Richmond CEO Brendon Gale reflected on the many gains the Tigers have made over the past five years through its strategic plan, in his speech at the Club’s 2014 Annual General Meeting.

Gale also projected forward, to how the Tigers will tackle the challenges confronting them, in their quest for sustained success.

Here is an edited version of Gale’s speech . . .

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“In 2010, the board and management of Richmond Football Club unveiled a five-year strategic plan entitled ‘Winning Together’.

It was about building the organisational effectiveness and financial strength our football club, in order to support the needs of our football department. It was about building a very solid platform or base camp from which we could ultimately become contenders.

Our headline objectives of 3-0-75, aimed to deliver the Club three finals’ appearances, zero debt and 75,000 members within five years.

It was ambitious, and it needed to be, but it was time for this Club to lift its eyes and to break the cycle of mediocrity.

A few eyebrows were raised when we made such a public declaration of what we wanted to achieve. It’s fair to say some people even ridiculed us.

This year marks the completion of that five-year strategy, and I think it is timely to reflect briefly on what we have achieved.

No, we didn’t meet all targets, but we did deliver two finals appearances, zero debt and more than 66,000 members.

Beyond this, we have completed the redevelopment of the ME Bank Centre and resurfaced and re-shaped Punt Road Oval.

We now have a Richmond reserves side and a redeveloped interface that allows for a safe and comfortable viewing experience.

Our commercial and consumer numbers are at record levels and our community engagement programs are genuinely improving people’s lives.

It is fair to say Richmond is a very different club to the one it was five years ago, but there is no standing still in this game.

While we have made improvement, so have many other clubs, and we need to work harder and smarter to continue to be super competitive, on and off the field.

As I say, it’s important to reflect, but we won’t dwell. There is work to be done.

There are two things that we acknowledge, internally, when we think about the past five years . . .

Firstly, our members and supporters were at the heart of driving this change.

We say it often, but it is true – we are nothing without our loyal, passionate fans, and we value each and every one of you.  Whether it is making contributions to the Fighting Tiger Fund, buying a membership, or simply attending games, you believe in your club and you believe in our vision.  That drives everyone, internally, not least the playing group.

Secondly, we think that in many ways the past five years has been the easy part.  The next five years will challenge us further and we will tackle it collectively. 

We talk about the fact, internally, that no one person is going to get us to where we want to go . . . we will do it together – board, management, staff, coaches, players, members and supporters. 

A shared vision, and a united club, will get us to where we want to be.”