IT did not take long for the cobwebs of the Christmas break to be blown away, and for all of us here at the Former Origin Greats to get back into full stride for another year.

As hard as it may be to believe, we are already back into another footy season, and it won’t be long until we are counting down to another State of Origin series.

It has been a eventful off-season to say the least.

Aside from the usual to-ing and fro-ing with players signing contracts and joining new clubs, rugby league has also had to navigate its way through the unfortunate drugs situation on the Gold Coast.

I must admit to being a little naive on this issue. It is not something I ever saw on the radar. To read about some of the names allegedly involved took me massively by surprise.

I am sure a lot of rugby league people will watch on with interest as the justice system works through exactly what happened.

That major disruption aside, there has also been plenty of action with the three Queensland clubs, most notably the Gold Coast Titans.

While the takeover by the NRL would have been painful for those involved in a lot of respect, I don’t think anyone is in any doubt that it is in the best interests of the club.

The Titans now have a secure future and a lot of good people involved there doing a good job, who can make the tough decisions needed to get the club to finally turn the corner.

The first steps have already been taken with Daly Cherry-Evans joining the club.

At the Broncos, we have seen the club restructure itself under Wayne Bennett, and I think we are all a little curious to see what type of footy the Broncos can produce as the year goes on with such a dramatically different line up.

It was unfortunate that Darius Boyd won’t be seen in Broncos colours until the middle of the year, but we all know that Bennett will get the best out of whatever team the Broncos put on the park.

In North Queensland, things have been largely smooth sailing for Paul Green and his team.

They are carrying a lot of expectations this season, but with the squad they have assembled up there, I think those expectations are justified and most likely welcomed by the Cowboys themselves.

They have a terrific roster up there, and the fact that all of their star players are going into this season feeling refreshed after a genuine off-season makes the season ahead very exciting for them.

There are exciting times ahead for us at FOGS in 2015 as well.

We have spent the first part of this year fully focused on getting the ARTIE Academy launched in all of our schools.

It has been a true “all hands on deck” approach to getting it up and running, with twelve (12) high schools and four (4) primary schools now involved through North Queensland, Central Queensland and the southeast.

We have partnered with a number of educational institutions across Queensland as well as within the community to source volunteers for the ARTIE Academy Tutoring Program, as we have seen an increase in participation of school students with the shift of Grade 7 into high school this year.

It has been a massive task for our staff to coordinate all of the launches across the state and to make sure that the programs are all up and running as they should be.

At the moment, our very successful FOGS Indigenous Employment and Careers Expos are on hold for this year, as the government works out its departmental restructuring in the areas of Indigenous employment.

We did not apply for funding for the Expos this year until we receive a clear direction from the government about which way they want to go.

But, given our staff had the whole production nailed down so successfully, we could roll them out again as soon as we were asked.

But even without the Expos, there won’t be too much wasted time, with so many projects on the go in 2015.

Already, planning has begun on the annual State of Origin Lunch, which this year coincides with the third game of the series in July.

But as we have seen already, it doesn’t take long for the months to fly by.

Planning is also continuing on our new administration building on Castlemaine St, but we have been delayed by a number of months as we negotiate issues with council regarding redevelopment.

So as you can see, it is looking like another enormous year ahead – hopefully capped off by the Maroons winning back the Origin trophy.

I would like to thank all of our members, sponsors, staff and supporters for your continued commitment to the FOGS.

We look forward to seeing you all during the year. It is great to have you along for the ride.

Gene Miles
Executive Chairman