A Visit To The Bulldogs And Roosters
The next two stops on the Wolves' Management Tour in Australia were NRL clubs Canterbury Bulldogs and Sydney Roosters!
Wolves' Sales and Marketing Controller Dave Hutchinson tells us more.....................
Bulldogs
"We enjoyed an interesting morning at the Bulldogs where we met Todd Greenberg CEO, Vince Costa CFO and general manager of football operations Alan Thompson.
"We met at their old stadium Belmore where we saw their state-of-the-art training facilities and offices. They no longer play their games there, however, as it only holds 12,000 and they now average crowds of 20,000 hence playing their games at the Olympic Stadium.
"Belmore, however, has just undergone significant investment of $9million to enable such facilities, largely funded by government money (93%). 'The whole design has been taken from a tour of all sports clubs in Australia and we have taken all the best bits' said Todd, which includes impressive glass-fronted offices and breakout rooms where both the performance team and administration staff come together regularly helping understand each other's areas of development and opportunities. A purpose-built lecture theatre plays host to regular video sessions, staff meetings and sponsor presentations. 'At the end of the day we are building a club not a team' added Todd. The offices have an open view over the players' gym which then opens out via a running track to the training field.
"In the gym we watched their captain Michael Ennis (hooker and State of Origin) training on an Alter8 machine, this is a running machine which has the ability to take away the strain on an injury by lifting away body weight. For example, Michael is recovering from a knee injury and was using the treadmill at 80% of his body weight. They also have a hot and cold pool for further assisting rehabilitation and an extensive physio suite.
"We rounded off the visit by watching their training session on the field which included a certain former Saints star!"
Roosters
"We spent an afternoon at the HQ of Sydney Roosters, one of the founder members of the league in 1908 and the first 12 Australian players for Warrington were all former Easts players as they were then known.
"We met with Steve Noyce CEO and some of his colleagues and were taken on a whistle-stop tour which included the gym and performance offices where we met Craig Fitzgibbon, Matthew Elliot, Jason Taylor and head coach Brian Smith, brother of Tony! We then popped up to see their ground which is shared with Sydney FC soccer team and the Rugby Union side the Waratahs. Add to this the Sydney Swans AFL team and the Sydney Sixers Cricket team who play next door at the SCG, then you can appreciate the amount of sporting competition there is for fans and share of the market place.
"So far we have seen three very different RL teams in the Knights, Bulldogs and Roosters and we look forward to visiting the Souths and the Sea Eagles later this week."
Visit the Emirates 2012 Tour Page for photos at the Sydney Football Stadium and there Walk of Honour which runs between the stadium and Sydney Cricket Ground. It honours the legends of Australian sport including two players who have played for Warrington, Bob Fulton and Dave Brown.
Bob Fulton: Debut: 10/10/1969 Last Game: 8/2/1970
App: 16 Tries: 16 Drop Goals: 1 Points: 50
Dave Brown: Debut: 23/1/1937 Last Game: 29/4/1939
App: 93 Tries: 48 Goals: 91 Points:326
23, Jan, 2012
