The Sharks were represented over the weekend at the Rugby League Players’ Association’s annual Leaders In League conference by Dale Finucane, Nicho Hynes, Emma Tonegato, Tiana Penitani, and Jada Taylor.
Two days later, at the Novotel in Brighton-Le-Sands, seventy of the most prominent past and present player leaders in the game convened to take part in seminars and learn from distinguished speakers.
Inspiring AFL champion Joel Selwood, who played 355 games for Geelong and won four premierships, was one of the speakers. Another female athlete panel, led by NRLW star Millie Elliott, included Chloe Molloy of the Sydney Swans AFLW, Maddy Proud of the NSW Swifts netball team, and Ellie Brush, a former Matildas player.
Performance coach Dan Haesler led an engaging group discussion on thriving in both personal and professional spheres, while former pro surfer Cooper Chapman led a mental health workshop centered on forming healthy daily routines.
Sharks forward Finucane, who is on the RLPA Player Advisory Group, learned a lot from the experience.
“It’s been excellent. “It is evident that we received communication from Joel Selwood, the former Geelong captain who has retired,” stated Finucane, who has participated in 248 NRL matches.
“He spoke about obviously his life in football and experiences outside of football that have helped shape that (mindset) for him as well.”
He went on to say: “It’s been interesting to hear the perspectives of those women (on the panel) and where they’ve come from to where they are now.”
Male and female players had the exceptional chance to network and establish connections with leaders from other clubs and between the NRL and NRLW competitions during the third annual Leaders In League conference.
As he gets ready for his thirteenth NRL season, Finucane is aware that his career is coming to an end and is motivated to “leave the game in a better place”.
“When we come to camps like this it’s a real show of solidarity and we’ve got one common goal that we want to achieve being here,” he stated.
“It’s good that we can bounce ideas off each other, people from different clubs.”
Selwood, an AFL captain for many years, was able to share his knowledge with the team.
“I have been fortunate enough to be invited up here by the Players’ Association to talk to current and emerging leaders,” Selwood stated during his presentation.
In addition to sharing some of my experience and methodology in the AFL, I also imparted some knowledge that I picked up along the way.
“I believe that understanding that you’ll never be perfect strikes a balance in being a successful leader. You can do it in a variety of ways, and you’ll never be an expert at it.
“The good thing about it is that we have so many different personalities and cultures within this room that they’re not only leading the players that they play with, but also a whole heap of people in this country and outside of this country too.”
