Gold Coast Titans Member Forum 18/08/2015

[JunctionBlock]

I'm currently in the process of converting the sound file to upload it to Youtube so we can link to it. It's going slower than a wet wig and I'm at work so I'll hopefully have it up tomorrow AM. Unless something untoward happens between now and then, like me throwing my computer through a wall. Machines hate me man....

[kioli]

I'm currently in the process of converting the sound file to upload it to Youtube so we can link to it. It's going slower than a wet wig and I'm at work so I'll hopefully have it up tomorrow AM. Unless something untoward happens between now and then, like me throwing my computer through a wall. Machines hate me man....

I wouldn't worry about converting anything, just chuck it up on a site like this and people can play it in whatever app works for them.
http://www.filedropper.com

[kioli]

Cheers for that JB, downloading it now.


edit: Really nice and clear recording mate, nicely done. Lots of good topics raised and answered so far too. Wish I could've made it.

[kioli]

Had a good listen to it and few things stood out, so just to add to Shamus' and JunctionBlock's comments.

-The Aquis sponsorship is apparently one of the richest in the NRL, I guess that's where a fair chunk of that $4M is coming from? It's a good sign, sponsors wouldn't be stumping up the cash if they weren't confident in the club.

-There are 11'000 members now, up from 8'000 last year. They put it down to fans rallying behind the club during the tough year. Hopefully it'll grow next year.

-The Parkwood Golf club/Titans admin&training base has been talked about a bit already but it sounds really promising. Having an actual clubhouse where fans will see players five days a week, etc is something a lot of people have wanted for a long time.

-A partnership with touch footy seems obvious but the talk by Rebecca of the netball/Firebirds being interested in a partnership is a bit out of left field for me, could be great.

[Titanic]

Can't listen until tonight ... anything on how a salary cap is being handled?

[JunctionBlock]

Can't listen until tonight ... anything on how a salary cap is being handled?

It wasn't brought up. One thing Chris said (when I talked to him after) was that any questions that you have can be emailed to him and he can pass them on to Graham or the relevant person. He was re-assuring that they would get answered within reason. He rattled off his email but I'm guessing it'll be on the Titans website. Oh and he does check-in on the forum from time to time. So I guess he knows who I am now. Haha

[TitanSam]

Wait, so can anyone tell me a little more about this touch footy partnership?

[Mexican titan]

Had a good listen to it and few things stood out, so just to add to Shamus' and JunctionBlock's comments.

-The Aquis sponsorship is apparently one of the richest in the NRL, I guess that's where a fair chunk of that $4M is coming from? It's a good sign, sponsors wouldn't be stumping up the cash if they weren't confident in the club.

-There are 11'000 members now, up from 8'000 last year. They put it down to fans rallying behind the club during the tough year. Hopefully it'll grow next year.

-The Parkwood Golf club/Titans admin&training base has been talked about a bit already but it sounds really promising. Having an actual clubhouse where fans will see players five days a week, etc is something a lot of people have wanted for a long time.

-A partnership with touch footy seems obvious but the talk by Rebecca of the netball/Firebirds being interested in a partnership is a bit out of left field for me, could be great.

Great to hear about the Aquis sponsorship being one of the richest and I hope Parkwood comes off. I don't play golf but the club is good and I would go there frequently if it became our clubhouse.

As for the membership figures, many clubs seem to play around with the figures. Personally I think all clubs should separate memberships and also detail season ticket holders. For example Souffs trumpet that they have 35,000 members which is great that these numbers support the club financially but they have about half of that as season ticket holders that bring in the bigger dollars.
A large number of our members were those that joined for $20 and got some gear and a one game ticket. It's great that the club has their names now and hopefully will convert them into a stronger commitment but to count them as members is a bit dodgy. We are not the only the only club that does it and I think for a while some AFL clubs offered pet memberships and counted them as well! I think our full season ticket holder numbers would not read well, certainly not from what I see at CBus. But winning consistently is the only way to fix that.

[hammer]

Wait, so can anyone tell me a little more about this touch footy partnership?

At this stage I can confirm there is no touch footy partnership apart from the wider NRL partnership with Touch Football...could there be one in the future...yes...perhaps watch this space in the future.

[shamus]

I'm currently in the process of converting the sound file to upload it to Youtube so we can link to it. It's going slower than a wet wig and I'm at work so I'll hopefully have it up tomorrow AM. Unless something untoward happens between now and then, like me throwing my computer through a wall. Machines hate me man....

