Many of you have sent me in questions which I have generically grouped into the following question and answers which I think will cover all bases, and for those that will be at the AGM tonight I will cover them off on the night.
1. How did we lose money on the two hotels?
In simple terms we made a bad decision to purchase the Beach Hotel at the sworn valued price provided to the board by the executive.
The business plan that had been successful and continues to be was to remain and grow our portfolio of club venues.
It was then put to the board by the then executive to expand and build up an asset base in hotels.
While the strategy had merit the execution didn’t. The Beach was bought at the wrong price and the business plan failed to live up to expectations.
The decision was made last year to make the club debt free by off loading these non performing assets which had the potential to hold back the club for years.
We also sold our share portfolio at the top of the market.
When the sale is completed on the hotels the club will be debt free.
The deal is complete subject to standard liquor and gaming licensing approvals being issued to the new owner.
The new owner currently holds such licences at other venues.
2. What is the long term strategy for Lexus Centre?
Phase two of the Lexus Centre development is underway.
A giant high definition match day simulator worth over $200,000 has been installed this week.
This is a leading edge training aid for the players.
We showed at tonight’s AGM plans for a mezzanine level for our cardio equipment which will allow us to extend in size our indoor training facility.
We also plan to open up the seating area to showcase our $9 million memorabilia collection to supporters and make it accessible for schools, community groups, tourists etc.
The Victorian Government and Melbourne Olympic Park Trust are working with us on the timing of the completion of the Collingwood training ground directly at the rear of the Lexus Centre.
3. Social Club facility
As part of attaining complete access to the Lexus Centre we have a plan to ‘Collingwoodise’ the function centre.
As long as everyone treats our heritage with respect we plan to turn the Lexus Lounge into a Collingwood fanatics dream along with the above mentioned memorabilia display.
As you can see all our plans are in relation to opening up the Lexus Centre to our members.
We plan to have post training member’s access to the players and coaches throughout the year.
Match day access at the Lexus Centre will also improve once we get greater control of the centre ie. training floor access.
We plan to this year at the MCG use the cricket nets facility on match days for Collingwood junior members for birthday parties, activities etc.
We have also negotiated with the MCC for new access to facilities to allow a family based experience.
Two new bays in the premium seat level two area in the Great Southern Stand Punt Road end have been attained for ‘dry’ family groups. That’s roughly 600 premium seats for families.
4. Ben Cousins/Sponsors power etc.
The club was satisfied that its thorough investigation into the possibility of recruiting Ben Cousins was carried out and on the available analysis of all things including age, mental and physical state and our requirements that we would pass on the opportunity and pick recruits from a deep draft of talent according to our recruiting staff.
We are satisfied with our decision based on all available facts.
Sponsors played no role in our decision.
While we hope that all our partners, from sponsors to supporters and everyone in between are proud of their association with our club, we are dealing with young men in the highest risk category of life ie 18-30 year olds.
We recruit players from all areas of life and as some of our biggest and most prestigious organisations, even our Prime Minister can attest sometimes people muck up.
While we try our best to mitigate unfortunate issues in football as much as possible something invariably will happen.
As such we have full support of our sponsors but like anything in life everyone has the right to make their own decisions based on any situation.
In short we try our absolute best to satisfy our sponsors, they are aware of our intentions but decisions are never made solely on a basis of what a sponsor might desire.
5. Gold Coast
The impact on another team in the AFL is as unpredictable in many ways as it is predictable.
By fact that there is one more team to beat makes it harder to win.
The draft over the next few years will be compromised, my thoughts on that in the past are well known.
The economics of the move are a movable feast particularly in the current climate.
More teams, more markets, more television, better stadium deals etc should lead to more money in the game or not as is being assessed by the AFL on a daily basis.
There is a compelling case for an expansion team in the Gold Coast on population, competition and desire indicators, it comes down to timing.
We are confident that we have read the play in recent years and have ‘loaded up’ on young players in successive drafts, including this year’s November and rookie drafts, to get through the next few years.
We currently have 25 players on our senior list of 40 at 22 years of age or under. 12 of those played in the winning final against Adelaide last year.
It is simple that it gets harder not easier to win and be successful.
6. Where are we at on the ‘premiership clock’?
Quite simply we are in premiership mode.
Everything we do is aimed at bringing a premiership home to the Lexus Centre.
We are building a strong list, the investment in Arizona, altitude rooms, sports science, recruiting, the Lexus Centre, the new training simulator etc. We expect to manifest itself in a premiership.
The last two seasons have shown that we play a finals brand of football.
Like everything in life you need a bit of luck for things to come together but everything we are doing points to being able to challenge this year and certainly in the next three for the premiership and win it.
The players, coaching panel and the administration and board have this as our single minded aim and belief.
