South Sydney leave Redfern for new $58 million Maroubra headquarters

South Sydney will shift their headquarters, and the club’s Souths Cares community and charity arm, from Redfern.

These are the first images of South Sydney’s new $58 million home.

The Daily Telegraph has exclusively obtained detailed artist impressions of the new Maroubra complex at Heffron Park. Construction work will start in August.

Souths will release the images on Tuesday morning, while a 3D fly-through of the complex, called The Heffron Centre, can be seen at dailytelegraph.com.au.

The Rabbitohs will shift their headquarters, and the club’s Souths Cares community and charity arm, from Redfern when construction is completed by the end of 2022.

Aside from housing Souths, the state-of-the-art facility will include publicly accessible areas such as a cafe, hall of fame, merchandise shop and fan area to view training on an NRL-standard showcase field.

Watch The 2021 NRL Telstra Premiership Live & On-Demand with No Ad-Breaks During Play. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

An exclusive look at the playing field at the Rabbitohs’ new $58 million home.

There will also be a dedicated Souths Cares classroom, lecture theatre, function rooms as well as a community indoor sports centre and gymnastics centre.

“The Heffron Centre will allow us to move our NRL, women’s and NSW Cup teams and administrative, commercial and Souths Cares staff members to one site,” Souths CEO Blake Solly said.

Exclusive First Look at the Heffron Centre Souths centre of excellence

“The rest of our representative pathways programs will use Redfern Oval.

“Importantly, it will also allow us to double the size and reach of our community programs, which have already helped achieve over 400 Aboriginal employment placements, helped young people achieve their HSC and helped over 7600 students with health and wellbeing messages.

“We are intent on ensuring the centre is a facility the club, Randwick Council and community will be very proud of.

An artist’s aerial impression of the expansive Heffron Centre.

“We’re all very excited to see the project move to the next level and the production of these high-resolution images and the fly-through video give us all a fantastic ­insight into how the Heffron Centre will look and operate.”

Randwick Mayor Danny Said said the release of the ­detailed graphics was a significant milestone.

“It’s been a lot of hard work to get to this point and I’m very pleased that we are on the verge of starting construction on what will be the biggest project ever undertaken by Randwick Council,” Said said.

An artist’s impression of the main changerooms at the Maroubra complex.

“This facility is funded by Souths and all three levels of Government and has been seven years in planning.

“It will deliver more than 200 jobs during construction and more than 60 ongoing jobs through the operation of the facility.

“In a testament to Souths’ strong community ties, this is not just a football facility, it’s a community sporting complex with half the facility dedicated to a new state-of-the-art indoor sports centre and gymnastics centre.

Souths’ new centre of excellence will be a true community sporting facility.

“It will be a true community sporting facility for the whole community and provides Souths with the opportunity to expand their Souths Cares community outreach work with our local schools and young people.”

NSW Minister for Sport, Geoff Lee, said the centre would be a “world-class, high-performance” facility.

The reception and cafe section of the Rabbitohs’ state-of-the-art development.

“This facility will support the development of promising young and high-performance male and female players in southeast Sydney, while the dedicated multipurpose ­community facilities will enable the Rabbitohs to expand their community programs, ini­tiatives and engagement,” Lee said.

The multi-purpose gym area where players will spend a lot of their time.

Divine intervention for Souths legend on road to recovery

South Sydney godfather George Piggins has received divine intervention in his battle to overcome a life-threatening infection.

Piggins was sent a heartwarming, handwritten letter of support from Bishop Patrick Powers, a South Sydney fan and Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn.

“I heard the sad news, you have been on my heart and in my prayers,” Powers wrote to Piggins.

And the heavenly help from above may just be working.

Doctors are considering allowing Piggins, 75, to be discharged from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, where he continues to fight a severe lung infection.

Powers was part of the historic fan walk in October, 1999, to help save Souths from extinction.

Up to 100,000 supporters — with Piggins leading the charge — walked from Redfern Oval to Sydney’s Town Hall in protest at Super League’s contempt for Souths.

“George, I never understood the politics which left you ‘on the outer’ with rugby league and our beloved Rabbitohs,” Powers wrote.

South Sydney legend George Piggins has been fighting a severe lung infection.

“But I want you to know that along with many true believers, I will always be grateful for what you did to keep the Rabbitohs going.

“It was a great joy for me to walk with you, Nolene (Piggins’ wife) and 50,000 others from Redfern Oval to the Sydney Town Hall.

“George, I will be 80 in February and in the words of St Thomas More, I look forward to us meeting merrily in heaven.” Powers signed off with: “Please give my love to Nolene. God Bless George.”

While continuing a long fight to regain his health, doctors have been impressed enough with Piggins’ medical progress to consider letting him return home.

Piggins, who has attracted widespread support from the rugby league fraternity through his battle, may be discharged this week.

Just a fortnight ago, Souths champion Craig Coleman said: “This is when George fights the hardest, when there’s a fight on his hands.

“We love him.”