NLFC September News

Congratulations to Zane and Katarina Littlejohn who welcomed their first child, Boyd Parker. Well done guys !

One very cute little fellow

Congratulation to all the players, coaches and the many people who have worked tirelessly in helping the club's three teams make the finals.

Although the hard work is not finished and without attempting to get ahead of ourselves we must recognise one of our Key Performance Indicators set at the beginning of the year has been met.

Playing finals footy is only achieved when likeminded individuals commit and apply all of their energies targeted towards team goals.

Let’s all enjoy the experience of participating in the finals

As President of our famous and traditional club it is timely to remind everyone - and I mean everyone associated with the club on and off the field of our obligations to uphold the high standards set by our predecessors that has helped forge our clubs reputation.

The club has been questioned recently by AFL-Tas in respect to incidents and matters pertaining to behaviour unbecoming directed at some of our supporters.

Save and accept football is a passionate game therefore it is easy to become caught up in the moment. It is important we all demonstrate good character regardless of the circumstances or provocation.

The basics are as follows:

We play to win, we play hard but fair.
We respect our opposition and welcome and enjoy fierce on field competition.
We are leaders on and off the field in promoting sportsmanship
We know how to act professionally and appropriately regardless if we win or loose
Our supporters represent our club and we expect them to embrace the clubs values
We accept and our proud of the fact through our 121 years of building a successful club some in the community cheer for us to fail

A very exciting time for everyone at the Club as we head into the finals for 2014.

For those members, supporters and sponsors who have stood by us in the tough times, we thank you very much. Our players and coaching staff are to be commended on the progression we have made over the past several years. We are now reaping the rewards, and hoping to top it off with a finals appearance.

Let's all get behind the boys.

All players, members, sponsors and supporters are invited to attend the 2014 Trophy Presentation Luncheon. This is our opportunity to thank the players, coaches and support staff for their tremendous effort throughout the season,and pay tribute to those who have excelled.

Tickets are $40.00 person (from the Club), or you can book and pay online for $42.40. Your confirmation and tickets will be emailed direct to your inbox.

We look forward to seeing you all at the luncheon

Paul Holmes

Since our last report following Round 4, we have seen a number of challenges throughout the Clubs Football Department that has tested our depth and ability to adapt to varying roles. We have been tested as a group at all levels with injuries and teams altering from week to week due to Mariner, Representative and School commitments. It is fair to say that the group have responded well and in the main weathered the challenges well with all grades set for some exciting finals rounds.

From an individual point of view, we have also seen some great milestones since our last report, with Daniel Roozendaal playing his 100th game, Taylor Whitford playing his 50th game and Allan O’Sign extending on his life membership by surpassing 200 games. Congratulations to each of these players on their individual achievements.

Once again the TSL is facing changes to its competition. Since inception in 2009 the make-up of the competition has changed annually, generally lead by AFL-Tasmania and not supported by its ten participating clubs.

Adopting recommendations out of a report into football in the North West, penned by AFL General Manger of Community Nick Probert the NTFL ratified it would allow both the Devonport and Burnie football clubs to re-enter their competition conditional upon the clubs only fielding a senior side in the TSL.

From our clubs perspective we were very disappointed. Firstly the Probert report did not consider the impact on the TSL and in particular the Launceston based TSL clubs who rely upon Devonport and Burnie for competition as they play each other three times per season and secondly that AFL-Tasmania in full knowledge of the Probert report failed to communicate with our club, failed to protect the overall TSL competition or take any leadership role in bringing the stakeholders together to determine alternative strategies.

AFL-Tasmania elected to sit idle taking the position the clubs would sort the issues out.

Currently the situation as we know it is this:

Devonport and Burnie will only field a senior side each in the TSL from 2015.

After intense lobbying arising out of the TSL Presidents joining together AFL-Tas has distributed a draft 8 team Development League fixture which has been rejected by TSL clubs because it involved clubs teams being separated, gala days held at neutral country grounds and playing on the weekend the senor side has a bye.

In an attempt to find a home for 3 sides the clubs Committee of Management wrote to AFL-Tas offering to investigate fielding two Development League sides in season 2015 and beyond. We placed conditions on this proposal. At the time of writing we do not have the support from AFL-Tas to continue to investigate this option.

TSL club presidents have jointly written to AFL-Tas requesting a meeting to discuss the matters below. At the time of writing it appears AFL-Tas are reluctant to meet, preferring to respond in writing (not yet sighted).

We will continue to represents the interests of our club as best we can and undertake to keep all stakeholders appraised of any further developments.

Our club has invested in a modern mobile food trailer designed to sell gourmet sausages and steaks. We have the operation up and running inclusive of preferred suppliers and a pool of skilled casual staff. We have secured and been successful in providing our services at AFL games at Aurora Stadium having built up an excellent reputation with many repeat customers.

We now seek a manager / couple to take this operation to the next level by securing additional opportunities around Tasmania.

We have a ready made business, all the backup administrative skills, the casual staff and the purchasing power, all you need to provide is front line management, basic marketing and a willingness to work hard under pressure.

A generous profit share is on offer.

This opportunity would ideally suit a person/s with a proven hospitality or retail background looking to be their own boss but without taking the risk of finding the cash to invest in all the infrastructure.

Interested parties can contact Thane Brady on 0418 130 005

A very special thank you to our volunteer Photographer Andrew Woodgate, who attends most of our games and provides us with fantastic images.

We know that the players, parents and supporters all enjoy these great images. Links are generally provided via the Club's facebook page - if you have not liked our page, simply like us on our official page

Latest images can be viewed here

Apologies if you have difficulty in reading this newsletter. My test email showed small print. Despite trying to fix this, it does not want to appear to want to correct itself.