QRL Conference: 'Strong past, bright future'

Author: Jorja Brinums QRL content producer
Timestamp: Fri 21 Oct 2022, 08:01 AM

Queensland Rugby League, determined to build on its strong foundation, brought its 100 staff together for the annual QRL Conference at the Sunshine Coast.

The conference - themed 'Strong past, bright future' - saw everyone from QRL North, QRL Central and QRL South East come together to learn, strategize for the future and celebrate 2022 wins.

Queensland Rugby League people and capability general manager Gemma Davidson said the aim was to bring people together and learn.

"We took a bit of a different approach this year, where it was less internal and more externally focused and it was about challenging minds, opening minds... more of an educational feel, professional development, personal development feel," Davidson said.

Discussions included what needs to happen to ensure rugby league is 'a game for everyone', innovation, accessibility, as well as pathways and participation.

Mabuyag Dancers and Uncle Lance welcomed everyone through a cultural performance and welcome to country before tribal elder Uncle Gabriel Bani spoke about the importance of cultural awareness.

There were several strategic sessions, including Performance Lab's Tony Wilson taking staff through what it takes to be a high-performing team and QRL's future game plan.

QRL Corporate Social Responsibility Committee member Jason Garrick and Paralympian Karni Liddell spoke about inclusion and diversity, and ALIVE and Get Real Institute founder Tamsyn Rose ran a session on the importance of wellbeing.

"There's a really strong foundation within the QRL in terms of history and workforce, but we also have some amazing new recruits who have joined us during the past 12 months who experienced conference for the first time," Davidson said.

"The idea was to, not only bring everyone together so they could spend the time together - especially our regional staff - bring them down, but challenge them with new ideas and new focuses we see in the world and society that impact our game and will only impact more so in the future.

"I think 2023 is looking seriously bright on the back of conference. Bright in terms of an evolving workforce, changing workforce.

"We continue to have a really strong foundation, but we are seeing new people come in with new ideas and we're also seeing a shift in what is expected in our game from a CSR perspective in particular.

"A massive thank you to our workforce. It was a big, big year. It was pretty special."

QRL recognised stand-out performers at its Hollywood-themed awards night at the end of conference; nominees were subject to a panel of peer judges before the Senior Leadership Team picked the winners.

Each award winner was recognised with a monetary prize, but was also asked to nominate a charity important to them to donate $250.