Universal Love From the CEO's Desk 2017

[Aphrodite]

1st one for the year from Trigg:-

Dear Aph,

On the eve of the AFL Premiership Season, I write to thank you in advance for your support in 2017.

It’s been a busier than usual summer, with our women’s team kicking off the new AFLW competition in early February in what turned out to be an incredible night for the new league, and of course, for our club.

We were delighted to be granted an inaugural licence; and to then have the privilege of playing in, and winning, the inaugural AFLW game in front of 25,000 people (plus nearly a million viewers on TV) was huge for the Carlton Football Club, in every way.

Our AFLW team has since had its challenges with a number of injuries, but our women have continued to make us proud – and will only improve as they head into their second season. Come down to Ikon Park today to see their last game against the Brisbane Lions.

Our men’s team is most certainly fit and ready to attack the season ahead. Every team declares it in March, but our group is measurably fitter – and also younger. As we pledged last year, we again put a strong focus on the Draft and we’re really encouraged by what we’ve seen so far from those exciting young draftees. We’re confident that we have, over the past couple of years at the Draft, been able to build long-term depth to our list.

Almost all of our Blues members and supporters will recognise that we’re a younger list again this year. We are continuing to build strong foundations and exposing our youth at an AFL level will bring some inconsistencies at times. That’s the reality of youth. But the other reality is we are developing some real and exciting talent – so we hope that as a member you’ll enjoy seeing that development throughout the season.

It was indeed a privilege to open the women’s competition earlier this year. And it’s a continuing privilege for us to play in, and host the big season opener next Thursday night at the MCG against our old foes, Richmond - in front of a huge crowd!

We hope you can make it; and we look forward to seeing you at the footy in 2017.

Go Blues!

Steven Trigg
CEO, Carlton FC

 

[Soapy V]

Most Important

"As we pledged last year, we again put a strong focus on the Draft and we’re really encouraged by what we’ve seen so far from those exciting young draftees. We’re confident that we have, over the past couple of years at the Draft, been able to build long-term depth to our list."

 

[F_therest]

Did trigg become a new man after joining Carlton? He's been so impressive I have loved everything the club has done since he joined...from getting Bolton and sos and doing a rebuild property, to his great communication in the media and to members.

Did he have a role in us getting an aflw team? If so that's another major tick.

I remember he came with almost a bad reputation with alot of Adelaide fans unhappy with him, but he's done a stellar job for us so far.

 

[chunkylover53]

Pretty sure he was always a good operator for Adelaide and his other business interests, just royally ****ed up with the TIppett thing.

Hasn't put a foot wrong since joining Carlton. Has kept his head down and putting in serious hours.

 

[Navara79]

Dear Navara79

We're already nearly a third of the way through the season, and we continue to make progress. The past fortnight has of course seen two very different results on-field. A heavy loss away, and a really uplifting win at home. While that can obviously test our collective patience, and perhaps mess with your tipping competitions, it's a little symptomatic of the development of our team with such a young and inexperienced group still finding their feet.

Everyone knows we're just one season and six games into a whole new program, and that we currently have a young list. A fortnight ago we fielded seven teenagers, and five of them stayed in the side for our win over the Swans. We've had six AFL debutants already this season, and there are others waiting and working in the wings.

The fact is, with such a young group those inconsistencies are normal. The other challenge in finding a level of consistency is that there's simply been an enormous amount of change to our team. At Adelaide Oval we had 12 different players from the team we fielded against Port just 12 months ago.

We're working as hard as we can to grow and build our performances, but it takes time. What all our members should feel though is a sense of confidence in the depth of talent that we're putting together. Our leadership group continues to grow into their roles, and the players new to our list over the past 18 months have all shown something. The feedback from Blues fans has been they are pleased that they can see the future is bright.

That depth of talent is also partly demonstrated in the way the Northern Blues have started their year in the VFL. It's early, and there’s a long way to go in terms of the physical demands of a full season on a young group, but our performances in the VFL have been markedly better; and more players have solid form which is really pleasing.

As we have stated, we'll again go to the AFL National Draft this year to keep building that depth which will aim to keep us growing and building for what we've been calling sustainable success.

The vast majority of feedback that we receive from our members is that there's a clear appreciation of what our coach Brendon calls the ‘reset’ of our team; and we thank all of our members for that continued support.

We’re closing in on the 50,000 membership mark, and we’re delighted in particular with the growth in our female and family memberships. Again I would like to extend a sincere thank you to you personally for being with us for the 2017 season.

Go Blues!

