Earlier this week, questions were sought for President Peggy O'Neal from Richmond supporters on fan forums Punt Road End and BigFooty. Members of the forums decided which ten questions they thought were the most pertinent to answer about the Club at this point in time. Below are the questions, with answers from Richmond President Peggy O'Neal... 

Peggy O'Neal: Thanks everyone for your questions. The interest and enthusiasm of our members and supporters can never be questioned and, ultimately, we all want the same thing: a successful Club. I’ve endeavoured to answer your questions and, again, thanks for taking the time to get involved and to share your thoughts.

Q: Does the Board believe it needs to add a football person to the Board? Someone with the nous to make the right decisions and get the right people throughout the football department?  If so have they identified somebody with this necessary skill set and experience?  Is there a liaison on the Board that represents the rank and file RFC member?

I’ll start with the last part of that question first. The role of the Board (as a collective) is to represent the members – it doesn’t sit with one Board member - and every decision we make is about building a club and a football team that will deliver the ultimate success that we all want.

There has been general media discussion recently around the 'best' board structures (including fixed terms). The situation varies across AFL clubs, including the AFL Commission itself.

The role of "Football Director" is one of the topics currently being discussed. A number of clubs don’t have a specific Football Director and Richmond is one of those. It is for each club to decide whether it needs a Football Director and what that director is to do.

Because we have significant football experience on our Board, we have not identified anyone as a Football Director. Tony Free played 133 games for Richmond, captained the Club and was a two-time Best and Fairest winner. Brendon Gale played 244 games, has been an outstanding Chief Executive and is now a member of our Board.  Both Tony and Brendon give us significant football experience – quite probably more than the majority of other clubs – and clearly, as CEO, Brendon is responsible for the overall operation of the Club, including the football department.

There has also been some discussion about fixed terms for directors. I’m all for refreshing boards and we have continually done that over recent years. Our Governance Committee has been considering for a while whether fixed terms make sense for our business and no doubt the Board will consider the matter again in due course.

I think it is important to also point out that good governance dictates that boards in any business review their performance and we have engaged Hay Group consultants to undertake that process. There have been three reviews of Board performance in the past eight years.  The report identifies things we do really well and things that we could improve.  The Board takes this report seriously and works toward continuous improvement.  

As part of that governance process, we also conduct a skills audit to determine if we have the right skills around the Board table to conduct the Club's business. This skills audit identifies any skills gaps, which assists our Nominations Committee in its consideration of Board candidates.

Q: Damien said he’d leave if we stopped improving. By many measures, this season has been a football failure.  So, firstly, a three-point question about the coach.  Why was his contract extended so long before it expired, does it have any performance clauses, and what are the attributes the Board and Brendon see that indicate Damien will be a premiership coach?

As members would quite rightly expect, a very thorough assessment of Damien’s performance was considered by the Board at the end of the 2015 season. Based on that rigorous assessment – which included the fact Damien had taken the Club to finals for three consecutive seasons – the Board unanimously agreed that he was the right person to take this team forward and chose to extend his contract. While this season has been disappointing, we still hold that view. Damien has a clear vision for this team, he has a great capacity to teach and, most importantly, a playing group that is committed to working with him to get the improvement we need. In terms of performance clauses, contracts between the Club and any employee are a private matter.

Q: There is a wide cross section of supporters on the forum.  The discussion is overwhelmingly of the opinion that we aren’t playing a good brand of football to watch.  How would you rate our season, what do you think has contributed to this situation, and what will be done to try and get the Club to realise our stated premiership ambitions? What do we lack that’s preventing us from winning finals and being a top four team?

There is absolutely no hiding from the fact that this season has been disappointing. Simply put, we expected better on-field performances, we haven’t delivered, and nobody enjoys watching us get beaten. When performance doesn’t match expectation, there is great frustration and we all rightly feel disappointed.–

The question as to what has contributed to this result, and what needs to be addressed, is something we are working to understand right now. As you know, on-field performance is the consequence of many different factors. We will look at each of those and changes will be made where appropriate. The key message to our members and supporters is that we are not sitting on our hands, we are working to understand and address the issues.

 

Q: Would the Club look at hiring an external person to review the football department’s (coach, assistants, recruitment) structure and performances? What, if any, measures have the Board put in place to make the football department accountable for the on-field performance of the team? Is the Board satisfied by the football department’s explanation as to why the same mistakes were made and repeated at the beginning of seasons 2014, 2015 and 2016? 

Our entire organisation is constantly in discussion with people external to our Club – and to the football industry – to gather information relating to a whole range of things, including best practice structures and performance management techniques and measures.

Clearly, those are key discussions for our football department at the moment, as we plan for next season and beyond. At this stage the Board believes that our internal expertise - combined with the intelligence sought from external networks - will deliver us a plan that will take the Club forward.

Nobody is satisfied with where we are this season and we are collectively accountable for finding ways to improve our performance.

Q: Dan Richardson made a statement that the Richmond faithful wouldn’t be patient enough for an extended rebuild, so the Club took shortcuts to get us there quicker. Is that the Club’s belief or just Dan’s? What is Dan’s role and who is he reportable to?

