Hawthorn CEO Ashley Klein joined Brent to discuss the importance of AFL high performance centres and the Hawks' future in the state once the Devils arrive.
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SEN Tassie
Hawthorn CEO Ashley Klein (15/07/24)
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Well done on the win on the weekend here in Tasmania, of course, against free men, or really tough opposition, but your hawks, they're just going beautifully in 2024. Yeah, we certainly, as you guys know, we certainly love our time down Tassie now. I think our win loss record down there now is climbing almost 80%. So another nail bladder on the weekend, but we were pretty fortunate that we came over the chocolates and pretty heartful contest for our great team. Now, boys, we're up with the outcome of the win. And the crowd was pretty excited about it as well, I think. I'll ask you a bit later about your future here in Tasmania, but yeah, the fortress that's become a Utah stadium is just extraordinary, isn't it? Yeah, it's amazing. We've been now 24 years there, and I think it's a win loss ratio, but we're just there about 80%. Now, we're having some good teams and good paddles there. This year, I think most of the games have been under 10 points. In terms of the outcome. So we love it. The boys are really familiar with the ground down there. They love the obviously the crowd and just getting there 24 hours, or they've got these excited prior settling in, going for the coffee for the morning and Lonnie and then going play the game. Yeah, fantastic. Now, the main reason we've got you on today is to have a chat about high performance centres, because it's such a big topic here in Tasmania at the moment. First of all, before I ask you about Dingley, in your words, what is a high performance centre? I think it's actually a bit of everything. It's an opportunity. You know, there's 18 clubs. We're all trying to get the 1% on the field. We're also trying to get the 1% off the field as well in terms of it. They're a tangible outcome that can better the other clubs. So from a performance point of view, it's giving our athletes both our men's and our women's programs, but then also our coaching staff, our staff, the best availability, whether it be the gym, the recovery areas, the ovals, as I said, the admin facilities. So that's the general gist of it. But also, it's got to be a bit broader than that. It's got to be a place where your members and your fans are excited to be part of, to come down, to engage with it. And then furthermore, the broader community as well. So we've been really fortunate. We're coming up to, this will be our third home, in a sense, we've had to learn free overall. There was certainly great for the eastern suburbs area and the heartland of Glaufel on where we were founded. Then all of a sudden, the move out to Waverly, that's then growing into what it has become today. You know, there's housing all through the estate here. There's shops, there's community engagement, and then we're trying to do the same out of Dingley. It'll be somewhat different and bring the community and engage with our members and their fans to be part of it as well. Yeah, so take us into the tent if you can. What's Dingley going to look like? I think you bought the piece of land back in 2016, so planning since then. And just give us an update on how it might look. Yeah, it can be a bit of a slow boom, but I think sometimes if you gather with ace with these type of things, you can certainly make some mistakes. So it's certainly been a long time of the making, certainly a vision of the previous board and regime and a great future foresight, I guess. Knowing that Waverly and Parky and Bundle Baguaro has been a major facility. We've been able to adapt it to what it's been today, including the addition of our AFLW team. But as I mentioned before, it is landlocked. We've got all the housing and estates around it. We can't get another over here. Our training facility within the club and the admin side of things is probably been our throne. So what Dingley provides is a huge amount of growth and expansion. Our program there, we're going to be doing it in different stages. The stage one is the elite, the Harris ETAF, elite training facility there. So it's going to be perfect for our men's and women's program. It's our staff, as I mentioned, brand new area for them to run a market and have the best of the facilities from an admin perspective. We're going to have an indoor training facility there, about 50 metres, so the players can warm up inside. And then a couple of oval. So we've got the main men's oval, which is MCG sized. And then we've got AFLW oval, which is also part of community offering that we'll have as well. Attached to that oval is also an AFLW, the community grants at Baguillaian as well. So there's going to be everything there for not only the players. As I said, the staff and the coaches, but the broader community and their members and fans. Fantastic. As you said, it's the 1%. It isn't. You just need to keep up with the rest of the competition who are building places like this as well, because you'll just fall off the pace if you don't. Yeah, I think it was only about 10 years ago, where Volhul was probably number one. If it wasn't number one, I was in the top three of the training facilities within the competition. And then everyone gets better opportunities or expansion within their own area. And as I said, it is, you've got to be very mindful, basically as much as anything else, with it's obviously a member-owned club. And so it's really important is to make sure that you do things properly, but the other part too is you want to make sure that you do those 1% is and you hear about the terminology on the field, but it's certainly the same thing off the field. So we're probably now probably languishing in the bottom couple of our training facilities, after that, after I said being number one, 10 years ago. And when you see the likes of what West Coast Eagles, obviously there's Brisbane Lions and other clubs have done over the last few years. This is again the foresight with our previous board and benefactors that have seen that back in 2016-2017, were actually extended before that. The land was acquired in time, but the foresight was done 5-10 years prior to that. A few challenges we're having to navigate through here with our High Performance Centre. At