Steven Trigg
CEO, Carlton FC
Member ID: 37387730


CARLTON FOOTBALL CLUB

blues@carltonfc.com.au | (03) 9387 1400 | carltonfc.com.au

 

[HBF]

Enjoyed reading that.
Thanks for posting.

 

[GoBlues!]

Dear thylacine60,

We're already nearly a third of the way through the season, can you please stop emailing the club on Thursday afternoons and demanding to see the team lists for ****s sake.

Again I would like to extend a sincere thank you to you personally for being with us for the 2017 season.

GoBlues!

Steven Trigg
CEO, Carlton FC
Member ID: 37387730


CARLTON FOOTBALL CLUB

blues@carltonfc.com.au | (03) 9387 1400 | carltonfc.com.au

 

[Bluey24]

Dear thylacine60,

We're already nearly a third of the way through the season, can you please stop emailing the club on Thursday afternoons and demanding to see the team lists for ****s sake.

Again I would like to extend a sincere thank you to you personally for being with us for the 2017 season.

GoBlues!

Steven Trigg
CEO, Carlton FC
Member ID: 37387730


CARLTON FOOTBALL CLUB

blues@carltonfc.com.au | (03) 9387 1400 | carltonfc.com.au

With bated breath, I'm waiting for Thy's reply.............

 

[Aphrodite]

Dear thylacine60,

We're already nearly a third of the way through the season, can you please stop emailing the club on Thursday afternoons and demanding to see the team lists for ****s sake.

Again I would like to extend a sincere thank you to you personally for being with us for the 2017 season.

GoBlues!

Steven Trigg
CEO, Carlton FC
Member ID: 37387730


CARLTON FOOTBALL CLUB

blues@carltonfc.com.au | (03) 9387 1400 | carltonfc.com.au

 

[Foucault1989]

Trigg has not been in the media as much this year. I'm nevertheless impressed with their strong convictions, patience and long term vision. Building for a sustainable future

 

[Aphrodite]

21st July, 2017

Dear Aph,

As you know, going into season 2017 we were determined to keep building on the foundations we set last year and to continue to grow.

With two thirds of the season now gone, we’ve made steady progress and kept moving forward, but we still have an enormous amount of work and development ahead of us.

On-field, it’s been five wins from 16 outings. But I’m proud of the competitiveness of our team, where we’ve led at some stage late in the contest on another five occasions.

I’m also proud of the development of our younger players reflected in six AFL debutants and five Rising Star nominations to date. And I’m proud of the leadership from our senior group who have carried a heavy load and will be required to carry that load right through to the end of the season.

Part of that extra responsibility on our more senior group arises with a growing number of wounded players testing our depth, especially when seven of those players are defenders. But the sense of pride also extends to the resilience of the group too, so it provides us an opportunity to expose and develop more players throughout the last six rounds.

Our AFLW team has been bolstered ahead of the 2018 season by an aggressive approach to our list management that has landed marquee players Tayla Harris (Brisbane) and Nicola Stevens (Collingwood), and we’re already looking forward to season two of AFL Women’s.

Off-field we had an obvious setback with one of our co-major partners going into administration soon after the season commenced. We’ll report more specifically on the effect of that later in the year, but it left a significant gap in this year’s financials - a gap which we’ve worked hard to fill. To CUB (in particular) and Virgin Australia (which stepped up into the co-major position alongside Hyundai), we’re extraordinarily grateful. If you don’t fly Virgin, please do: it’s a great company!

We’re also working hard on growing and expanding on a number of our other vital partnerships and will have more to report as the season progresses.

There’s also been a bit of publicity recently concerning a re-development of Ikon Park. We’ve touched on this previously, and it obviously has been some time in the making, but we are still working towards establishing our home as a key boutique stadium of around 25,000 and as the go-to venue for women’s football. In due course, we will be able to be more definitive about what an upgrade might look like.

At the time of writing, we’ve just passed the 50,000 member mark and on behalf of everyone at the Club, I want to thank you for being an important part of that number.

The strength of support is also appreciated in terms of our crowd numbers this year which have risen, on average (currently) to over 40,000 per game. We’re obviously still striving to be as inclusive as we possibly can, and to live up to the 'Bound By Blue’ mantra. With our membership, crowds, members’ attendance at training sessions and various events, as well as direct feedback, there’s a growing sense of that inclusion, so thank you for being part of it.

We have a challenging final six weeks of the season proper ahead of us, but we’re looking forward to it, and I hope you can make it to our big home games against Geelong and Hawthorn.

Go Blues!

Regards,

Steven Trigg
CEO, Carlton FC
Member ID: 37387730