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From Cain Liddle
In what is a very important week in the history of Carlton Football Club, there are a number of milestones I wanted to reach out to members and publicly acknowledge.
First of all, after nearly seven years as Head of Football at the Carlton Football Club, Andrew McKay has today informed staff and the playing group that 2018 will be his final season at Carlton.
Macca was appointed to the position in October 2011 after six years working with the AFL in various roles including AFL Game Analysis Manager and Chairman of the AFL Match Review Panel.
In his time at Ikon Park on the Executive Team, he has overseen the management of the football department with the coaching panel and playing groups as well as the High-Performance Department.
Macca first joined Carlton as a player in 1993 through to 2003 including the 1995 premiership and is a former captain and Life Member.
Amongst several significant achievements in his time as Head of Football, the Blues’ former premiership player also successfully managed the implementation and integration of the AFLW program at the Club through its historic inception in the AFL in 2016.
In my short time at Carlton, I have been lucky enough to see firsthand the great impact Macca has had on the club through his tireless work ethic, his strong relationships and his passion for Carlton. He is a Carlton person through and through.
His experience and measured approach will be missed, but we understand Andrew’s decision in wanting to explore other opportunities and after seven seasons in the Head of Football role, he departs with our very best wishes.
I'd like to thank Andrew, his wife Sam and children Charlie, Abby and Sophie for all that they have contributed to Carlton.
The Club will commence its recruitment process for a replacement immediately.
I'd also like to congratulate Kade Simpson on his wonderful career, a career that will this week see "Simmo" become just the fifth Carlton player to play 300 games. He joins some of the greatest players in Carlton's history in John Nicholls, Bruce Doull, Craig Bradley and Stephen Silvagni as the only players to reach the 300-game milestone. I would urge all Carlton members to make an extra special effort to get along to the MCG on Saturday to support Simmo and his teammates in what is a very important day for our football club.
First year player, Paddy Dow, who has been dubbed Paddy ‘Wow’ by his teammates, was yesterday recognised with a Rising Star nomination and we couldn’t be prouder. Hailing from a fruit farm near Swan Hill, Paddy amassed 20-possessions in the game against Collingwood on the weekend and there’s no doubt we’ll come to see more of this action from our number three draft pick.
Members were also the first to hear on Thursday afternoon that Charlie Curnow has put pen to paper on a contract extension and will remain at Carlton for at least the next five years. Charlie is one of the most exciting young talents in the AFL and we look forward to watching his continued development in the navy blue. We were also excited to confirm the re-signing's of AFLW players, including our captain Bri Davey, Darcy Vescio, Jess and Sarah Hosking, Tayla Harris and Nicola Stevens.
After a long search that spanned the entire country, we also announced in the last few days the appointment of Nicole Graves into the newly created role of General Manager – Women’s Football. That appointment rounds out a complete re-structure of the women's football program with Nicole now overseeing Daniel Harford (AFLW) and Shannon McFerran (VFLW), our two new coaches in the women's program.
Nicole will sit on the Club’s Executive team, as will Daniel Giese, the Club’s new General Manager of Consumer Business. Daniel spent five years at Richmond as their Membership Manager, where he was instrumental in their membership growth, overseeing five consecutive club membership records. More recently, he has been the Consumer Director at the Melbourne Storm, where he has helped grow membership by about 60% in his three years there.
From an AFL on-field perspective, we would like to have won more games in 2018. We are however buoyed by the continued improvement and emergence of the likes of Charlie Curnow, Paddy Dow, Lochie O'Brien, Harry McKay and Zac Fischer, who have all shown improvement throughout the first half of the season. It's exciting to think about the potential of these players once they have another couple of pre-seasons under their belt. A number of our younger players are also coming off severely interrupted pre-seasons and we are confident the likes of Sam Petrevski Seton, Caleb Marchbank, Matthew Kennedy and Darcy Lang will all show improvement in the second half of the year.
We are currently experiencing the compounding effect of three years of significant list change and we will now look to take a more balanced approach to list management, particularly over the next two years as we look to attract players from other clubs as well as continuing to bring in the best available young talent at the draft.
I think it's also important to note the contribution of some of our injured players, who whilst injured for the majority of the season, have continued to drive a strong culture around the Club both on and off the field. Sam Docherty and Marc Murphy have been particularly influential. Marc Murphy's contract situation is obviously important to our members and what I can assure all our members of is that we want Marc to stay - he is the Captain of our Club and a very important leader both on and off the field. We do however understand and accept the fact that free agency provides players with options, so we will continue to give Marc the time he needs to consider such an important decision.
Off the field, our Board and administration continue to build the foundations of a strong sustainable football club. Additional investments into coaching, development, recruiting and list management have been made possible by an all-time Club membership record of almost 54,000 members. We sincerely thank each and every one of our members. We exist for, and because of, our members and we will never take your support for granted.
Our Carlton in Business program now has more than 100 businesses involved and is the envy of other clubs. Carlton in Business provides the vehicle from which we can integrate our Carlton network, cultivating long-term mutually beneficial relationships that generate real business opportunities for Carlton in Business members.
The additional investments into recruiting and list management will become even more important in light of the likelihood that the AFL will introduce a range of new innovations around trading of live picks on draft night. We are confident that our significantly bolstered recruiting and list management team are well placed to take advantage of the changing landscape.
We also continue discussions with the Federal Government, highlighting to them the exciting opportunity that exists to turn Ikon Park into the home of AFLW. With $20m already generously provided by the State Government, we are now looking for the necessary federal support to finalise the plans for the re-development of the existing Pratt Stand, adding a range of facilities that will ensure our female athletes have facilities equivalent to their male counterparts. We are confident that the Federal Government will also see the benefit that a re-developed Ikon Park can provide to gender equality and female sport in general.
On the topic of gender equality, we were proud to recently announce MC Labour as the Major Partner of Carlton Respects, our nationally recognised community program. Some members may have already noticed MC Labour's support of the Carlton Respects program, through the advertising that appears on the Club's media backdrop. We thank Marc and Cath Lunedei who are long term supporters of the Carlton Football Club, for the support they have provided our Carlton Respects program.
In closing I would like to take the opportunity to once again thank our members for their unwavering loyalty and support. We are a proud football club with a rich history and a very exciting future, a future that we are in complete control of. I look forward to seeing you all at the footy this week to celebrate one of Carlton's all-time greats as Simmo plays his 300th.
Go Blues!
_________________
Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)
Last edited by chubbyruss on Tue Jun 26, 2018 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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