mike
Well-known member
To our valued 2022 Members,
I hope you are all keeping well and have managed as individuals as families and as businesses in another year affected by COVID. As we officially conclude the 2021 season and look forward with great expectation to the year ahead, I wanted to provide an update on a number of aspects of the club and the tremendous progress that is being made.
I speak on behalf of everyone at Wests Tigers when I say how thankful we have been for your ongoing support and commitment throughout another challenging year affected by COVID and we are all excited to step into a new era of the club alongside you next year.
Our 2022 playing roster has undergone change with several new players arriving to the club as well as players moving on. I’d like to thank Moses Mbye, Russell Packer, Michael Chee Kam, Billy Walters, Joey Leilua, Zac Cini and Tom Amone for their efforts while at Wests Tigers and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. I’d also like to congratulate two of our Development Players, Reece Hoffman, and William Kei, who will move into the NRL squad this year whilst also welcoming Tyrone Peachey, Jackson Hastings, and Oliver Gildart.
At the present moment, Wests Tigers still have three spots free in its 2022 squad and will continue to operate with a disciplined and strategic approach to recruitment as we bring in players that will add value to the club — both on and off the field.
Our football department has also undergone significant change as we head into the new season with Tim Sheens appointed as the club’s Director of Football. As it is well known, Tim brings a wealth of experience and knowledge with him back to Wests Tigers and will add a great deal to our capabilities as a club going forward. His return is undoubtedly an exciting one for our Members, partners, and stakeholders and we look forward to him working with the full support and resources needed to fulfil his duties in this role.
I would also like to take the time to thank both Shane Millard and Wayne Collins, who have finished their time with the club as Assistant Coach, as well as Andrew Gray, Paul Tape and Adam Hartigan who have moved on from their roles within the football department. I’d like to congratulate Matthew Jay on his new appointment as High Performance Manager and welcome Alex Clarke who will also join the High Performance team, while also welcoming two new assistant coaches in Nathan Cayless and Ben Gardiner. Both Nathan and Ben are highly-rated young coaches who will add a lot to our club, and we’re excited for them to get to work with pre-season returning officially this week.
Elsewhere in our football department, Billy Callaway will become the NRL Team Manager, Ronnie Palmer will transition into a new role as NRL Trainer while Ben Musolino has also come on board in a Pathways Performance Coach capacity. I am confident that all of these changes within the football department will add a great deal to Wests Tigers and our football program and will ensure our team has the tools required to operate at an elite level.
Under the guidance of new Pathways Manager Matthew Betsey, there’s been plenty of movement in the pathways space as we look forward to the 2022 season. Our junior representative and Jersey Flegg squads have been finalised with talented local juniors making up 90% of the respective teams for Balmain and Western Suburbs —a further reflection of Wests Tigers’ commitment to being a development club. With the addition of Australian Schoolboy calibre talent also joining those squads, we’re confident of a very strong year in the junior representative program across our seven respective men’s and women’s teams.
At a coaching level, Wayne Lambkin will move from Coach of our Jersey Flegg team to NSW Cup while Balmain SG Ball Coach Scott Kenna will take charge of the Jersey Flegg side. Part of being a development club is seeing not only our players, but our staff also improve, and it is pleasing to have both Wayne and Scott take the next steps in their coaching careers with Wests Tigers. Our male pathways teams will all return for pre-season training next week ahead of their respective seasons starting early in the new year.
With a new Coach in Ryan Powell, our Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership squad has also been finalised — headlined by the retention of Australian fullback and captain Botille Vette-Welsh as well as Dally M Medallists Jess Sergis and Kezie Apps. Botille, Jess and Kezie are all world-class players who have performed admirably at the highest level and will bring a great deal of experience, talent, and professionalism to our team in 2022. We’re all very excited by the direction and progress made throughout our women’s pathways program in recent years as we continue to strive towards an NRLW licence in 2023.
With plenty happening on the field and in our pathways network, it’s also been an incredibly busy and exciting time for the club off the field with the launch of the new Wests Tigers logo. The new look is an exciting new direction for our club, ensuring that the Wests Tigers brand is firmly positioned as we move forward in an ever-increasing digital age. While there have been many contributors to the revitalisation of the Wests Tigers logo over what was an exhaustive process, I’d like to especially recognise the efforts of our talented in-house designer Josh Flood who was responsible for executing the desired change. The new logo is simplified and modernised to deliver the greatest possible digital compatibility and will allow the club to better adapt the new logo to a range of new products and merchandise.
