Facilities are important in the modern game and for the modern player.
Imagine going to work as an employee and your employer has run down offices, lack of equipment to do the job and low grade resources in general?
Now, go up the road and another company has top class facilities with everything you need to help you succeed.
Now, is 10kg, really 10kg? I.e is an office, really an office because it has 4 walls? Of course not…the standards between the two are vastly different.
Not everyone, but I would guess more than 70% of the players in the NRL would pick the club with better facilities with all other things being equal.
Certainly, the COE shouldn’t be relied upon to attract talent as there are many factors that go into ones decision to sign, but to say it has no impact in a players decision is like saying there’s no point in Mercedes making luxury cars, because the Suzuki Swift has 4 wheels and gets you from A to B.
Of all the factors that players consider when signing for a club, having the COE removes the facilities consideration…one less obstacle to signing better talent.
As a club, we simply don’t get the basics right. In no particular order, we need:
1. One home ground
2. Pick a home and away jersey. Stop changing it!
3. Pathways investment
4. Consistent game plan philosophy through all grades. If a rookie gets thrown in, he’s familiar with our style of play!
5. A Wests Tigers NSW cup team…none of this Balmain or Magpies split.
If we start there, we will have taken a big step up from where we are today.
