Dear Members, Fans and Supporters,
As we close out the 2024 season and look forward to a new chapter in our Club’s rich history, I want to take this opportunity to mark some recent highlights and provide an update on Board changes for 2025.
Next month, the all-important NRL pre-season work begins when Jason Ryles and his new coaching team kick off training on November 1. This is such an exciting opportunity for us as Jason, ably supported by his new Assistant Coaches, works to build and shape a new era for our Club. You would have also seen that we have been building out our NRL and NRLW squads for 2025 and we will have some further announcements on this in the coming weeks.
As Jason said when he arrived, this work will be about redefining our culture, bringing our Club closer to our community, and giving our players the environment to enable them to be consistently at their best.
Whilst next year’s focus will be on improving our on-field performances, the Club is acutely aware of the need to deliver greater engagement opportunities for the Eels community and the plans for this are well underway.
In addition to the Members forum that I spoke about a few weeks ago, we now have confirmed our community training events at both Fairfield in November and Granville in December that will see our players and coaches coming together with our Members and fans.
Future stability
In recent days, I have received some questions from supporters seeking clarity on issues relating to our Club and the proposal for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of our parent company, the Parramatta Leagues Club.
Most of you know our troubled history, but for those who don’t here is a brief snapshot: in 2016 an Administrator was appointed by the NSW Government to oversee the Club after six dark years of scandal and factionalism that almost brought the Eels to its knees.
That Administrator put in place a new structure, creating the two entities of Parramatta Leagues Club (PLC) and Parramatta National Rugby League Club Pty Limited (PNRL or the Eels), each with separate constitutions, Boards and management teams.
The PLC Board has no day-to-day involvement with the operations of PNRL including football matters and equally the PNRL Board is not involved with the financial or operational decisions of the PLC.
Since then, the management teams and boards of PLC and PNRL have worked incredibly hard to move the Clubs forward and ensure we don’t return to those damaging days.
Unfortunately, this EGM proposal, driven by many associated with the factionalism of the past, threatens to do just that.
In terms of the Eels, our Constitution was created to provide strong governance, protect Members and ensure ongoing Board renewal. (You can read more about the PNRL Constitution here.)
Board changes in 2025
Under the PNRL Constitution, the Board consists of 7 board members. PLC can nominate 2 directors which must be approved by the PNRL Nominations Committee.
The remaining 5 directors, known as External Directors, are identified and recommended by the PNRL Nominations Committee to the PNRL Board for approval. External Directors can serve a maximum term of nine years.
Since 2017, four External Directors have retired. One in 2018, two in January 2023 and one more in May 2024.
By the end of 2025 we will have two more retirements, including myself as chairman and fellow director Vicki Leaver, resulting in all the original External Directors having retired by year end 2025. That is, a full turnover of the PNRL Board as envisaged by those who drew up the constitution.
These retirements obviously create vacancies, and the PNRL Board recently decided to engage an external search firm to help us identify potential new External Directors.
This process will include public advertising for the positions (as has occurred previously), inviting any interested individuals, who meet the skills criteria (or ‘matrix’ as it’s called) to apply. (You can read more about the PNRL’s skills matrix here.)
To ensure that there is genuine board renewal, past PLC and PNRL Board directors are not eligible for appointment as External Directors onto the PNRL Board.
It is vital we have the right people, with the right experience and knowledge, to drive the future of the Eels and I can assure all Members that our search process is rigorous.
As always, thank you for your support. On behalf of the PNRL Board, we will continue to look for ways to improve and strengthen our connection with our Club’s most important assets – our Members, fans and supporters.
Yours sincerely,
Sean McElduff
Chairman, Parramatta Eels
Member #1478883
