Paul Brasher board nomination

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
1

Good afternoon Bomberblitz members. I know I have been a bit late coming on to the site, but that is more a reflection of my social media skills than any lack of respect for the contributors. There are clearly some themes running around which I will be happy to address, but perhaps a very brief summary of the three points that I think support my nomination:

. I appreciate we should never have got into this position, but having done so it has been a massive task to stop the club from imploding over the past 3 years. Management has been fantastic and the board has worked closely with them. We have had record memberships and sponsorships, the exodus of players that some people predicted (and hoped for) did not occur, staff turnover has been normal and all the people in the club have stuck together.

. We have the basis for a very exciting future once we get into clear water. TVSC finished, funded and operating well, coaching appointment well received and exactly what this current group of players need and wants, good trades giving us the chance to bring in some quality players at the draft tomorrow night and set us up for years to come. While we have made a loss this year, our financial position is still strong and with a return to form on-field we should be able to repay all debt in the next few years.

. The need for some continuity at board level - when Paul Little goes, if I am re-elected there will be only two board members who have been here for more than two years and there will have been six members appointed in about the last 12 months.

2

Thanks for coming onto the site to introduce yourself Paul.

I’ll be voting for you and I hope the rest of the Blitzer community does the same.

3

Hi Paul

Good to see you posting.

Are you able to give us some detail about what the club have done to ensure mistakes of the last three years don’t happen again?

4

Are you able to give us some detail about what the club have done to ensure mistakes of the last three years don’t happen again?

Hi Darli

We have spent a lot of time over the past 3 years developing a governance system that would be the best in the competition. The highlights have been:

. Very strict controls and approvals needed for all recruiting decisions.
. New medical protocols developed with input from external medical/sports experts
. Recruited a full time Integrity Officer, who has a licence to get into all parts of the organisation.
. Established a new Audit, Risk and Integrity Committee which meets about 5 times a year and whenever needed. The committee consists of myself, Lindsay Tanner and Paul Cousins and has two permanent external advisors in Ken Lay and Ben Ihle (a prominent sports lawyer). We also take advice form external medical experts. The committee can require attendance at its meetings by football department staff, doctors, club welfare officers, players and any other executives of the club. This is really important as it gives us the best chance to make sure nothing is happening 4 levels below board level that we don’t know about.
. In engaging with external experts and even the AFL we are looking to anticipate issues that are coming down the track at us that we need to be ready for.
. We have a whistleblower policy in place that allows anybody in the club to air their concerns without any fear of retribution.
. All policies have been reviewed and rewritten when necessary.

5
Thanks for coming onto the site to introduce yourself Paul.

I’ll be voting for you and I hope the rest of the Blitzer community does the same.

Wezza
Thanks very much . I really appreciate it.

6

Paul

Welcome to Blitz, and thank you for taking the time to engage with this forum.

First of all, congratulations on your successful first term in office, and particularly the way you have guided the club’s finances during one of the more challenging periods in our long history. As I posted in another thread, I think despite the loss this year, it looks to me as though the fundamentals of the business are strong, and that once the spending on extraordinary items related to the supplements saga can be curtailed, we should be in a pretty healthy position.

You mentioned the that the club has established an Audit, Risk and Integrity Committee which has considerable powers to investigate any matter as necessary, which I think is a commendable measure, given some of the lessons to come out of the supplements saga. However, I understand the focus of this Committee is prospective.

As such, my question, which I also posted in another thread, is whether the club (or any independent auditor) has conducted an audit of all payments made by the club to third party suppliers and service providers in respect of the 2012 supplements program?

I’d specifically be interested to know whether the club has been able to verify that all invoices rendered to the club were true and correct in all material particulars, or whether there are any discrepancies or other unverifiable anomalies, particularly in terms of any goods as described on relevant invoices compared to goods actually received by the club?

Obviously, the conclusions of any such audit may well be confidential for very good reasons, and if so I appreciate you may not be able to disclose any of the findings, but I’m more interested in whether such an audit has been done, and if so, whether the Board intends to pursue any of the findings of that audit further.

Thanks again for your stewardship of the Club’s finances in the past three years. You have my full support for re-election, regardless of whether you’re able to answer my question.

8

Paul

Why did the Board sack James Hird ?

And I know you drink beer!

9

Hi Paul,

Welcome to Blitz and good luck.

Firstly,

I’d like to know your thoughts on contracts.

James Hird was re-signed and then sacked giving him a massive pay out? Members money. I say he was sacked because if you resign you don’t get payouts close to $1 million.

Secondly,

You say we have developed our governance in the past 3 years but only very recently were fined by Asada $2500 for not keeping them updated with all players current address. So I’m not convinced of the improvement you say.

With our competition leading new governance system, how did this occur?

If we have the best governance in the competition we would not have been fined by Asada in regards to such a small issue as an address.

You sound very good Paul, hindsight is a beautiful thing.

10

Secondly,

You say we have developed our governance in the past 3 years but only very recently were fined by Asada $2500 for not keeping them updated with all players current address. So I’m not convinced of the improvement you say.

With our competition leading new governance system, how did this occur?

If we have the best governance in the competition we would not have been fined by Asada in regards to such a small issue as an address.

It’s been well documented that this is all Jake Carlisle’s fault. Other clubs have a similar problem.

11
Firstly, congrats on your stirling efforts on the board thus far. It would not have been easy.

Are you able to shed some light on what the planned refurbishment of the pokies venues entails and can you also let me know when you want me to come down to clean the windows.


Thanks Mattmcp
Most of the refurb work at Windy Hill has been done for the time being. It was mostly about changing the layout and moving the TAB to open things up a bit, particularly in the bar and bistro area. Over time, and when our funding permits, we will look at brightening up the 1st and 2nd floors.
We are budgeting for work at Melton in the year ahead, mostly about redesigning and opening up the gaming area and TAB.
Thanks for the offer to clean the windows. I think we are ok, although, if your price is right, you are welcome to come around and do mine.
12
Paul

Why did the Board sack James Hird ?

