Bulldogs battle: Why Canterbury need to move on from 86 years of tradition
The man charged with rebuilding Parramatta from the ashes of the 2016 salary cap scandal says it’s time for Canterbury to move on from 86 years of tradition.
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Canterbury’s family club mantra had holes punched through it the day the Bulldogs’ trainer of 37 years Garry Carden was sacked by email earlier this year.
The club’s “family values” were invisible then, and now it’s the time for Canterbury to make it official by leaving the family behind and finally end decades of boardroom turmoil.
That’s the opinion of the man charged with rebuilding Parramatta from the ashes of the 2016 salary cap scandal.
Max Donnelly, parachuted in as chair when the Eels were in the throes of a scandal that would ultimately cost them $1 million and 12 premiership points, has been shaking his head this week.
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The boardroom assassination of chair Lynne Anderson and directors Paul Dunn and John Ballesty on Wednesday has thrown the Bulldogs’ dirty laundry back on to the streets of Belmore.
Another faction, another power struggle from the corridors and more instability for the football team to play under.
It’s an almost yearly event. And fans wonder why the Bulldogs finished 15th this year. Twelfth in 2019. Twelfth in 2018.
Donnelly has watched on, knowing this storyline all too well, but also holding the answer for Canterbury is in what he did at the Eels.
“I‘m looking at it and going, ‘wow — this is just a complete re-run of Parramatta,” he said.
Donnelly was appointed chair of the Eels after the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority board ruled that Parramatta Leagues Club directors had ceased to be effective as a governing body.
The same directors sat on the football club board, so the entire Eels administration was wiped. What Donnelly immediately recognised inside the Eels was factions, nepotism and old footballers shouldn’t have a seat inside a boardroom.
“The current (Eels) board has been appointed by me and they’re all not from a faction and they’re all business-minded and add something to the board,’’ Donnelly said.
“You have to have a skill-based board.
“Really, do you want a board of former footballers? That doesn’t make sense.
“I’m not anti-footballers, but in this day and age, the Bulldogs — if they’re anything like Parramatta — would turn over close to a billion dollars a year.
“(Former Eels chairman) Steve Sharp’s heart was in the club, no question. But he can’t run a billion-dollar business.
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“Sitting in the background, watching the Bulldogs, it’s exactly the same as Parramatta, accepting they’ve done nothing illegal.
“I’ve had a couple of people say to me, ‘You should go and fix the Bulldogs’... but I told them, I can’t do that.
“But the problem is absolutely identical. Constant factions, constant former players and previous directors looking for an angle to agitate.”
Donnelly delivered the Eels most significant governance reform undertaken in the club’s 70-year history. That’s important for the Bulldogs to know due to their own 86-year history.
It can be done.
Parramatta’s new club constitution included a mandate that all directors of the club be independent. No Eels director could land a seat at the table if they had been a director before.
“That is one way I could eliminate these tickets and factions,‘’ Donnelly said.
“They had to all wear it because they could then see the other blokes they fight and hate can’t get on (the board) as well.”
The Eels board that replaced the old included executives from three of Australia’s biggest companies, Telstra, Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank, along with representatives from the public sector and a former online betting boss.
And on the field, the Eels are where the Dogs only dream of being.
Former Wests Tigers CEO Grant Mayer was at the helm of the Tigers when previous NRL boss Dave Smith announced major changes to the corporate governance of the club in an attempt to stabilise the club. Those changes are still under heavy review.
However, under changes driven by the NRL, the Wests Tigers board was revamped, with the appointment of three independent directors, including an independent chairman.
Mayer, who was CEO of Manly during their 2008 premiership and has spent the past three years in charge of the South Australian Jockey Club, has also watched the Bulldogs calamity from afar with an understanding of what impact major reform can have on a sporting club.
“I think every club, irrespective of what code you’re talking about, needs a degree of independence,’’ Mayer said.
“It’s not to diminish the history of the club. It’s about bringing a fresh set of eyes and ears to a situation that has developed from a sport into a big business over a long time.
“Historically, we always used to say the ‘Bulldogs family’ and that‘s the way it goes, but it’s got to a stage now where the impact on the football team is clear.
“It needs to get a stage now that they rectify it.
“The right of entitlement because you played 150 first-grade games, I get it. I appreciate what these guys achieved on the football field.
“But it doesn’t give them the right to walk into a boardroom where you‘re making multi-million dollar decisions for the future of that club.’’