News Don Pyke appointed next CEO commencing Jan 15

[Keys]

Enough with the welcome to country discussion

This isn’t the SRP board and it’s not relevant to Pyke’s appointment

 

[FKASC]

Hope we will be winning all the home games next year.

Unless there’s a good draft pick on the line

 

[TheGhostOfJohnBelushi]

Looking forward to Pyke raising us back to our true level and bringing fear and intimidation to our opponents.

"Somebody farted..."

 

[KERRPOW]

As Chris_6678 posted above Pyke mentioned he’s spent 2 years at the club in the last twenty - 2014/15 as an assistant coach

So he’s known to the club but hardly a part of its fabric

As for the collective minds stuff and that camp I’m looking at that as a lesson learned because he’s hardly likely to make that mistake again.

Couple that with 3 years at Sydney who are the gold standard of administration within the AFL and who’ve got someone with a very well rounded resume for a CEO

You learn more from mistakes & failures than your successes.

 

[RookiePick]

View attachment 1845061

"Somebody farted..."

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

I've got a BCom from UWA and didn't even get an interview. Sheesh!

Did you quote your Claremont membership number?

 

[kempy]

Enough with the welcome to country discussion

This isn’t the SRP board and it’s not relevant to Pyke’s appointment

You should have deleted that original post.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[TheGhostOfJohnBelushi]

View attachment 1845073

 

[The Falcon Strike]

I know I am coming into this late - but i dont see what history or experience Don Pyke has to make him CEO of a football club.

Sure he has considerable and contemporary football skills - makes him viable for Director of Football style role.

BUt when was his last business leadership role?

 

[WCErevival]

I know I am coming into this late - but i dont see what history or experience Don Pyke has to make him CEO of a football club.

Sure he has considerable and contemporary football skills - makes him viable for Director of Football style role.

BUt when was his last business leadership role?

Has run 2 oil and gas companies apparently.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Has run 2 oil and gas companies apparently.

In the last 10 years?

Just wondering what experience he has managing stakeholders, diversifying revenue streams, managing sponsorship contracts etc.

 

[Truckosaurus]

In the last 10 years?

Just wondering what experience he has managing stakeholders, diversifying revenue streams, managing sponsorship contracts etc.

He was in business until we convinced him to coach in 2014 (13?). He also won't be solely responsible for these things but will have executive support. Also, the Eagles are not a hugely difficult corporate gig in Perth.

 

[Rowan18]

In the last 10 years?

Just wondering what experience he has managing stakeholders, diversifying revenue streams, managing sponsorship contracts etc.

Built ran and sold a few businesses.

Was then on the west coast board.

A lot of the skills you pick up from senior coaching would also transfer directly to the role (leadership, stakeholder management, media management etc).

Given footy clubs are fairly small (classed as a medium sized business) so I also think it's quite valuable to have a leader with a firm technical grounding (in this case, knowing how the play and coach football).

 

[Keys]

I know I am coming into this late - but i dont see what history or experience Don Pyke has to make him CEO of a football club.

Sure he has considerable and contemporary football skills - makes him viable for Director of Football style role.

BUt when was his last business leadership role?

Think about West Coast Eagles as an organisation right at the moment. As in where do their strengths and weaknesses lie

Commercially, the club is fine. Has a loyal and consistent revenue stream from members, supporters and corporate sponsorship. They actually have more money than they know what to do with to the point where the club’s investment income dwarfs that of most, if not all, other clubs

The performance of all three teams on field has been woeful for the last 2-3 years

Do you think the CEO needs a stronger football background than a commercial one or would it be better to have someone with a strong commercial background but less of a football one

Then line those up with Don Pyke’s skillset who has by the way operated successfully in the corporate world albeit not for the last decade thereabouts

How much commercial experience do you think Trevor Nisbett had when he became CEO after being football manager for 10 years before his appointment

Have a listen to his press conference and subsequent interviews in the media and a quick dive into his history since retiring from playing in 1996. It’s like he was laboratory built to be the CEO of the West Coast Eagles

 

[Seadog]

What i hear from family member at Channel 7 is that the Board initially baulked at Pyke because he has a very downbeat view of the state of the club, the list and the output/performance of various departments and wanted a lot of leeway to make a lot of changes. The Board, even though they stopped saying it publicly a year ago, still subscribed to the Nisbett mantra of how all the problems are external and temporary. I was initially wondering who blinked after he was appointed but after watching the presser it is clear that it is the Board who have blinked. Pyke would not take the job unless the Board was onboard with how he sees things and what he wants to do. I expect he will be limited in the changes he can make for next season given it will be mid January when he takes over. But the people working at the club, including the long timers, will all be getting the message that they better perform and start driving improvement or they will be gone at the end of next year. No more mulligans like under Nisbett.