Huh! Did you record also JB or is this the recording the Titan's did on the night?......and where do I find it?

[JunctionBlock]

Huh! Did you record also JB or is this the recording the Titan's did on the night?......and where do I find it?

I posted it yesterday arvo. I didn't want to leave it up for ever and a day as there were only a few people in our forum that were showing interest in attending the meeting for genuine reasons. Those who showed interest appear to have accessed it so I removed it. All I wanted to do was allow those that couldn't attend a chance to have a listen.

I felt it was undermining the club to have first response to the wider public and members base if someone picked up the recording and through it on Facebook or something. Basically I had an ethical dilemma last night so I removed it.

[shamus]

I understand...I received a PM giving me guidance on how to upload my copy it to you tube...(not that I understood the guidance)....I was hesitant to do that.

I have dumped it on a stick so I don't accidently delete it. It is getting filed away with other stuff I never look at.

[kioli]

I posted it yesterday arvo. I didn't want to leave it up for ever and a day as there were only a few people in our forum that were showing interest in attending the meeting for genuine reasons. Those who showed interest appear to have accessed it so I removed it. All I wanted to do was allow those that couldn't attend a chance to have a listen.

I felt it was undermining the club to have first response to the wider public and members base if someone picked up the recording and through it on Facebook or something. Basically I had an ethical dilemma last night so I removed it.

Fair call JB, I'll delete my downloaded copy aswell.

I just hope we haven't upset the club, an annual member forum is a great idea.

[JunctionBlock]

Fair call JB, I'll delete my downloaded copy aswell.

I just hope we haven't upset the club, an annual member forum is a great idea.

Not sure how the club feels about it but after receiving the Members email last night with the outline of questions from the night I figured what I did wasn't in the clubs best interest and it just didn't sit right with me.

[K2G]

I finally got a chance to listen to JB's recording early this morning and was mostly impressed with the responses provided by Graham, Rebecca and Neil. I think they pretty much addressed most of my rage-filled questions in some capacity (although I would've loved to have heard a bit more about plans to increase coaching staff) - But ultimately, I felt myself feeling really quite proud of the club and our members after listening. It was so refreshing to hear these guys answer real legitimate concerns from real fans and members in an honest, less 'media-spin' manner. Kudos to the three of them for fronting up and an even bigger rap to the 80 odd members who turned up, asked some great questions, and just represented Titans fans in an active, participatory spirit to which we should all aspire. A few thoughts:

* I found myself legitimately smiling when hearing Neil talk about Birdy and the few 'warts' on his game (his words), and what he loves about what Greg brings to the team. It was really just a small anecdote, but it's the type of behind the scenes coach's insight our entire code lacks. I understand that players and coaches are gun-shy to open up to the media in the current scandal hungry, head-line climate we exist in, but if the club wants to get ahead of the competition in terms of fan engagement, these types of anecdote and insights are the way to do it. Does opening up like he did maybe put a bit of target on Greg's back to some extent? Yeah sure, probably. But if the fans know what one of the things Birdy's been asked to work on, and HE knows the fans know... it can only create good pressure imo. They way it was communicated just felt like the kind of personal 'we can share this with you lot, because we're all on the same team' kind of vibe, that the weekly members emails TRY to achieve, but fall flat. I've been putting this in my members surveys for as long as I can remember, but if our club wants wants to get serious in engaging adult footy fans... go to the website of any NFL team and watch the locker room interviews, the play and game break downs, the impartial news stories on player development and form struggles. That Graham mentioned that a 'members only' section on the website is being looked at, tells me this message is being heard.

* Still on the media side of things (where my focus is naturally trained, being as it is where my expertise lay). My main negative after listening to the night, was that I thought most of Caddo's interjections were a bit circle-jerky and self-congratulatory where the three on the panel, and even Chris (membership coordinator? not sure if this is his correct title) in the crowd did a much better job of presenting a more dignified and humble willingness to listen, gather feedback and use it to improve. I don't know if it was part of Caddo's job description as MC to downplay all negatives, give excuses and emphasise key agenda points with near political precision, but for mine, it was a little over-played by him. While I'm at it, along with Chalky, Caddo seems to have become the visible face and readable pen behind our interfacing with the club. I get the feeling he's doing about 5 or 6 peoples jobs crammed into one, because the quality of content put up on the website is pretty low. I get that resources haven't been such that we can afford to compete with other clubs in this area, but moving forward, I just think the club needs to look ahead - go and hire some young kids with bright ideas to reinvigorate our social interaction with players and coaches.

