Story by Luke Dodemaide

Mathew Luszczynski CA, Sue Clark CA and Jo Perez CA successfully occupy among the highest financial positions in their respective sports. As the modern challenges of rugby league, Australian rules, and rugby union vary significantly, Acuity surveys the field in time for the finals.

The 2023 NRL grand final was played at break-neck pace. With 18 minutes left, the Brisbane Broncos led the Penrith Panthers 24–8, which was largely considered an insurmountable margin, even for the defending premier Panthers.

Enter Nathan Cleary.

Widely regarded as the best scrum half of his generation, Cleary orchestrated a comeback for the ages, punctuated by a 76th-minute try and conversion that secured the Panthers a ‘three-peat’ of premierships at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium.

“I absolutely felt part of the victory,” says Mathew Luszczynski CA, the club’s group chief financial officer. “The three-peat victory was historic. Panthers was the first team to complete this feat since the early ’80s.”

Luszczynski began at the licensed arm of the Panthers in 2003 as a financial accountant, which was also a premiership year for the football club under coach John Lang. The success of the club was flickering, though, and Lang was removed two years later. As Luszczynski was promoted to finance team leader and then financial controller, the football arm endured a decade-long stretch during which they made a single cameo in September, coming in a heartbreaking 2010 loss to the Canberra Raiders, captained by Terry Campese.

Luszczynski was promoted to his current role across the licensed, football and property operations of the club in 2016, which coincided with the rebuild and eventual establishment of the dynasty. “With my long association with the Panthers Group,” says Luszczynski, “I have seen the highs and lows over the last circa 20 years. The football club does an outstanding job ensuring senior and executive management are part of celebrating their successes.”

Luszczynski has experience in more traditional business. Between 1998 and 2003, he worked at EY in the audit division of small not-for-profit and large multinational corporations. During this period, he also obtained his CA qualification. One of those not-for-profits Luszczynski worked with at EY was the Penrith Panthers, which is a distinction many find surprising at first.

“Panthers Group as a sporting organisation is looking to propagate and promote rugby league as one of its core objectives,” says Luszczynski. “Generally speaking, NSW-based NRL teams have traditionally relied on financial grants from their associated leagues clubs.

“Pre-COVID and prior to the Panthers’ sustained success on the field, the Panthers Penrith Leagues Club provided an annual grant of around A$5 million per annum to the football club.”

Following the challenges of COVID-19 – and with the Cleary-led dynasty at full force (Nathan’s father, Ivan, is a Panthers triple premiership-winning coach) – the Panthers Football Club has been cash-positive for the last four years, doing away with the annual injection from the Panthers Penrith Leagues Club that made operating possible in the past. This has also seen the Panthers embark on a number of significant investments, which include the Pullman Sydney Penrith and Western Sydney Conference Centre.

Finally, Panthers Group has been able to expand its community work with an aspiration to double financial commitment to its community development foundation within two years. The club has operated the highly successful Panthers on the Prowl Community Development Foundation and has recently established the Panthers Foundation. These foundations focus on three key pillars: education, community and participation.

"The football club does an outstanding job of ensuring senior and executive management are part of celebrating their successes."

Luszczynski has been critical to this diversification of income streams, and the stable financial footing his team provides has paved the way for the Panthers players to access some of the best facilities in Australia, as well as obtain key backroom staff members like medical experts and sports psychologists.

“Having the ability to step back from the detail and understand the big picture is critical to ensure decisions are based on prioritising long-term strategies and not short-term goals,” says Luszczynski.

“Second is the ability to convey the financial message to all key internal and external stakeholders. You must remember that there will be varying levels of financial knowledge with key stakeholders and the message will need to be adjusted or modified to suit.”

Bullish about footy in all forms

Whitten Oval, located in Footscray in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, is home to the Western Bulldogs. The iconic figure it was named after – EJ ‘Ted’ Whitten – put the area on the national map during his captaincy from 1957 to 1970, which also saw the Doggies claim an elusive premiership in 1954.

“I love the history and heritage of our club, and how active we are in the local community through both the club and the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation,” says Sue Clark CA, COO at the Western Bulldogs.