That came through in several moments where he made statements about "driving improvement" and "focussing on the things you can control". That was 180 degrees different from Nisbett who were very guarded and defensive in media engagements in their words, tone and body language and kept coming back to Covid and injuries. His comments and tone when asked about how long the road back is and when we will make finals again also indicated that he has a much more glass is half empty view than Nisbett did. All of that is music to my ears. Finally somebody with a grasp of reality in charge. And somebody with authority who is not conflicted and needing to defend and deny previous mistakes to protect their own ego.

I seem to recall not so long ago you told us no one would be appointed until after next season and previous announcements by Nisbett to the contrary were just to deflect some of the heat.
Excuse me while I get some salt.

 

[Keys]

Official AFL Website of the West Coast Eagles

The Official AFL Website of the West Coast Eagles

www.westcoasteagles.com.au

Links here to interviews with Pyke on SEN (one with I think Maher and Gaze, the other with Gossage and Cummings) and on 6PR with Adam Papalia

They’re all worth listening to

One point common to all 3 interviews was that he first started thinking about applying when Nisbett did that “retirement” press conference that was widely mocked

As cheesy and self serving as it was given he was vague on exactly when he’d go, it was the catalyst to bring Pyke to the club.

So it worked and i honestly think that’s what the intention of the press conference was - not Pyke necessarily, but to get potential candidates to consider putting their name forward

 

[donpyke92]

Official AFL Website of the West Coast Eagles

The Official AFL Website of the West Coast Eagles

www.westcoasteagles.com.au

Links here to interviews with Pyke on SEN (one with I think Maher and Gaze, the other with Gossage and Cummings) and on 6PR with Adam Papalia

They’re all worth listening to

One point common to all 3 interviews was that he first started thinking about applying when Nisbett did that “retirement” press conference that was widely mocked

As cheesy and self serving as it was given he was vague on exactly when he’d go, it was the catalyst to bring Pyke to the club.

So it worked and i honestly think that’s what the intention of the press conference was - not Pyke necessarily, but to get potential candidates to consider putting their name forward

Thanks for posting that.
The SEN Melb Nov 2 was especially a good listen

 

[Monocle]

I know I am coming into this late - but i dont see what history or experience Don Pyke has to make him CEO of a football club.

Sure he has considerable and contemporary football skills - makes him viable for Director of Football style role.

BUt when was his last business leadership role?

Some people go through life and are never happy.

The malcontent attitude prevails and they go through life telling everyone that " life is not fair " and live their life accordingly, then when they die the epitaph on their headstone reads "I was Right ".

 

[flamingEMBERS]

What experience did Tom Harley have before being CEO of Swans

 

[larrikin]

Think about West Coast Eagles as an organisation right at the moment. As in where do their strengths and weaknesses lie

Commercially, the club is fine. Has a loyal and consistent revenue stream from members, supporters and corporate sponsorship. They actually have more money than they know what to do with to the point where the club’s investment income dwarfs that of most, if not all, other clubs

The performance of all three teams on field has been woeful for the last 2-3 years

Do you think the CEO needs a stronger football background than a commercial one or would it be better to have someone with a strong commercial background but less of a football one

Then line those up with Don Pyke’s skillset who has by the way operated successfully in the corporate world albeit not for the last decade thereabouts

How much commercial experience do you think Trevor Nisbett had when he became CEO after being football manager for 10 years before his appointment

Have a listen to his press conference and subsequent interviews in the media and a quick dive into his history since retiring from playing in 1996. It’s like he was laboratory built to be the CEO of the West Coast Eagles

Agreed fully.

And I'd add that the criticism of our board is that it has been too business/commercial focussed with a lack of "football people" on it.

I think between the CEO and Board we have a nice mix.

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

Think about West Coast Eagles as an organisation right at the moment. As in where do their strengths and weaknesses lie

Commercially, the club is fine. Has a loyal and consistent revenue stream from members, supporters and corporate sponsorship. They actually have more money than they know what to do with to the point where the club’s investment income dwarfs that of most, if not all, other clubs

The performance of all three teams on field has been woeful for the last 2-3 years

Do you think the CEO needs a stronger football background than a commercial one or would it be better to have someone with a strong commercial background but less of a football one

Then line those up with Don Pyke’s skillset who has by the way operated successfully in the corporate world albeit not for the last decade thereabouts

How much commercial experience do you think Trevor Nisbett had when he became CEO after being football manager for 10 years before his appointment

Have a listen to his press conference and subsequent interviews in the media and a quick dive into his history since retiring from playing in 1996. It’s like he was laboratory built to be the CEO of the West Coast Eagles

Fair summation, only change now needed would be to accelerate the removal of chair from Paul Fitzpatrick to Elizabeth Gaines. I know Paul and he is not a natural leader and a small pop with little fizz compared to his brother.

