Our first season of the Football Plan: what we achieved, where we fell short and what happens next. The women’s and girls’ pathway joins the plan in 2027.
Whole club16 targets
Men’s & boys’6 targets
A letter to our community
Twelve months ago we published our Football Plan: what we want to achieve by 2028, each target with the season it’s due, and a promise to tell you how we went. This is the first of those reports.
On the pitch, Men’s First Grade finished fourth in NPL NSW Men’s, our highest finish since 2013, our first finals in over 13 years and a first Australian Championship. Two of our own made their First Grade debuts, ten of this season’s 22 were homegrown, one short of half, and Boys Youth League finished second in its club championship. And you came with us: more than 32,000 of you through the gates for Men’s First Grade, and Seymour Shaw’s attendance record broken again and again, most recently with 3,266 against South Melbourne.
Off the pitch, in May we launched the Sharks Foundation: on its first night you raised $57,493, and we’ve since granted a number of scholarships covering players’ registration, so a family’s budget never decides who wears our badge. In July we signed a two-year MOU with the SSFA: from 2027 the Sharks operationally manage the Shire’s girls’ and women’s representative pathway, with the SSFA holding its licence. We have included it in our ambitious Football Plan with agreed targets for our girls and women, and next year’s report card grades them too. Behind it all is Clubhouse, the technology we invested in this year to hold every part of the club to the highest standards in the game. We can’t wait to get started.
The result we value most came from our families. In 2024, as our new leadership team took over, the Club & Coach Survey gave the club a Net Promoter Score of −12. Last year it was +47. This year you gave us +74, a score considered world class. We’re grateful, and we know there is more to do: your answers also showed us where we need to be better. We set that out below with what we’re doing about it. To the players, coaches, staff, volunteers and families behind every part of this season: thank you.
Men’s & boys’
Ten of Men’s First Grade’s 22 players this season came from SSFA community clubs, our pathways or the Shire, one player short of the half the goal asks for. On the pitch, fourth in NPL NSW Men’s, then a home final and a first Australian Championship, after a tough start to the season.
45%Homegrown share of Men’s First Grade’s 2026 squad
One player short of half
Men’s & boys’
Second in League Two’s club championship, behind Wollongong, across our five Boys Youth League teams.
2ndBoys Youth League’s club championship place
Whole club
The Shire came with us: more than 32,000 at Men’s First Grade’s home games, over 11,000 free passes to the SSFA’s clubs and our JDL teams playing the SSFA Strikers’. Our players and coaches weren’t at the clubs’ gala days; from 2027, we’ll work with SSFA community clubs, where agreed, to visit their training and gala days, and invite every club to Women’s First Grade home matches.
32,000+Through the gates for Men’s First Grade at home
An average of 1,778 a game, up from 835 in 2025
Whole club
Mixed JDL holds the Silver rating it earned in 2025, with Gold the target in Football NSW’s 2027 assessment.
Your 157 responses to this year’s Club & Coach Survey also told us what we’re getting right. These are the three things you mentioned most, and how we’ll keep them.
Our facilities were what you mentioned most, and far more often than last year: the new change rooms and a renovated Seymour Shaw.
How we’ll keep it
Our plan keeps investing in them, with facilities for training, culture and team building across the club.
Many of you told us you can see the club changing, and you like where it’s heading.
How we’ll keep it
We’ll keep telling you where we’re going and how we’re tracking, with a report card like this one every season.
You spoke about the club’s culture, and how every player is made to feel part of it, more than twice as often as last year.
How we’ll keep it
It stays at the heart of how we coach: one philosophy across every stage, and every coach developed through the season.
A report card that only shows what went well isn’t a report card. In this year’s Club & Coach Survey, our families told us where we need to be better. Here is what they said, and what we’re doing about it.
Families told us they don’t know how squads are selected or how retention decisions are made.
What we’re doing
Our 2027 season plans bring far more contact with our coaches and Technical Directors: every youth and junior player now has at least two formal review meetings with their family through the season, up to three in some programmes, so every family hears where their child stands and why. Our youngest players’ families also get a written report from their child’s coach twice a season.
Families want to see our Technical Directors at training and on match days more often, and to hear more about their work.
What we’re doing
Our Technical Directors will visit every age group regularly at training and on match days, hold open forums for families and send a quarterly update.
Most families rated their child’s coach highly, but in three of the eleven teams surveyed, more families rated their coach poorly than well.
What we’re doing
In September we introduced a coaching standards framework with peer observations, and every coach now has their own development plan. In 2027 each coach also has three development conversations with their Technical Director: before, during and at the end of the season. Next year’s survey will show whether it’s working.
Each target as the plan published it, word for word, and how it went. Tap one for the detail.
Our women’s and girls’ programmes begin in 2027: they join the report card then.
