Wests Tigers Centre of Excellence
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diedpretty
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Wests Tigers’ Centre of Excellence puts NRLW on equal footing
For the incoming Wests Tigers’ NRLW side, long gone are the days of feeling like a second cousin to an NRL team at run-down facilities, writes PAMELA WHALEY.
Pamela Whaley@pamelawhaley
5 min read
November 1, 2022 - 12:00PM
The Tigers’ NRLW side will have a leg up on most of the competition thanks to their centre of excellence.
Botille Vette-Welsh has played at three different NRLW clubs so far and can confidently say the Wests Tigers centre of excellence is a game-changer.
On Monday night, the NSW and Australia fullback had stars in her eyes when speaking about the difference personalised changerooms, recovery facilities and a state of the art gym will make to the women’s game in the not-so-distant future.
“To think that in the last four years so much has changed. We went from training in tin sheds with shitty toilets to now training out of a facility like this … we have to give thanks to all of those girls who had to make all those sacrifices for us to be able to get what we get now,” she tells CODE Sports.
“In the next five or 10 years, this game is going to be a whole different ball game compared to what it is now.
“Now you can look at your nieces or daughters and know they’re going to be looked after.
“There’s going to be a day soon when you don’t have to worry about trying to get off work early so you can get to training or find somewhere to do a decent recovery. I’m excited for that day.”
Wests’ Tarsha Gale and Harvey Norman competition players have been inducted into the centre of excellence. Picture: Wests Tigers
A group of around 50 Tarsha Gale and Harvey Norman competition players were inducted into the $75 million facility at the newly redeveloped Concord Oval on Monday, handed swipe cards to access it whenever they like and offered a chance few female rugby league players get.
Equal opportunity to be great.
“I’ve been at a few clubs and so far within the NRLW the standard that we’ve got with a facility like this is by far one of the best,” the 26-year-old says.
An ACL injury kept her off the field for the 2022 season, but she has played at the Sydney Roosters, St George Illawarra and for Parramatta in their inaugural season. So far, the Tigers is the only one of the aforementioned with a high performance centre like this.
Having built-in massage facilities and a pool means players won’t have to spend their own time and money finding adequate recovery facilities, often taking time off work to book appointments around training and playing.
It also means the Tigers, who will have their inaugural NRLW side play in the 2023 season, are able to fully embrace their female players and make them feel just as important as the NRL side.
Simple things like having a dedicated women’s changerooms with names on every locker allows them to feel included. Elsewhere across the women’s game, the teams train out of different venues, sometimes junior clubs, and don’t have access to the same facilities as the club’s NRL teams.
The centre of excellence includes a pool. Picture: Wests Tigers
“As a player, being at other clubs, you definitely feel like you’re not as important, you’re kind of like the little cousin who doesn’t get acknowledged. It’s like, ‘You can use that corner over there’,” she says.
“The Tigers acknowledging how important and how massive the NRLW game is getting, including us within the men’s teams and training facilities, having our own locker rooms with our names and designated areas for us, is awesome.
“The club really did a great job at looking into the future with this stuff. It’s basic things, toilets, showers, cubicles, not just communal showers.
“We’ve got a wellbeing space, any type of recovery systems we want are already organised for us. Everything is done to a standard the same as the NRL boys can expect, they’ve given us the exact same thing which is perfect.
“We don’t want to be anything different to the mens, we would just love to have the same opportunities and the same resources. They’ve pretty much mirrored exactly that for us, which is awesome.”
Walking into the centre is a strange experience knowing what was there before – it was a run down facility underneath the grandstand at the old Concord Oval. But this is impressive.
There’s a huge, modern gym, a pool, corporate and administration facilities and even a barber. It’s hoped it will take not only the NRL team, but the NRLW team to a new level in 2023.
Players will have access to everything from a gym to a barber.
Brett Kimmorley, who has been named as the inaugural women’s coach for next season, believes it’s one of the best, if not the best, facility in the NRL.
He was there on Monday night as a new generation of female players were inducted to the club – players who will only know the luxury of using a world-class facility. To them, the days of women’s players ushering bullfrogs off a field or picking up broken glass from a training paddock are long gone.
“It puts it on the same level as the NRL. I’ve spoken to a few of the different girls and the big thing they want to feel is what you would do for the male program you’ll do for the female program,” he says.