* The potential Parkwood deal sounds absolutely amazing. I've already considered looking for work the GC with the thought of moving back there to be closer to the new 'social hub' and home of the Titans. The tid-bits Graham mentioned about this place are very exciting, and I'll be crossing my fingers for an announcement soon.

* The stadium issue was raised quite a few times it seems, and rightly so. I understand this is a complicated issue facing the club... but the Graham and Rebecca's assurances that we wouldn't be signing any long-term contracts until a more suitable long-term arrangement can be met, is exactly the kind of approach I want to hear from them. I really got the feeling that these two, the board and their respective teams are really out there fighting board room battles every day to make this club as successful off the field, as it needs to be, to get some results on it. Listening to the recording helped put into perspective for me that, as far as a 'rebuilding year' goes ALOT of that rebuilding HAD to occur off the field first, before any kind of sustainable top 8 hopes could be had. In that sense, in many ways - it's hard to argue that this year has been anything but a success in terms of the rebuild. Lastly, in terms of the stadium - one lady lamented that our stadium doesn't have a hill. I couldn't agree more with her sentiments. Rip one of the grand stands out! It never gets filled any way

* Repairing our relationship with local clubs and junior pathways is an absolute no-brainer and it's great to see the club working hard on this. I'm still amazed that the club hasn't established more of a presence in my area of the mid-north coast. Some of the talent in the region between Grafton to Port Macquarie and Taree is astounding... and when you consider that the kids who grow up playing here are as geographically close to the Titans as any Sydney club (sometimes closer), but yet their natural pathway takes them south, I just think the club should at least have part-time scouts in the area at the very least. However, it sounds like Neil's philosophy of being a development club, not a recruitment club is going to be a driver of change moving forward, and that is an excellent ideal to strive for imo.

* I enjoyed Neil's frank assessment of recruitment and retention. I agree with him that Shillo and Friend will be good to fill the experience vacuum, and that Hodko wasn't worth getting into a bidding war for. I was a bit concerned about the attempt to paint Toberts as a seasoned 100 game, highly skilled campaigner... and am worried that another mortimer/zillman scenario arises with Toberts locking up a starting spot irrespective of form - but it's too early to worry about that yet, and I'm happy to sit back and see what Henry can do with his squad. Personally, I think our letting go of some of the blokes we are, is every bit as necessary as signing new players - and on this front, I cant complain. Neil's comment that 'if they're not in the best 16 in their position - they shouldn't be signed / hold a spot' is encouraging, and again an ideal worth striving for.

* I was surprised to hear how much air the 'off-field' issues got tbh. Maybe it's because I don't have kids of my own - or because having worked around kids for a good while, and being acutely aware of the realities of the world that meets them coming out of school - I've developed a healthy pragmatism about these things... but, I honestly don't believe our off-field behaviour is any worse than any other club in the competition, bar none. The coke scandal hurt a lot (being at TSS when it broke couldn't have been worse timing), but not once did I buy into the 'over-the-top party boy culture' being proliferated. Most titans fans I know considered it a case of 'a few d*ckheads amongst the pack' - something every club is guilty of at some point in their history. That said, I do not argue that our club culture needs work. Winning and professionalism are key points - but as far as behaviour goes, despite what the deathriders claim, the titans have done very well with maintaining and adhering to behaviour policies by and large, and not so long ago we were considered a club that could reform troubled players. Good on the mum's and dad's asking the tough questions though - and I honestly can't fault the club with how they've handled the off-field scandals, although some will argue that hanging on to Greg Bird, and having him as stand in skipper will be somewhat of a double standard.

* Love the bloke who wanted to have a yarn about the game becoming 'full contact touch.' I bet he's good for a long chat over a beer or ten.

* Penultimatley, apologies to both JunctionBlock an Shamus for my all together useless advice to get the recordings posted on the forum, and a big thank to Kioli for reminding us all, that sometimes it's the simple solution that proves best. I still maintain my instructions to both of you guys via PM made perfect sense after a beer... or ten.

* Finally, again a huge thank you to JunctionBlock and Shamus for attending the event and repping titans fans with aplomb, and to JB for making the event available to us far away fans. You blokes are the wind beneath my wings, the road beneath my magic carpet as it were



I started typing this before we decided to go all ghost protocol about the recording... Should i delete this post? Mods feel free if you think it's appropriate to do so.