the moment of you had similar issues over in Melbourne, trying to get things done out at Dingley? I think really from what we did very start is, we really made sure that you engaged the community out there. So you certainly keep our again, first and foremost, our members and our fans in Ford. Keep them updated with where we're at. We do that even now, we do that almost all that weekly, if it's not a weekly basis, a fortnightly basis, giving them updates, giving them an overview from President, myself, but also the optics of it as well. The build now is progressing really quickly since turning side in February. So that update and that constant communication to members is advanced and important, but it also is the local community as well. So again, for several years, the management team in particular and our board are being very cognizant to make sure that at the local council there, which is a different council to what we don't hear right now at the front of the door, it really kept well-informed across all the detail. And when you see other projects around the area, probably not doing the same, you really get that positive impact back from the global community instead of making sure they're informed and updated. And he sort of touched on this a little bit earlier, but I think a lot of people see these big buildings and grounds with clubs, names and logos sort of plastered on them and feel like they're off limits to the public. So just bring us some information on what this can actually do for people in the community. Yeah, again, you've probably seen over the journey of the four thorns progression of the poem. So Glenn Ferry, although it was never owned by the club, which is something that some people will even members and fans don't pull across. There's obviously it's always been owned by the council there, but that was always a haven for people to come down and be part of it, join in, use the oval, share facilities there. The same has been the same here with Waverly Park too, so the opportunity the oval is community use oval, community groups, kids, families are always using it every other time when the players aren't on it, so it's not locked off. It doesn't have fencing around it. They can come down the only thing they can't do is walk their dogs or their cats on the oval. But it's always been a community-based offering, not just of the book I'm offering. And then beyond that, I said here we've got shops, cafes, our merchandise shop, we've got our museums come to. And so when we think we feel exactly the same, we want it to be part of not only an opportunity for the members and fans to come down just like they do with a bunch of the core of it, but also the local community too. So as I mentioned before, there's the community pavilion that's going to have education offerings, classroom offerings, and a function centre. The local ovals there said their football grounds are hard to come by nationally, but particularly in Victoria. So our ovals are going to be accessible to the local community. The city of Kingston, we've already got a partnership with them there. And that is already a set amount of use as a minimum that we'll be providing back to the community to accommodate that. That's our stage one. Our stage two will be the opportunity potentially for basketball courts. So a high ball facility, an allied health offering as well. And again, potentially more ovals. It's a pretty big block of land there. So we're really engaged like that. The name of the centre is the Kennedy Community Centre. It's for that reason, obviously. Our esteemed former coach, John Handie, but on the other parties, it's a connection to the broader community, both for our members and fans and also the greater city of Kingston area. Ash clients, my guest here on the Devil's Advocate this afternoon. Ash is the CEO of the Hawthorne Footy Club. Ash, obviously the Devil's coming into the competition in 2028. How is the rest of the club feeling about it? Yeah, we've been really supportive. I've been at the club now for six years. And we've been nothing but supportive of the team. We've loved our time in Tassie. We continue to love our time in Tassie for as long as that lasts. It's said 24 years this year and celebrating 25 next year. But we've worked really closely with the advisory board there, with the Devils. And we've been supportive from the get-go as to what the team brings. No doubt to the community but to the greater AFL competitions as well. Such a big crowd in Launceston on the weekend. You could be forgiven for not pulling one against an interstate. So I'd like Freemanna and a lot of local footy on. So clearly there's so much support for Hawthorne here in Tasmania. What does your future look like here beyond 2028? Yeah, we're not exactly sure at this point in time that we're certainly having our open mind with it and having really good open conversations with the government, with the city of Launceston down there. Like the partnership hasn't just been with the state government. It's certainly been with the city of Launceston, the new CEO there. And we caught up with him on the weekend with the mayor. Whether it's this regime, whether it's previous regime, there's always been this constant connection and feeling of positivity between both partners. And we know the cafes love it. We know the restaurants love it. We hope and we aim to have some type of connection with Tasmania and Launceston in particular in the future. What that looks like now is probably too early for us to tell. But we've got 8,000 plus members there. And we want to serve them as we have for the last 24 years. I just say conversations still ongoing. So it is hard to talk about. But obviously the Tasmanian government put in a significant amount of money. To make this happen, that'll be redirected to our footy club. Is there a way around it for the Hawthorne footy club to come down here without the government support, do you think? Yeah, then we'll be part of the conversations. We've had some empathy in those conversations right now. But we don't know what that may look like except for what we know the next couple of years. Staying there, playing out four games. We know our footy department will love it down there. And what it looks like thereafter, we'll continue to explore that and have conversations. But we'll be pretty open minded. We've obviously got 80,000 plus members to consider. We have games in