In NSW memberships and attendance at games is pathetic so everyone just accepts that pokies are needed for the NRL clubs to survive as it forms the bulk of their revenue.
Even they are starting to diversify away from gaming though and many clubs are making moves to limit reliance on pokie revenue
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Maybe less tax, maybe cultural, maybe better management; really not sure but in Victoria pubs and small clubs were bleeding before COVID and worse now. We have two pubs and a golf club with poker machines. It was difficult to find an empty machine most hours of the day. Now the golf club machines hardly get used and the pubs have few players.
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Iâve been waiting for the email from the Club asking members to send in their questions to ask the Directors at the AGM. But nothing.
Iâm in QLD so canât make the meeting. Can someone planning to attend the AGM, who shares most Bomber members desire to return to the MCG, frame up a specific question regarding Clubs plan for home games from 2025?
A suggestion:
âWhat is the Clubs ambition regarding home game arrangements from 2025? How many MCG home games is the Club expecting to secure per year from 2025?â
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Iâm pretty sure this was included in the first email that was sent out to fans announcing the date and location of the AGM. An email address was provided to send in questions.
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Oh bugger!!
Send your questions here:
[email protected]
Noted here:
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I missed the official deadline (5pm yesterday) however I sent a question anyway. Hopefully it might be accepted. Thanks for your linkâŠ
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Interesting to see your observation of less players, as the pubs are seeing more money put through the machines than anytime in the past 15 years. Could be reflective of less discretionary spending power meaning less of the low-spend occasional players. Anyway, not meaning to stray too far off the AGM course but it made me curious to see what the player loss figures were like. Obviously increased costs means the higher losses donât translate to bigger profits for venue operators, as we saw in Essendonâs annual report this year.
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World is truly farked if NSW leagues clubs the standard to uphold.
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Iâll be there âŠâŠIâll sit next to @Bacchusfox and force him to ask the hard questionsâŠâŠ.Iâm just there for the scotch finger biscuits and NescafĂ© instant coffee
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Didnât know the figures were published. How do you find them ?
Not sure what Loss per machine means, but if it is the revenue the club gets, then in the Golf Club last year $40,000 per year per machine is the problem. Gaming industry says a machine needs to take a minimum of $6878 a month to break even.
Are the figures for Melton Club available?
Underwhelming candidates. Having to choose between Sheedy and Tim Costello.
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When is Dan Andrews going to put his hand up? 
Chairman Dan would probably spend all the dollars on recruiting lockdown defenders.
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He would get the media team up and running again.
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I didnât see your name on the ballot paper.
Never. We need a united Club.
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Sorry had been meaning to get back to this much sooner. In my time the board internally had a desired makeup and skills matrix documented to try to ensure that it had all its bases covered with regards to providing the right mix of skills to the board for the club to thrive - albeit controlling that is obviously difficult if unknown outsiders win an election, so ultimately any skill gaps need to be filled in the appointed seats.
The desirable personality type you asked about is a different kettle of fish of course, and you donât always know how personalities are going to work in that environment until theyâre in the room and on the spot. One thing I would say that no club needs too many of on the board is the stereotypical âyesâ person - that is someone who is afraid to go against the popular opinon and ask the difficult question or at times if the need arises seek a bit of accountability (all behind closed doors of course) from those running operations. I know that sounds simple and everyone would say that would never be them, but it can be an intimidating enviroment in which to swim upstream. By the same token you donât need someone who is difficult just for the hell of it, at the end of the day itâs a footy club and they generally work better when people work together.
Part of asking difficult questions of course is having the knowledge to know what to ask, so if you want to ask anything beyond surface level questions of the footy department thereâs a high level of understanding required as to what makes footy clubs tick, and what specifically happens within the processes of ours. It goes without saying that not everyone on the board is going to have a really deep knowledge of the game or elite sporting environments in general and thatâs fine (and in some ways necessary, people need to understand their own limitations of knowledge and focus areas), but as a board IMO you need a broad section of directors to have a deep understanding of the modern game and of whatâs currently happening within the club in order to be able to ask the right questions and understand the answers youâre given - the board does ultimately appoint the senior coach and CEO afterall. In practice in my experience that means attending as many games and trainings at all levels as possible, talking to and getting to know as many people from every level of the club as much as possible etc to gain that level of knowledge and understanding of the internal workings of the club from first hand learning of the current happenings rather than just accepting what youâre being told by those in operational roles as gospel. The operations of the footy department now compared to even when I started 9 years ago are very different, when I wanted to ask a question or make a decision I wanted it be as first-hand informed as I could - but that was just how I felt most comfortable personally, not everyone would agree thatâs necessary.
Finally the primary goal of the board should always be the betterment of the club of course, and sometimes that means publicly swallowing your pride to ensure a unified front is presented even if youâve strongly disagreed behind closed doors. Again, sounds easy in theory, but can be much more difficult in practice if for example youâre copping it publicly for something you disagreed with privately. Club above self interest is an absolute non-negotiable, and that only really gets tested in difficult times. Itâs a privilaged role but can be pretty thankless, if youâre not in it for the right reasons thatâs going to become apparent to those around you pretty quickly IMO.
That was a pretty rambling answer sorry, but theyâre some Friday arvo musings on desirable director personality traits IMO.
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Great perspective 
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United behind Chairman Dan, that is ! - with the naysayers holding their tongues, in accordance with the principles outlined by Paul Cousins in Post 623, above.
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