Melbourne president Jim Stynes said the deal brought great relief to the club.
“The players have been playing without a logo on their jumper and it just gives them lot more confidence, to know they’ve got strong support behind them,” Stynes said.
Neither the club nor Melbourne-based managing director of Hankook distributor LD Wholesale Tyres, Lawrie De La Rue, would confirm the value of the deal, which was reported in The Age to be worth an estimated $2 million.
Mr De La Rue, a Melbourne fan for more than 50 years and former player sponsor, was optimistic that the front of jumper logo would help the grow the company’s brand.
He aligned Hankook’s desire to turn potential into talent, to the rebuilding phase of the Melbourne Football Club.
Stynes said the sponsorship arrangement continued the momentum of the past eight months, which has seen the club undertake a $3 million debt demolition campaign, realign with the MCC and AFL and re-engage past players and the business community.
He said the club was confident of finding a second major sponsor to brand the back of the jumper in the near future. Membership was also on the rise, with 23,000 members on target to 30,000, a figure he identified as critical to the club’s prospects.
Stynes said having the off-field components of the club come together would inevitably have a positive impact on the players.
“One thing that we are looking for this year is improvement and to be competitive,” he said.
“I would say just about every player who’s had a run in the last three weeks has shown improvement and that’s a great place for us to be.
“The camaraderie down there is second to none and I haven’t seen it like that for a long time. The boys just want to get bigger, stronger, faster. Their appetite for the game is as great as I’ve ever seen it.”