The full merchandise range will go on sale in early December — just in time for those Christmas presents — and I’m looking forward to showing that to you more.
Our Sponsorship and Membership teams have also been busy as we get ready for the 2022 season with our Membership packages officially on sale. We’re desperately looking forward to having our proud Members back in the stands cheering us on this year after missing a lot over the past two seasons, and it’s been very pleasing to see the high number of automatic renewals we’ve had already — showing how passionate and proud our Members are of the club. As you’ll see on the new Membership website, we’ve launched a range of new packages and changed some options to better suit families and interstate fans, and our friendly team are always just a phone call or an email away to help you with any questions.
It’s also a similar story commercially with a range of new and existing partners committing to the club well before we officially launched our 2022 campaign in November. Over the coming few weeks you’ll see a number of big-name organisations joining the club in the corporate partnership space and we’re delighted to work with them in delivering outcomes that achieve the goals of both organisations, while also providing value and offers to our existing partners.
I am pleased to say that again we have a fully subscribed jersey and shorts again as we head into 2022 and we cannot thank all our corporate partners enough for their continual commitment to Wests Tigers. We understand they all have choices to make as organisations, and we are very appreciative and humbled by their support and genuine partnerships.
Finally, as I write to you from our temporary facility in Concord, I’m thrilled to look across the road at the progress being made on our Centre of Excellence. Due to be completed in March, this facility will be the envy of sporting organisations right across Australia and will provide a fantastic base for the club to move forward into a successful era. Our vast junior region from the inner to the southwest of Sydney and beyond is a huge advantage for our club and an area we’re continuing to invest additional time and resources in to ensure its strength for years to come. Again, I’d like to thank our funding partners for the Centre of Excellence project — the Federal and State Governments along with the City of Canada Bay Council — and look forward to its completion in the early months of 2022.
I hope the above update has been helpful in keeping you abreast of all the happenings at Wests Tigers in recent weeks and has helped share some of the things that are exciting us most as an organisation moving forward. From the Board through to the administration and football department, we are all working incredibly hard together to bring you a club that you can continue to be proud of and committed to for many years to come.
I trust you are keeping well and look forward to speaking with you more soon.
Kind regards
Justin Pascoe
I hope you are all keeping well and have managed as individuals as families and as businesses in another year affected by COVID. As we officially conclude the 2021 season and look forward with great expectation to the year ahead, I wanted to provide an update on a number of aspects of the club and the tremendous progress that is being made.
I speak on behalf of everyone at Wests Tigers when I say how thankful we have been for your ongoing support and commitment throughout another challenging year affected by COVID and we are all excited to step into a new era of the club alongside you next year.
Our 2022 playing roster has undergone change with several new players arriving to the club as well as players moving on. I’d like to thank Moses Mbye, Russell Packer, Michael Chee Kam, Billy Walters, Joey Leilua, Zac Cini and Tom Amone for their efforts while at Wests Tigers and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. I’d also like to congratulate two of our Development Players, Reece Hoffman, and William Kei, who will move into the NRL squad this year whilst also welcoming Tyrone Peachey, Jackson Hastings, and Oliver Gildart.
At the present moment, Wests Tigers still have three spots free in its 2022 squad and will continue to operate with a disciplined and strategic approach to recruitment as we bring in players that will add value to the club — both on and off the field.
Our football department has also undergone significant change as we head into the new season with Tim Sheens appointed as the club’s Director of Football. As it is well known, Tim brings a wealth of experience and knowledge with him back to Wests Tigers and will add a great deal to our capabilities as a club going forward. His return is undoubtedly an exciting one for our Members, partners, and stakeholders and we look forward to him working with the full support and resources needed to fulfil his duties in this role.
I would also like to take the time to thank both Shane Millard and Wayne Collins, who have finished their time with the club as Assistant Coach, as well as Andrew Gray, Paul Tape and Adam Hartigan who have moved on from their roles within the football department. I’d like to congratulate Matthew Jay on his new appointment as High Performance Manager and welcome Alex Clarke who will also join the High Performance team, while also welcoming two new assistant coaches in Nathan Cayless and Ben Gardiner. Both Nathan and Ben are highly-rated young coaches who will add a lot to our club, and we’re excited for them to get to work with pre-season returning officially this week.