“That’s where they want to get it to as well. They need the same ability to play rugby league as the men do. Yes, they don’t get the same money or have the same audience but they still effectively deserve the same rights. The game of rugby league is still the game of rugby league.”
As one of four news sides in the NRLW for next season – including Canberra, North Queensland and Cronulla – the Tigers are off to a flying start.
No NRLW team has been able to make signings for next season yet while a collective bargaining agreement is yet to be settled between the players’ union and the NRL.
However, the Tigers, who won the NSW Harvey Norman women’s competition last season, have a genuine pathway from the junior representatives through to NRLW from 2023.
The centre of excellence features a modern gym. Picture: NRL Imagery
“We had great success in the Harvey Norman women’s program, we created a great culture there at the Tigers and we’d like to think we’ll get three quarters or so of those women (such as Vette-Welsh) who played for us in 2022 want to be a part of 2023. The key is keeping all them and growing all of them,” Kimmorley says.
He believes the centre of excellence will help reinforce a set of values in the team when starting from scratch once he’s able to start recruitment.
“I’d like to think the Western Sydney corridor is a massive heartland for us, we’ve got the history of Balmain as well,” he says.
“We’ll try and create a powerful community and a lot of our girls will have had the ability to come through Tarsha Gale and Harvey Norman to play NRLW.
“I’m starting to think about that and what you’ll sell to our girls when they come in for the start of NRLW that puts it above the NSWRL competition. It’s important that we embrace our community and make that a big part of what we’re representing.
“These girls will hopefully become the main reason why some of the younger people in our community want to play rugby league for the Wests Tigers and they’ll have the ability to be able to do that now. You put a bit of discipline into it, it’s something [NRL coach Tim Sheens] has spoken about with our junior coaches, and we’ll certainly be a side who plays football. I think that’s what Tim wants to do as well and have people here who are proud to be a Wests Tigers player.”
Zurich Centre official opening
Wests Tigers new partnership with Zurich was announced at the official opening of the club’s Centre of Excellence, now called the Zurich Centre.
www.weststigers.com.au
tony soprano
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Wests Tigers’ Centre of Excellence puts NRLW on equal footing
For the incoming Wests Tigers’ NRLW side, long gone are the days of feeling like a second cousin to an NRL team at run-down facilities, writes PAMELA WHALEY.
@pamelawhaley
5 min read
November 1, 2022 - 12:00PM
The Tigers’ NRLW side will have a leg up on most of the competition thanks to their centre of excellence.
Botille Vette-Welsh has played at three different NRLW clubs so far and can confidently say the Wests Tigers centre of excellence is a game-changer.
On Monday night, the NSW and Australia fullback had stars in her eyes when speaking about the difference personalised changerooms, recovery facilities and a state of the art gym will make to the women’s game in the not-so-distant future.
“To think that in the last four years so much has changed. We went from training in tin sheds with shitty toilets to now training out of a facility like this … we have to give thanks to all of those girls who had to make all those sacrifices for us to be able to get what we get now,” she tells CODE Sports.
“In the next five or 10 years, this game is going to be a whole different ball game compared to what it is now.
“Now you can look at your nieces or daughters and know they’re going to be looked after.
“There’s going to be a day soon when you don’t have to worry about trying to get off work early so you can get to training or find somewhere to do a decent recovery. I’m excited for that day.”
Wests’ Tarsha Gale and Harvey Norman competition players have been inducted into the centre of excellence. Picture: Wests Tigers
A group of around 50 Tarsha Gale and Harvey Norman competition players were inducted into the $75 million facility at the newly redeveloped Concord Oval on Monday, handed swipe cards to access it whenever they like and offered a chance few female rugby league players get.
Equal opportunity to be great.
“I’ve been at a few clubs and so far within the NRLW the standard that we’ve got with a facility like this is by far one of the best,” the 26-year-old says.
An ACL injury kept her off the field for the 2022 season, but she has played at the Sydney Roosters, St George Illawarra and for Parramatta in their inaugural season. So far, the Tigers is the only one of the aforementioned with a high performance centre like this.
Having built-in massage facilities and a pool means players won’t have to spend their own time and money finding adequate recovery facilities, often taking time off work to book appointments around training and playing.
It also means the Tigers, who will have their inaugural NRLW side play in the 2023 season, are able to fully embrace their female players and make them feel just as important as the NRL side.