That would leave the board with Gaines, Langer, Wyatt, Bowen, Moody and Jones. It feel a little light on with numbers and I quite like the idea of Woosher bringing football nous. I would also be fine in picking one of the stronger WAFL presidents on the Board.. Someone like Mark Stewart from the Sharks, Grant Povey from Tigers, or Neal Fong from the Garlic Munchers.

I would also want to make sure that Trev stays away from the Board for at least another 5 or so years.

In terms of commercial aspects, that is our strength. What it needs is a decent on field performances and the coffers will stay full .

To put it into perspective, a mate of mine went from position 7,850 last year in the waiting list to position 6,700 this year. After such a crap 2.5 seasons, our members are staying fat. That means Optus will continue to be sold out enough to make us wealthy.

 

[Farang83150]

Fair summation, only change now needed would be to accelerate the removal of chair from Paul Fitzpatrick to Elizabeth Gaines. I know Paul and he is not a natural leader and a small pop with little fizz compared to his brother.

That would leave the board with Gaines, Langer, Wyatt, Bowen, Moody and Jones. It feel a little light on with numbers and I quite like the idea of Woosher bringing football nous. I would also be fine in picking one of the stronger WAFL presidents on the Board.. Someone like Mark Stewart from the Sharks, Grant Povey from Tigers, or Neal Fong from the Garlic Munchers.

I would also want to make sure that Trev stays away from the Board for at least another 5 or so years.

In terms of commercial aspects, that is our strength. What it needs is a decent on field performances and the coffers will stay full .

To put it into perspective, a mate of mine went from position 7,850 last year in the waiting list to position 6,700 this year. After such a crap 2.5 seasons, our members are staying fat. That means Optus will continue to be sold out enough to make us wealthy.

Wow, there's a name I haven't heard since jnr footy....Grant Povey.... Swanbourne...yellow boots

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

Wow, there's a name I haven't heard since jnr footy....Grant Povey.... Swanbourne...yellow boots

He has done a pretty good job at Claremont - place is humming and club is in the black with probably best facilities in WAFL

 

[Farang83150]

He has done a pretty good job at Claremont - place is humming and club is in the black with probably best facilities in WAFL

I was Dalkeith/Nedys, we used to kick their asses, he was a real show pony back then and didn't handle loosing well at all, always a big dummy spot

 

[amazingjoshy]

January 25, 2024

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to you all and let’s enjoy a great season for our club in 2024.

I officially commenced as your CEO last week and I am super excited by the opportunity to lead this great club. There is plenty to do, much to improve on and a time to look forward with a fresh set of eyes on all areas and bring a positive mindset of what can be achieved.

As I enter, we say farewell to Trevor Nisbett, an incredible leader of our football club and a significant figure in the entire history of the West Coast Eagles. Trevor has overseen significant success and transformation of this club. The establishment and move of our Subiaco home, to the move to Optus Stadium, the building of a world class facility at Mineral Resources Park in Lathlain and our entry into the AFLW competition – all achieved with seven grand final appearances and four AFL premierships. Trevor is truly one of our great and loyal servants, a champion of the West Coast Eagles and we wish him and his wife Pam the very best in the future.

I take this opportunity to thank all our members and corporate partners for your loyalty and for signing up for the season ahead. We appreciate your passion and commitment to our club, your investment in us and staying part of the team as we push for success. It means a lot!!

The on-field performances across our teams have been poor in recent seasons and this is a key priority and focus for us all. We will do better, we will get better and we will get back to winning football games.

It's also great to have Daisy Pearce on board as our AFLW coach and I know through our conversations that her passion and drive will make a wonderful impact on our women’s program and a massive impact on girls playing the game in Western Australia.

Talent-wise we have added significantly in recent drafts and it's going to be exciting to see how these players develop and adapt to the demands of the AFL and AFLW games. There is a lot of work to do, but investment in youth has always been a strong pillar of the club and served us well over many years.

Our next big event is our Fan Day on Saturday, February 10 and I encourage as many of you as possible to get along and see and meet the players and feel the energy that we are taking into Season 2024.

In concluding, we are a football club, and our priority is and always should be football. In doing this we want to look after our band of loyal and passionate fans and give people a great experience and feeling by being associated and involved at the West Coast Eagles.

Time to roll up the sleeves and get to work.

Go Eagles!

Don's first email to members. Bolded probably didn't need to be said but I'm glad he said it