Melbourne, we've obviously got the games down there. And Tazzy would build a fortress down there. So we'll consider that. But obviously the team coming in, it'll change the landscape a little bit. They're certainly keen to have some type of involvement, whatever that may look like in the future. Hawks home game against Tazzy is the way it's going to be. Pretty cool, wouldn't it? Certainly being one thing that's been thrown around. So who knows when that food knows when it'll end at this stage? I guess you have really built your base in Launceston. But the quarry point, stadium will need extra content as well. Is that in the back of your mind that all the potentially you could play even a game out of there? As I say, those are questions you probably can't answer right now. But is that something worth considering as well? Yeah, as I said, all that's going to be in consideration and discussion. There's been some great left field ideas. And there's also been some consistent conversations we've had over a period of time. Yeah, that stadium gets built. It's going to be pretty classy and amazing stadium. And as you said, it's a little bit like what's over at Optus. Stadium in Perth, I've got the 11 Eagles games, the level in the three-mountal games. But I know they're always still looking for content. So with these great stadiums, it's certainly worth the conversations with everyone to explore more content there. And you touched on it a little bit. The partnership you've had for nearly 25 years now, it's so special, isn't it? And you just seem to have done it really well. North Melbourne may not have captured the imagination of Hobartians, Hawthorns captured Launceston people. I know you've got members across the state. But what have you done so well? Do you think to really embed yourself here in Tasmania? Yeah, I think it's credit to the people where the vision back in the day in, you know, I'd start off with, I think, one game 24 years ago into two games. And then the opportunity to have the four games down there. But it wasn't about, I think clubs get it wrong, sport organizations get it wrong, where they just see the cash and fly and fly and then don't build the opportunities around it. And so we've been very cognizant and very focused on building, you know, community programs. They don't just cover, like you said, La Blonceston, all the nearby suburbs and area of it, all the way through the state. And then furthermore, our connection with local foodie clubs down there as well, into schools, we do probably more programs down there. Well, equal amount of programs we do down there from across, you know, schools and the clubs, community clubs that we do in Melbourne, you know, per capita as such. So David Cox has been there now for about eight years, done an amazing job down there, very community minded, always going out to schools, whether it's our connection with the Premier's Reading Challenge or other community programs we've had down there, the Schools Cup, just built to make sure that we have an all year round holistic offering down there and it's not just about the games. The games are always likely to be on the cake for us. And certainly from the performance point of view it is, but we want to make sure that all thought is always being spoken about particularly positively down there. And the only way to do that is to do it, you know, all year round in the community in the schools. Last one before I let you go, Ash, I want to ask you about your development coach at Hawthorne and Boxhill Coach, Zane Littlejohn. He's doing a wonderful job. We love him here in Tasmania. We'd love to see him get a coaching gig in his own right one day, but you must love having him on your team. Zane's an absolute ripper. I'd say first and foremost, he's just, he's an awesome human being. He's, he always puts others before himself. He's obviously got the players at heart people, so he brought a club at heart and he's really got two clubs, a low, a low tan in hand. You know, he gives someone in the summary guard who's looking out for our Boxhill program and coaching them and wanting, you know, the readings to always stack up it. He knows that the connection, the partnership and the alignment with Boxhill and all of his, his power man has been for a long period of time. And that's about giving opportunities for our, our players in the coming back from injury or trying to, trying to rack up, you know, performance themselves from our AFL-Wisted program in, in Boxhill. So balancing that is, it can be really difficult, but he just does it so fantastically. Well, I think testament to that was when he was named State Coach for Gather Around this year and did a great job there. It was a pretty tough game and they, they came pretty close. But yeah, we, we highly regard Zane, he's crossed out of development programs as well here at the, at the Hawks and I don't know how he actually fits the ball in because he's got the Boxhill job, which is often after hours and then he's, and then he's Hawks job during the day. So pilot recommend him, he's a, he's a ribbing bloke. He's got up to coach the long system back in the day as well through the, to Brisbane Lions development programs and then he, so he certainly ends up on to bigger, bigger paths down the track as well. Well said Ash, thank you so much for giving up, you know, you're a busy man and, you know, we really appreciate giving up your time for us here on The Devil's Advocate to talk specifically about the high performance center and also Hawthorne's future here in Tasmania. Well done on the season today and thanks for joining us here on The Devil's Advocate. Thanks Brad, not just like I say, I think the, the Tezi Devil's team are doing a great job. You know, you can't help but get behind him in terms of the, the Guerns, either name, you know, how they've engaged, but obviously the stadium, which is, which has taken up a lot of their time at the moment that, that training facilities is so tackled for the community and, you know, the ridges will be, will be no doubt sport across, but across all when it comes. So all the best, and thanks for having me on. Ash Klein joining us here on The Devil's Advocate, the CEO of the Hawthorne footy club. We really appreciate his time. We're off to a break coming back on the other side of it to talk to former Brisbane line and Essen and bomber Josh Green here on The Devil's Advocate. [BLANK_AUDIO]