What's in This Issue
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The 2009 Gillette Four Nations Kiwis squad October 2009 Bartercard Premiership Selection squad Kiwis v. Tonga Gillette Four Nations - Kiwis v. Kangaroos Gillette Four Nations - Kiwis v. France What’s In This Issue Pages 2 - 4: Update from CEO Jim Doyle Page 12: Update from Football Operations Page 4: Kiwis v Tonga in the Rotorua Rumble Page 13: Kiwi match officials head north Pages 5: Photos from the Tonga Test Page 14: NZ Maori RL tournament Page 6 - 7: Events wrap up by Peter Cordtz Page 15: Wellington RL’s Stephen Kearney Cup Page 8: NZRL’s new management structure Page 16: Auckland RL’s Primary Schools competition Page 9: Counties Manukau Zone Board announced Page 17: Canterbury’s Aaron Whittaker moves Page 10: Mutterings around the Coach’s Box Pages 18 - 19: Canterbury RL’s Annual Awards Page 11: High Performance Coach and Trainer Kiwi Page 20: Mad Butcher’s Gillette Four Nations booklet Experience Update from NZRL CEO Jim Doyle - October October was certainly an exciting and very positive month for New Zealand Rugby League. It started with a successful Grand Final of the Bartercard National Provincial Premiership, which was won in the last minute by the Canterbury Bulls in front of their home crowd. Then came the chance to see our pathways in action, as we saw the Bartercard Premiership Selection team come together with the selected team management and enjoy the benefits of all their hard work throughout the season by taking the field against a Toa Samoa select squad that included rugby league icon Ruben Wiki. It was a fantastic afternoon with the Bartercard Premiership Selection team running away to a 52 – 14 victory, and to top it all the crowd turned out in numbers and we raised $31,000 which was presented to the Samoa Tsunami Relief Fund Charity. Above: The Bartercard Premiership Selection team with Talking to the players and management after some of the Kiwis at the Millennium Institute. the game they all said it was something they will never forget. Having Benji Marshall hand out the jerseys one day then playing against Ruben Wiki the next, will be something they will all remember for a long time. We then turned our attention to the KIWIS. First stop was to arrange High Performance Coach and Trainer workshops to allow 32 dedicated volunteers to be part of the Kiwis camp for the day (16 at each session). The feedback from the participants, both Kiwi management and our coaches and trainers, was fantastic. Stephen Kearney said that this was really exciting for everyone and agreed this should be done at every possible opportunity. We were then into the first game of our end of season campaign, Kiwis v Tonga, and it was certainly a great warm up for the Gillette Four Nations and the crowd loved it. Although the weather was against us, on the night a good crowd turned up to support the team and saw us come away with a 40 - 24 victory. Before the team got on the plane for Europe we had a leadership session with Dr. Lester Levy who is the leadership professor at Auckland University’s business schools. It was a great time for the management team to discuss leadership and team culture, and review what was ahead of them during their Gillette Four Nations campaign. What a great start to the Gillette Four Nations campaign we got, an absolutely fantastic game against Australia in our opening game. The team was confident they were ready to take on Australia and they sure did. It was one of the best matches that we have seen since the 2008 World Cup Final, and it sure had everyone on the edge of their seats throughout the game. The only pity was that the Aussies sneaked a try in the last minute to draw the scores level at 20 all. Then the Kiwis finished off October with a good win against a gallant French team 62 – 12. Hopefully November is as exciting and rewarding as October. ...continued Talking to the players and management after the game they all said it was something they will never forget. Having Benji Marshall hand out the jerseys one day then playing against Ruben Wiki the next, will be something they will all remember for a long time. 2 Update from NZRL CEO Jim Doyle - October - continued In line with our improved communications plan and continued transparency please find following an update on how we are progressing against our Game Plan. Game Development – National Competitions Last month we said we were in the process of setting up a Competitions advisory group (from within our game) that will meet and work on what the future competitions structure will look like. This would then lead to further discussions throughout the country. The Competitions advisory group has now been established and our first meeting was held on Friday October 30th. The meeting lasted the whole day (early start for those from Christchurch and Wellington) and was extremely positive with lots of very creative thinking and good discussions around what would be best across the country going forward. This will be worked on again before this year is out, and we will keep you up to date as we progress our initial thinking. Kevin Bailey will provide a further update in his section on page 13 of this newsletter. Partners October was a busy month with respect to working with our Partners and particularly our funding partners. Meetings were held with SPARC, Lion Foundation, NZCT, etc where we presented our Game Plan and discussed support required to drive forward and deliver our plan. This was well received and we are now working through the specific details with each of them with respect to how we move forward. Increased Participation – LeagueNet We are currently processing registrations for season close off and will have an account of all 2009 registered players by the end of November. Although there are some areas of District registration information that we do not have (Waikato Juniors, Northland Juniors, Manawatu) the tally at the end of November will be the most accurate collation of player numbers that NZRL have ever been able to report on – which is a fantastic outcome. It is absolutely fantastic to see for the first time Wellington Rugby League’s player membership online. This is credit to the hard work and administration provided by Jason and Lara Hemson throughout this 2009 season. Thank you both immensely for your efforts. Over the next two weeks Carmen Taplin will make further contact with Districts regarding the new Online Clearance process for internal, inter-District and international transfers for the 2010 season. A part of this process is for NZRL, in conjunction with the Zones, to enable the Districts ownership of their Online Membership database, which not only strengthens their capability but gives them access to their player membership data online. Culture of Excellence – “Right People, Right Places” Last month we indicated that now our Game Plan and tactics were complete, we would be reviewing our structure. This is now complete and we have finalised a new structure which sees the disestablishment of both the General Manager and Marketing & Communications Manager roles, and the introduction of a Football Manager, Marketing & Sponsorship Manager and Communications Officer. We will now advertise these roles and look to appoint the right person into each role as soon as possible. Further details with respect to the NZRL structure are highlighted on page 8 of this newsletter and are available on our website at www.nzrl.co.nz/NZRL Team We are currently processing registrations for season close off and will have an ac- count of all 2009 registered players by the end of November. 3 Family & Community – More than just a Game We recently met with ACC to re-confirm our commitments to reducing injuries in Rugby League and ensuring the game is as safe as possible for all who participate in it. This is a key objective in achieving growth in our sport. We have in the past year achieved a significant decrease in Rugby League injury rates in comparison to other years. This is a good indication that our Injury Prevention programmes can be effective in our community. A focus on increasing the numbers of trained First Aid Officers, an increased reach of the LeagueSmart programme, and Mandatory accreditations will all assist in achieving our objectives. It was very saddening to see the recent serious injury to Wellington player Penehe Sakaria who fractured his neck making a shoulder charge tackle in a Wellington schools competition. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to Penehe and we re-iterate that shoulder charges and grass cutter tackles are dangerous and are illegal in New Zealand Rugby League. Thanks goes out to the training and management staff and the medical staff involved with this injury in ensuring no further harm occurred giving Penehe every opportunity for a full recovery. International Success – go the KIWIS! What a start to the Gillette Four Nations campaign! And I am sure you will all agree that we hope the Kiwis can maintain their strong performances and come up with a win against England this weekend. It would make for a fantastic Final, and if it is a repeat of the first game with Australia it will have the nation on the edge of their seats. A huge positive is to see that we have such depth of talent in the Kiwis squad, and some of the new young players that are getting game time are really shining, which means the future looks bright.