And I know you drink beer!

I hope he doesn't even attempt to answer this question.
13

Hi Paul
Good luck with the upcoming elections.
Let’s say I am going to vote for you. I’d like to know apart from your own expertise what else does the board need going forward. Not asking for you to nominate another candidate (you can if u want to) but what sort of skills do we need to add to the existing board ??

14

Dear Paul.

Your thoughts on TIPPA?

Thanks, Ben

15

Good luck Paul, i voted for you today. Easy decision to be honest

16

Hi Paul

Well done for the completion of the Tullamarine cutting edge facility and coming in on budget.

I say this because i read an article last year where the lions are looking at building a new homebase and want a $60 million handout to do it.

Also i believe STkilda made a huge mistake by investing in Seaford where we got it right in the first place.

Good luck bomber c

17
Paul

Welcome to Blitz, and thank you for taking the time to engage with this forum.

First of all, congratulations on your successful first term in office, and particularly the way you have guided the club’s finances during one of the more challenging periods in our long history. As I posted in another thread, I think despite the loss this year, it looks to me as though the fundamentals of the business are strong, and that once the spending on extraordinary items related to the supplements saga can be curtailed, we should be in a pretty healthy position.

You mentioned the that the club has established an Audit, Risk and Integrity Committee which has considerable powers to investigate any matter as necessary, which I think is a commendable measure, given some of the lessons to come out of the supplements saga. However, I understand the focus of this Committee is prospective.

As such, my question, which I also posted in another thread, is whether the club (or any independent auditor) has conducted an audit of all payments made by the club to third party suppliers and service providers in respect of the 2012 supplements program?

I’d specifically be interested to know whether the club has been able to verify that all invoices rendered to the club were true and correct in all material particulars, or whether there are any discrepancies or other unverifiable anomalies, particularly in terms of any goods as described on relevant invoices compared to goods actually received by the club?

Obviously, the conclusions of any such audit may well be confidential for very good reasons, and if so I appreciate you may not be able to disclose any of the findings, but I’m more interested in whether such an audit has been done, and if so, whether the Board intends to pursue any of the findings of that audit further.

Thanks again for your stewardship of the Club’s finances in the past three years. You have my full support for re-election, regardless of whether you’re able to answer my question.

Thanks dons23
Your reading of the financial position is fair. Nobody likes to make a loss irrespective of the various factors that have come into play. We are certainly budgeting for, and expect, a profit in 2016 and we are still aiming to pay off our debt ASAP.

Regarding an audit of payments, details of all payments were given to ASADA as part of the investigation and at the same time we reviewed all payments ourselves. Because it is all part of the investigation I can’t say more than that, although we won’t be pursuing them any further. The updated procedures around purchases and the revised medical procedures demand that no bills of the type you are talking about can be paid unless they are matched to a purchase that has been approved in advance by the doctors, and unless it is confirmed that the specified materials have been received.

18
Hi Paul

Personally I think it’s a no brainer that you are reelected. In fact I think you deserve to enjoy some success given what you have been and come through over the last few years.

Rather than ask some of the curly questions answered so well at the members forum, I’m interested to know, what are your three greatest Essendon memories?

Thanks Fogdog

I’ll tell you my 3 greatest moments, although you may not have been alive for some of them. In no particular order:
. the 1993 premiership, smashing Carlton physically, mentally and in every other way (prelim comeback against Adelaide was also pretty special)
. our win against West Coast a couple of years back, when the crowd had been booing Jobe all night
. the last quarter comeback against Hawthorn in the 1984 grand final

19
Paul

Why did the Board sack James Hird ?

And I know you drink beer!

Thanks Bacchusfox I know a lot of people are sceptical, but we didn't sack James. In fact, James initiated the conversation with Xavier Campbell and Paul Little, along the lines of "things are clearly not working, the external pressures on the club are not going to go away while I am here, should I go to give the club and the players some clear air?" I do like a beer, but I also enjoy a red wine, so I'm not sure if one negates the other?
20
Hi Paul,

Welcome to Blitz and good luck.

Firstly,

I’d like to know your thoughts on contracts.

James Hird was re-signed and then sacked giving him a massive pay out? Members money. I say he was sacked because if you resign you don’t get payouts close to $1 million.

Secondly,

You say we have developed our governance in the past 3 years but only very recently were fined by Asada $2500 for not keeping them updated with all players current address. So I’m not convinced of the improvement you say.

With our competition leading new governance system, how did this occur?

If we have the best governance in the competition we would not have been fined by Asada in regards to such a small issue as an address.

You sound very good Paul, hindsight is a beautiful thing.

Thanks 19aek24
See my previous response re James’ departure. I can’t comment on his arrangements on departure, except that they were consistent with his contract.
Re the $2,500 fine, the players have it drummed into them that they must keep us appraised at all times if they are not going to be at their normal address. If somebody chooses not to do so, this is one area in which the best governance system in the world won’t stop them. We can’t keep them under lock and key 24 hours a day.

21
Hi Paul Good luck with the upcoming elections. Let's say I am going to vote for you. I'd like to know apart from your own expertise what else does the board need going forward. Not asking for you to nominate another candidate (you can if u want to) but what sort of skills do we need to add to the existing board ??
Thanks Sab_Dons I think we have some excellent candidates, who either have specific experience that is relevant and/or are good people who will represent the voice of the members well. If your question is particularly around the skills they would bring to bear, I will get off the fence and tell you that I think David Barham's media experience and his experience of tough negotiations with the AFL would be very valuable.