At the time, I was very clear when I was interviewed on ABC Radio that if he had his time over again, Dan would have chosen his words differently. This Club makes decisions that are about achieving the ultimate success – not short-term results. Dan is a member of our executive team and he reports directly to the CEO.

Q: What were the Club’s initial expectations of the VFL side when they acquired the rights to a standalone side and have they met them? If no, please explain what the Club intends to do to ensure the VFL side meets these standards?

The VFL team, which was made possible due to the extraordinary support of Fighting Tiger Fund donors, was established to give us complete control over the development of our younger players. The most significant outcome our VFL team can provide is to ensure our young players are well equipped when they make their way into the senior team.

I think we have seen quite a few players come through our VFL program who look ready to make a significant contribution at AFL level. Players such as Kamdyn McIntosh, Oleg Markov, Jason Castagna, Connor Menadue, Ben Lennon, Sam Lloyd, Jayden Short and Corey Ellis have all graduated from the VFL and played some good senior football at various stages.

We all want that team to be competitive and to win games but, first and foremost, we want Craig McRae and his team to produce players who, ultimately, can make a difference at AFL level.

Q: We had the largest average home and away attendance in 2015, but this is not reflected in our revenue in regards to merchandise sales, sponsorship etc. Why do you feel this is, and what does the Club plan to do to boost revenue? Does it have to do with the quality of merchandise and customer dissatisfaction, is it the pricing of the merchandise, or something else entirely?

You are right that our attendances have been fantastic and, as always, that is a reflection of our loyal supporter base.

Unlike some other clubs, we don’t own, or have a significant degree of control, over the stadium in which we play and, as a result, revenue from sponsorship and gate receipts is reduced. Having said that, crowds still drive a significant return for the Club.

The question about boosting revenue is something the Board regularly considers. Revenue diversification is increasingly critical to the on-going financial stability of football clubs. While we benchmark particularly well in most revenue areas across the competition – including merchandise - the fact of the matter is that growth in traditional revenue streams is marginal and costs continue to rise.

To this end, the Club recently made a significant announcement regarding the establishment of Aligned Leisure – a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Richmond Football Club. Aligned Leisure is a health, fitness and leisure business that has successfully tendered for the management rights of eight facilities in the Shire of Cardinia. This is a significant addition to our business and, as other management opportunities present themselves, has the capacity to become even more substantial. Beyond the fan development opportunities Aligned Leisure creates, we also like the fact that these facilities make meaningful contributions to the community in terms of health and well-being.  This aligns with the Club's purpose and the young people with whom we work.

The establishment and development of Aligned Leisure makes the Club one of the most diversified sporting businesses in Australia. Other potential revenue opportunities are also being investigated by the Club and we hope to have something to announce to members in the near future.

On the issue of revenue, the financial management of our business has been critical given the marginal environment in which we operate. You will recall that a key driver for this Board was to remove debt and build cash reserves to insulate ourselves from seasons that prove difficult. As it stands, we have zero debt and $2.5 million in cash reserves.

Q: What are the plans and resources committed around our recruitment zone in northern regional Victoria and have they been actioned yet?

The Club was really pleased to secure the northern Victorian zones for our Next Generation Academy, as we have some existing relationships with regional Indigenous communities due to the work the Korin Gamadji Institute has done.

An internal working group has been established that will oversee the roll-out of activities in the latter part of this season. Activities that have commenced, include building relationships with the key TAC Cup teams in the region, Bendigo Pioneers and the Murray Bushrangers, locking in "Come and Try" talent identification days, and coaching and talent identification workshops. The first of these workshops was held at the Club on Sunday, July 3. The Club also anticipates holding a match in November featuring the first crop of top-end talent that would be available to us.

A structure for our Academy will also be recommended and budgeted for in 2017. Some of those decisions cannot be made until we get final details from the AFL; for example, what is included in the football 'soft cap' and how we account for football department staff time that contributes to Academy operations.

Q: Why did we beat our chests with brave predictions and forecasts in 2015 about “winning a final" being a pass mark for the team, yet once the final siren sounded on elimination final day disregard this most basic of KPIs and declare the season a success, reappoint the coach till the end of 2018, without having achieved the said KPI, and come out beating our chests again about "top four finishes"? How does a coach who does not meet that KPI get reappointed?

In my view, only one club every season can declare itself a success. The remainder of us continue to do all we can to reach that ultimate goal. I’m also of the view we should never apologise for being ambitious. Even though we ended up in 2015 on the cusp of the top four, none of us took for granted how much work is required to take the next step, and I can assure you that no KPIs were disregarded.

Q: Does the Club have any concerns over the merchandise that BLK supplies in regards to the colours of the playing jumpers, especially when the black on our jumper is so much duller/lighter compared to that of our shorts?

Yes, we do and we are working with our suppliers to get it rectified.

Q: Has the club budgeted, or will budget, for a reduction in membership sales for 2017, given our poor year on the field in 2016?

The budget process is underway and the first draft of the budget is scheduled to be presented at the August board meeting. We, however, remain hopeful that a strong finish to the season, combined with the great loyalty of our fans, will help us remain close to – or at the top of – the AFL membership ladder.