OFFICIAL Q&A Club discussion with Shaun Mielekamp

[innsaneink]

@ShaunMielekamp

Hi Shaun

If Benji is fined by the NRL (which I dont believe he should be) for his comments on the refereeing in last nights game, will the club cover that or does Benji pay that himself?

While no one wants to use refereeing as an excuse, all the commentators on Fox and many many social media comments on the game supported Benjis views on the officiating

 

[innsaneink]

@ShaunMielekamp

One more Shaun, can you tell us if anymore players require off season surgery?

....and the clubs Injury Update section really needs work...some players are out yet we get no info on them (Latu)

 

[LukeyTuiaki]

I appreciate the feedback - We will keep working and building here to deliver the best match day we can. C-town next year will have a huge emphasis on this. My motherhood statement is that we need to turn match days into events and events into festivals.
As far as never tear us apart it did show some promise for a while, these initiatives only ever work long term when they align with on field success. I did have to take a breath myself with never tear us apart because not only was Port using this but the Newcastle Jets as well. the team here were passionate to give it a go and I will always back passionate staff to have a crack at something new.

Thanks for your thorough reply Shaun, really appreciate the time you’ve taken to interact with members and fans on here. I really like your direction of turning match days into events, and events into festivals. When I’ve been to festivals, what you get is a lot of one thing, e.g. rock music festivals = lots of different music acts. To that, can I suggest the best way to turn match days into festivals is having multiple grades/games to accompanied the nrl men’s game. Many on here have suggested the same, and in an ideal world - each match day would feature at least 3 grades/games. I know V’landys was spruiking this a few seasons back but it seems to have fallen away. That scheduling change would do a lot I feel to make match day feel like a festival.

 

[LukeyTuiaki]

And… I would like to remind you what the nrl chair said in 2019 when selected to take on the role: “we need to improve our refereeing… That’s our single biggest problem at the moment. You can’t have fans walking away thinking they’ve been ripped off, so we need to fix our systems and do whatever we can, that the fan walks away happy and content that they’ve had a fair crack. And not walk away that he’s been ripped off.”
Needless to say I feel ripped off after the cowboys v tigers result, and feel as though there’s been many results in the last 7 sevens that I feel ripped off about. My question is, what can I do to support change at the officiating level of the NRL?