Coleambally Blues map path forward including standing alone again in 2018

Six weeks after calling a public meeting to thrash out issues facing the club, the Blues have begun to map their path into the future.

A new committee will take over at the end of the season, with Robert Groves to take over from Shane Mannes as president.  

But Mannes, who has been in the job for seven years, said major changes for the 2018 season are highly unlikely.

“At this stage, we’re planning towards next season standing on our own,” Mannes said.

“It’s probably too late to consider mergers or amalgamations for next season anyway. We’ll still be looking at all the other options but the plan for 2018 is to stand alone as we are.”

The club highlighted its major concerns, including a lack of volunteers and difficulties with player recruitment and retention, to the community on June 21. 

But having more than 80 people at the crisis meeting was an encouraging show of support for the Blues, with most keen to see the club continue as is.

“Yeah, there is a strong feeling that we should keep trying to stand alone, for sure,” Mannes said. 

“But there’s always the difficulties you face and they haven’t gone away.”

The Blues have struggled to field teams in the three grades at times this season, with reserve grade numbers a particular concern and the senior team significantly helped by under 17 players backing up.

A long injury list has exacerbated the lack of depth while the club abandoned plans to keep spending money flying in three players from the Northern Territory once their finals hopes were virtually extinguished.

But the Blues have been encouraged by the way their teenagers have stepped up to seniors. A recruiting committee can now begin planning for 2018, including the coaching role.

“We haven’t sat down for a chat yet (with Michael Griffiths),” Mannes said.