Elsewhere in our football department, Billy Callaway will become the NRL Team Manager, Ronnie Palmer will transition into a new role as NRL Trainer while Ben Musolino has also come on board in a Pathways Performance Coach capacity. I am confident that all of these changes within the football department will add a great deal to Wests Tigers and our football program and will ensure our team has the tools required to operate at an elite level.
Under the guidance of new Pathways Manager Matthew Betsey, there’s been plenty of movement in the pathways space as we look forward to the 2022 season. Our junior representative and Jersey Flegg squads have been finalised with talented local juniors making up 90% of the respective teams for Balmain and Western Suburbs —a further reflection of Wests Tigers’ commitment to being a development club. With the addition of Australian Schoolboy calibre talent also joining those squads, we’re confident of a very strong year in the junior representative program across our seven respective men’s and women’s teams.
At a coaching level, Wayne Lambkin will move from Coach of our Jersey Flegg team to NSW Cup while Balmain SG Ball Coach Scott Kenna will take charge of the Jersey Flegg side. Part of being a development club is seeing not only our players, but our staff also improve, and it is pleasing to have both Wayne and Scott take the next steps in their coaching careers with Wests Tigers. Our male pathways teams will all return for pre-season training next week ahead of their respective seasons starting early in the new year.
With a new Coach in Ryan Powell, our Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership squad has also been finalised — headlined by the retention of Australian fullback and captain Botille Vette-Welsh as well as Dally M Medallists Jess Sergis and Kezie Apps. Botille, Jess and Kezie are all world-class players who have performed admirably at the highest level and will bring a great deal of experience, talent, and professionalism to our team in 2022. We’re all very excited by the direction and progress made throughout our women’s pathways program in recent years as we continue to strive towards an NRLW licence in 2023.
With plenty happening on the field and in our pathways network, it’s also been an incredibly busy and exciting time for the club off the field with the launch of the new Wests Tigers logo. The new look is an exciting new direction for our club, ensuring that the Wests Tigers brand is firmly positioned as we move forward in an ever-increasing digital age. While there have been many contributors to the revitalisation of the Wests Tigers logo over what was an exhaustive process, I’d like to especially recognise the efforts of our talented in-house designer Josh Flood who was responsible for executing the desired change. The new logo is simplified and modernised to deliver the greatest possible digital compatibility and will allow the club to better adapt the new logo to a range of new products and merchandise.
The full merchandise range will go on sale in early December — just in time for those Christmas presents — and I’m looking forward to showing that to you more.
Our Sponsorship and Membership teams have also been busy as we get ready for the 2022 season with our Membership packages officially on sale. We’re desperately looking forward to having our proud Members back in the stands cheering us on this year after missing a lot over the past two seasons, and it’s been very pleasing to see the high number of automatic renewals we’ve had already — showing how passionate and proud our Members are of the club. As you’ll see on the new Membership website, we’ve launched a range of new packages and changed some options to better suit families and interstate fans, and our friendly team are always just a phone call or an email away to help you with any questions.
It’s also a similar story commercially with a range of new and existing partners committing to the club well before we officially launched our 2022 campaign in November. Over the coming few weeks you’ll see a number of big-name organisations joining the club in the corporate partnership space and we’re delighted to work with them in delivering outcomes that achieve the goals of both organisations, while also providing value and offers to our existing partners.
I am pleased to say that again we have a fully subscribed jersey and shorts again as we head into 2022 and we cannot thank all our corporate partners enough for their continual commitment to Wests Tigers. We understand they all have choices to make as organisations, and we are very appreciative and humbled by their support and genuine partnerships.
Finally, as I write to you from our temporary facility in Concord, I’m thrilled to look across the road at the progress being made on our Centre of Excellence. Due to be completed in March, this facility will be the envy of sporting organisations right across Australia and will provide a fantastic base for the club to move forward into a successful era. Our vast junior region from the inner to the southwest of Sydney and beyond is a huge advantage for our club and an area we’re continuing to invest additional time and resources in to ensure its strength for years to come. Again, I’d like to thank our funding partners for the Centre of Excellence project — the Federal and State Governments along with the City of Canada Bay Council — and look forward to its completion in the early months of 2022.
I hope the above update has been helpful in keeping you abreast of all the happenings at Wests Tigers in recent weeks and has helped share some of the things that are exciting us most as an organisation moving forward. From the Board through to the administration and football department, we are all working incredibly hard together to bring you a club that you can continue to be proud of and committed to for many years to come.
I trust you are keeping well and look forward to speaking with you more soon.
Kind regards
Justin Pascoe