Simple things like having a dedicated women’s changerooms with names on every locker allows them to feel included. Elsewhere across the women’s game, the teams train out of different venues, sometimes junior clubs, and don’t have access to the same facilities as the club’s NRL teams.
The centre of excellence includes a pool. Picture: Wests Tigers
“As a player, being at other clubs, you definitely feel like you’re not as important, you’re kind of like the little cousin who doesn’t get acknowledged. It’s like, ‘You can use that corner over there’,” she says.
“The Tigers acknowledging how important and how massive the NRLW game is getting, including us within the men’s teams and training facilities, having our own locker rooms with our names and designated areas for us, is awesome.
“The club really did a great job at looking into the future with this stuff. It’s basic things, toilets, showers, cubicles, not just communal showers.
“We’ve got a wellbeing space, any type of recovery systems we want are already organised for us. Everything is done to a standard the same as the NRL boys can expect, they’ve given us the exact same thing which is perfect.
“We don’t want to be anything different to the mens, we would just love to have the same opportunities and the same resources. They’ve pretty much mirrored exactly that for us, which is awesome.”
Walking into the centre is a strange experience knowing what was there before – it was a run down facility underneath the grandstand at the old Concord Oval. But this is impressive.
There’s a huge, modern gym, a pool, corporate and administration facilities and even a barber. It’s hoped it will take not only the NRL team, but the NRLW team to a new level in 2023.
Players will have access to everything from a gym to a barber.
Brett Kimmorley, who has been named as the inaugural women’s coach for next season, believes it’s one of the best, if not the best, facility in the NRL.
He was there on Monday night as a new generation of female players were inducted to the club – players who will only know the luxury of using a world-class facility. To them, the days of women’s players ushering bullfrogs off a field or picking up broken glass from a training paddock are long gone.
“It puts it on the same level as the NRL. I’ve spoken to a few of the different girls and the big thing they want to feel is what you would do for the male program you’ll do for the female program,” he says.
“That’s where they want to get it to as well. They need the same ability to play rugby league as the men do. Yes, they don’t get the same money or have the same audience but they still effectively deserve the same rights. The game of rugby league is still the game of rugby league.”
As one of four news sides in the NRLW for next season – including Canberra, North Queensland and Cronulla – the Tigers are off to a flying start.
No NRLW team has been able to make signings for next season yet while a collective bargaining agreement is yet to be settled between the players’ union and the NRL.
However, the Tigers, who won the NSW Harvey Norman women’s competition last season, have a genuine pathway from the junior representatives through to NRLW from 2023.
The centre of excellence features a modern gym. Picture: NRL Imagery
“We had great success in the Harvey Norman women’s program, we created a great culture there at the Tigers and we’d like to think we’ll get three quarters or so of those women (such as Vette-Welsh) who played for us in 2022 want to be a part of 2023. The key is keeping all them and growing all of them,” Kimmorley says.
He believes the centre of excellence will help reinforce a set of values in the team when starting from scratch once he’s able to start recruitment.
“I’d like to think the Western Sydney corridor is a massive heartland for us, we’ve got the history of Balmain as well,” he says.
“We’ll try and create a powerful community and a lot of our girls will have had the ability to come through Tarsha Gale and Harvey Norman to play NRLW.
“I’m starting to think about that and what you’ll sell to our girls when they come in for the start of NRLW that puts it above the NSWRL competition. It’s important that we embrace our community and make that a big part of what we’re representing.
“These girls will hopefully become the main reason why some of the younger people in our community want to play rugby league for the Wests Tigers and they’ll have the ability to be able to do that now. You put a bit of discipline into it, it’s something [NRL coach Tim Sheens] has spoken about with our junior coaches, and we’ll certainly be a side who plays football. I think that’s what Tim wants to do as well and have people here who are proud to be a Wests Tigers player.”
Very innovative.
Wests Tigers’ Centre of Excellence puts NRLW on equal footing
Wests’ Tarsha Gale and Harvey Norman competition players have been inducted into the centre of excellence. Picture: Wests Tigers
WOW, The number of players and staff in this picture is very encouraging.
Really look forward to seeing our NRLW team
Sataris
Well-known member
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- Jul 15, 2009
- Messages
- 939
I would still like confirmation of this.
