PRIDE MUST DEFINE VALUE

NORTHERN Pride will be in for a cultural shift which could redefine the Hostplus Cup club when new chief executive officer Garreth Smith begins in the role next month.

Smith beat a number of contenders for the job, and was this week unveiled as the club’s ninth CEO in its 14-year history - and third within the past 12 months.

With a background of volunteering in rugby league, which included a substantial role in helping to establish junior rugby league in Weipa, and climbing the managerial ladder in the mining industry, the Pride board believes Smith is the right person to lead them into the future.

He isn’t a totally new face for the club. Smith has helped the club in a voluntary capacity over the past 18 months, and was also one of the people behind an organisational review in the same time frame.

Now elevated to one of the most important roles at the Cairns club, Smith, described as a deep thinker with a lot of ideas, has outlined what he believes is the priority for the Pride: understanding themselves.

“The Northern Pride need to understand what they stand for,” Smith told the Cairns Post.

“It’s making sure we shift the culture to valuing ourselves first and understanding what the value of the club is, and what its purpose is.

“Once we’ve done that, we can get some operational control and the like. Day-to-day activities with the Hostplus Cup side and the academies, we can get some stability around that.

“I think there is stability there, but with change comes some anxiety, so we need to get that back.

“Once we’ve got that, we need to be focused on growth.”

Smith said the club’s growth was about building on the primary function of why the Pride existed in the first place, and that was to provide a pathway to the NRL for young footballers in Far North Queensland.

“The growth for us is around what’s our purpose, and that is providing pathways, genuine pathways from our footprint,” Smith said.

“We have people who have invested heavily in us to do that. That has to be the focus. I was that kid living in Weipa who didn’t have a pathway and had to move away to play footy.”

He officially starts in the CEO position on February 7.