.  We are excited about the campaign and cannot wait to share more with you all in the coming weeks.
• We also had lengthy discussions around the build of the operational foundations of the Club.  The workforce that we are looking to create and how we might go about delivering on that, this includes the football department and key appointments within it, but also other key roles that will be a big part of our progress into the operational stage of the Club.  Brendon has done some great thinking in this space and we look forward to seeing that role out in the coming months.
• We had an update on the inaugural intake of students enrolled in Tasmania Academy of Leadership and Sport. 57 students from across Tasmania commenced learning last week and we have been so enthused by the response from the students, as well as all the partner sports, Hobart Hurricanes, Tasmania Jackjumpers and Netball Tasmania.  We are enthused to deliver the program and to track the progress of these students as they embark on their dual diploma throughout 2025....clear evidence that it is not just “home grown’ players our Club is developing but also leaders in sports management and related fields that we will need to deliver to establish a successful Club.
• As you would also expect, we covered off a number of key governance and administrative functions, including our first audited financial statements which will be considered at our upcoming AGM.

The Board meeting was extremely productive and our momentum is very strong.  We do have a lot on, but I am very confident in the direction we are heading in.  It is important that we keep up the pace of progress and that our members continue to come with us and support us.  I look forward to the campaign in March which will provide you all with a tangible opportunity to do that.

Before I conclude, I would like to take the time to congratulate the staff and athletes of Hobart Hurricanes for their recent national BBL victory.  It was a magnificent performance and showed how strong Tasmania can be on the national stage.  Like the JackJumpers and the Hurricanes, the Devils are not here to make up the numbers, we are focused on being an extraordinary Club that represents all of our great State and performs at the highest level.

Thank you again for your ongoing support, it is important that we keep building together, we are the team.

Go Devils.

Grant

Chair

Tasmania Football Club