What happened
Fourth in NPL NSW Men’s, our highest finish since 2013, then our first home final in over 13 years, lost on penalties to Manly United, and a first Australian Championship.
4thMen’s First Grade’s ladder place
Our highest finish since 2013
What happened
Our five Boys Youth League teams finished second in League Two’s club championship, behind Wollongong, with a goal difference of +97.
What happened
Two of our own made their Men’s First Grade debuts in the last round of the regular season, against SD Raiders.
2Graduates debuting in Men’s First Grade
What happened
63% of this season’s Boys Youth League and Mixed JDL squads came from SSFA community clubs, our pathways or the Shire, and 71% of 2027’s already do, past the 70% the plan asks for by 2028.
63%Homegrown share of 2026 youth squads
What happened
Ten of Men’s First Grade’s 22 players this season came from SSFA community clubs, our pathways or the Shire, one player short of half.
45%Homegrown share of Men’s First Grade’s 2026 squad
One player short of half
What happened
Workshops for players and parents ran through the season, on topics from nutrition to understanding the game.
How we knowThe workshops met the plan’s benchmark: at least four through the season, with three in four invited families there.
What happened
Our Junior Development squads have newly built change rooms, our women’s and men’s squads each have dedicated professional ones, and an additional field was secured for training.
How we knowOur Facilities page shows the new change rooms.
What happened
Our Technical Directors took every team through the Sharks playing style and position profiles before the season launched.
How we knowEvery player’s individual development plan teaches the playing style, in person with their coaches and reinforced in Clubhouse.
What happened
Every stage, from Junior Development through Youth to senior football, works to one playing philosophy, game model and coaching methodology.
What happened
Every coach has a development plan, set with their Technical Director and kept in Clubhouse.
What happened
Our Technical Director holds the Football Australia/AFC A Diploma, and every youth coach at least the Football Australia/AFC B Diploma.
What happened
Our families gave us a Net Promoter Score of +74 in this year’s Club & Coach Survey, up 27 on our 2025 benchmark of +47: a year early, and past the rise of 20 the plan asked for by the end of 2027. 157 responses, from 137 of the 187 households we asked.
+74Net Promoter Score, Club & Coach Survey
Up 27 on 2025
Now
What happened
One playing philosophy and game model connects every stage of the Sharks programme, from Junior Development to senior football.
How we knowOur Youth programme page sets out the one philosophy and game model every stage works to.
What happened
Our U18s and U20s trained with Men’s First Grade through the season, and 24 of our players played up a level in matches. From 2027, every training play-up is recorded in Clubhouse.
How we knowOur Technical Directors brought U18s and U20s into Men’s First Grade’s training through the season.
What happened
Every youth player’s progress is followed against their own development plan in Clubhouse, with performance data and video.
What happened
Two of our Mixed JDL and Boys Youth League players signed with A-League academies for 2027.
2Graduates signed with A-League academies
WhyNone of our players were selected for a Football NSW or national team squad this season.
Whole clubDue 2028BehindWhat happened
None of our players were selected for a Football NSW or national team squad this season, where the target asks for two a year by 2028.
What’s next
From 2027 we’ll record every Football NSW and national team trial and selection.
What happened
Of the Mixed JDL and Boys Youth League players we offered a place for 2027, 115 of 130 have signed on so far, with 11 still deciding.
88%Players offered a 2027 place who’ve signed on
What happened
Our succession planning for coaches and Technical Directors ran through Clubhouse’s recruitment pipeline this season, and we’ll keep building on it.
How we knowCoach, Technical Director and player candidates are all managed in Clubhouse’s recruitment pipeline.
WhyOur players and coaches weren’t at SSFA clubs’ gala days or presentations this season.
Whole clubEvery seasonMissedWhat happened
We set out to put Sharks players and coaches at community clubs’ sessions, gala days and presentations, and this season it didn’t happen.
What’s next
From 2027, Sharks players and coaches will work with SSFA community clubs, where agreed, to visit their training and gala days, and every club will be invited to Women’s First Grade home matches.
What happened
We shared our talent identification process with the SSFA and aligned it with theirs, and our JDL teams played the SSFA Strikers’ JDL teams this season. One to keep building on.
How we knowAligned with the SSFA during the season, and played out in matches against its Strikers’ JDL teams.
What happened
We handed out more than 11,000 free community passes to the SSFA’s clubs, local clubs played Miniroos games at our home games through the season, and Seymour Shaw’s attendance record fell again and again.
11,000+Community passes handed out to SSFA clubs
No targets match. Try another status.
Technology & systems
This year we built Clubhouse, our own technology, to hold every part of the club to the highest standards in the game: every coach, player and family on one system, and every target in this report measured as the season ran. Few clubs in Australian football have built anything like it.
To every player, coach, volunteer, parent and supporter who did the work behind these results: this report card is yours. We’ll be back after the 2027 season, with our women’s and girls’ football in it for the first time.
