Saints23 Presidents Report

With a new season came a new look for the club, a new logo reflective of our Strength Through Loyalty culture. It was also a chance to modernise our brand whilst looking to the future with an instantly recognisable symbol of the club. Our new look extended beyond the logo, with the introduction of new players, team officials, committee members, sponsors, external supporters and grounds, all contributing to the success of Saints23

As with each season, I take this opportunity to keep a strong focus on supporter behavior and we thank all families for their commitment in realising our cultural expectations. With 19 of our own now umpiring, umpire abuse has a far greater relevance then ever before, there is no place for umpire abuse! To pay special thanks to our umpiring players, the club returned the playing sub fee’s back to the players as a personal gift. 

Building on repeated annual growth numbers, the club increased from 23 teams and 540 members in 2022 to 28 teams and 594 members, maintaining our commitment to offer playing positions to meet all abilities and ambitions across the club, most importantly building long term friendships - Strength Through Loyalty.  The club’s engine was well fueled with in excess of 150 individual dedicated volunteers, all working to provide a great environment for the growth and development of our children. 

I would like to pay special thanks to the Committee for this season. Whilst our team-based volunteers do an amazing job each week, with the growth of the club has also come the growth of the work load and our Committee continue to deliver. Its worth noting, 10 years ago we had 140 players across 7 teams and whilst the club has quadrupled in size, our Committee has only grown by 3 members, making the success of this season a significantly impressive result. I use this report to encourage families within our club to connect with the committee with the view to sharing your own skills for the betterment of the club

I offer special thanks to Kylie Swayne who will be stepping out of her Executive role as Club Treasurer. No doubt Kylie will continue to be a great advocate for the club from her ongoing role as Team Manager. 

Our focus for next season will be to maintain our league leading retention rates and subsequently 2 sides in each age group for boys. We aim to continue to grow our girls program with an overall club growth of 8% for Saints2024

I was proud to announce 10 Life Members at our U17.5 Best and Fairest Award night, each playing 10 consecutive seasons. Life Members include; Liam Russel, Jacksyn Fitzsimons, Tom Matthews, Edward Leahy, Josh Leahy, Lach Gorman, Aaron Leydon, Sam Jones, Ben Speith and Brogan Murphy. I would also like to express my personal thanks as a recipient of a Life Membership this season, it is a great honor. Life Membership is a great measure for club culture, and we look forward to awarding greater numbers in the coming seasons. We wish all our Juniors who will be heading down the road to Quambee next season all the very best. As with each season, we are proud to pay the Senior Club fee’s for our top 5 B&F winners in the U17.5 boys and U18 girls sides.  

Congratulations to Club Person of the Year; Gareth Waller. Gaz has played an instrumental role at NRJFC for the past 9 years. Gareth coached for many years, prior to taking on the role to manage the bar, and in his most recent role on the Executive committee as Football Operations Manager, a very deserved winner. Our “Club Achievement Award” this year was awarded to Lou Malizia to recognise her contribution as Social Media Coordinator for the clubs growing and main communication voice. This role has become bigger each year and this year certainly was massive, with almost daily posts to members during the season

One area we are confident will continue to provide great energy to our club, is our new U8’s from our Auskickers. It is the Auskick team that creates the confidence to continue to build our club, we are very fortunate to have an outlook through to 2026 of our non comp member numbers and team structures. I would like to thank both Mark and Jemima for their amazing contribution and most importantly their engagement with the junior club this year. 

On the field it was a successful season with 9 teams making finals, 4 playing in the grand final and 3 premierships for our U11 Reds, U12 Red Girls, and U15 Reds, our U13 Reds fought hard all game and Im sure they will be back for another tilt at the premiership next season. This is a great achievement, and we pay particular thanks to all our Coaches and Team officials who prepare our teams each week. Our ongoing success can also be attributed to a player retention rate which is consistently over 95%, providing security of team allocations and playing positions. 

I would like to offer thanks on behalf of the club to Steve Garrett and Sean Flynn, Coaches of our U15’s and U17 Prem’s this season. Both Gentlemen have been a part of our Coaching team across a large number of seasons and have helped develop both our boys playing abilities and as young men. We have been fortunate to have coaches of their caliber within our ranks .   

We are fortunate to celebrate a number of player achievements with 9 of our champions coming within the top 5 EFNL players for their respective age groups and divisions; Archer Ferris, Leah Den Braber, Paige Fitzsimons, Ryan smirk, Henry Healy, Zoe-Grace Willis, Alexandra Oldaker, Marcel Pascual and Jessica Begg . Congratulations Ryan Smirk (U15A) who was awarded the highest accolade as the league Best and Fairest winner. We would also like to congratulate our 12 players who were selected for the EFNL Interleague teams.  

From a capital projects perspective, we held positive meetings with all 3 levels of Government and local Council. Whilst there have been delays in the delivery of the new rooms on Q2, we look forward to their inclusion for the 2024 season. The addition of the rooms are complimented by the new scoreboard and training lights.  We are confident with the ongoing discussions, that we will in a position to make further announcements in the coming months.  

The club website continues to provide seamless access to merchandise, registration portals, Club Achievement Awards and connection with our Auskickers. The tie in with our Square system has improved our process efficiencies and providing greater visibility across our financials

Early views of 2024 are positive! We have already commenced U8 registrations with 37 of 38 positions already allocated. I have sent an email to all 2023 families providing background and instructions on the registration process for 2024. Whilst we appreciate the guaranteed playing window is significantly reduced, we ask for understanding from our members with the EFNL initiative to migrate registrations from Game Day to PlayHQ. Any inconvenience will be limited to the 2024 season. 

Our Social night was a sold out affair, thanks to Michelle Bannigan for a great night, you nailed the venue and theme for the occasion, we will look forward to an even bigger event in 2024!

Our Social Media platforms continue to grow, connecting with over 2000 people on a weekly basis. The increased exposure has been a major influence in building our brand and attracting new players and sponsors. We have also been humbled by the comments made on our social media platforms, in particular from new families. We have received numerous positive comments in regards to our family friendly environment, the overall management of the club and the support teams of each age group. Congrats to Lou Malizia for her creativity this year

As with previous years, I am proud to advise we are in a really strong position both on and off the field, I would like to thank all club members for your support and trust of both Team and Club Officials.  

The club has been well supported by sponsors who I would like to acknowledge for their ongoing contribution. Special thanks go to Dynamic Retail Solutions and Boongalla as the club major sponsors, thanks to Steve Wootten and Richard Able for their support. 

The total equity in the club is strong and our framework of governance including Accountability, Fairness, Transparency and Leadership have ensured our ongoing success 

The ongoing support of the entire club community has been an asset in the progressive development of our football program. In part, Saints23 has continued the path in achieving the 2015 Strategic plan:

“To be regarded as the most successful junior football club in the Eastern Suburbs”

Chris Leahy
NRJFC President
President@nrjfc.com.au