Footscray has embraced a progressive culture, and while the AFL squad no longer plays at Whitten Oval, the AFLW team has changed the colour palette of the stadium and its surrounds, culminating in this last season’s Pride round that saw a Mardi Gras-like parade at half-time of the match against the North Melbourne Kangaroos.

“The introduction of AFLW has been extremely exciting for the industry and has introduced a new sector of fans and followers to the game,” says Clark.

“The challenges here have been around how to grow the AFLW game, growing the competition yet still maintaining it at a very high and competitive standard, and managing the part-time nature of the AFLW for players and staff.”

The 2023 season wasn’t memorable for on-field results (the team lost nine of its 10 matches), but the Bulldogs are written in AFLW lore as one of only four teams to have won the premiership in the league’s seven seasons, taking out the 2018 flag where Monique ‘Mon’ Conti was best afield, and Katie Brennan was captain. Both have subsequently left for the Richmond Tigers, such is the developing professionalism of off-season free agency and trading in modern AFLW.<,p>

Clark’s route to the COO position with the Bulldogs included working at KPMG in the business advisory division for five years, before moving into the fashion industry with Elle Macpherson Intimates and Bendon. After taking maternity leave with her first child, Clark began at the Geelong Cats as finance manager, before progressing to CFO.

Following her second child, she joined the Western Bulldogs in 2018.

"My main role around football and the players is overseeing the salary cap and total player payments, and the football department ‘soft cap’"

“I have a particular passion and focus on helping develop the next generation of female leaders in the industry,” says Clark.

Currently, she’s entrenched in the intricacies of the AFL side’s finances.

“My main role around football and players is overseeing the salary cap and total player payments, and the football department ‘soft cap’,” she says.

The total player payments are often referred to as the AFL salary cap, which restricts teams spending more than A$15.79 million. That figure will rise to A$17.76 million in 2025. The soft cap is applied to coaching and staff, which currently sits at A$7.27 million and allows for 20% of the head coach’s salary to sit outside this figure.

Clark’s management of these rules has a very tangible impact on the Bulldogs’ performances. In the last year alone, the club has extended all-Australian big man Aaron Naughton with an eight-year deal and also agreed to a new two-year deal for former number-one pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.

The rumoured figures of each deal are eye-watering but are becoming more common in today’s game. The league has certainly come a long way since Whitten’s days. While those matters form a steady diet of Melbourne’s sports news cycle, Clark’s challenges also extend much further than players’ contracts.

“There are so many different revenue streams, cost and profit centres from membership to corporate sponsorship, philanthropy and fundraising, events, community programs and more non-traditional revenue streams,” says Clark.

“We are also almost at the completion of the redevelopment of Mission Whitten Oval at the Western Bulldogs, the transformation of our home in the western suburbs, which will be an amazing heartland venue for watching AFLW,VFL and VFLW games.”

New Zealand Rugby readies for a new world order

To say Jo Perez CA’s challenges are multifaceted is an oversimplification akin to calling rugby a game where two 15-player teams run into each other for 80 minutes. As New Zealand Rugby (NZR) CFO, Perez oversees the financial demands of the world-renowned All Blacks, arguably the most feared international team on the planet, and reconciles the continent-crossing economics of Super Rugby Pacific, a highwire logistical affair with teams in New Zealand, Fiji and Australia.

“Financial sustainability is a key challenge in the sector,” she says. “There are significant cost pressures with delivering sustained high performance on a global stage. These range from retention of our best coaches and best players, responding to global pricing trends and having significant distances to travel.”

Lately, it hasn’t all been pretty outside of New Zealand. The Rebels played their final game in early June, closing the franchise after a 13-year stint that saw them fail to break into the Melbourne market. Their final loss came in the quarter finals against the Hurricanes at Wellington’s Sky Stadium – just a penalty kick from NZR HQ.

The loss of the Rebels was disheartening for Super Rugby Pacific, especially after four South African teams (Lions, Sharks, Stormers and Bulls) exited the competition following COVID-19, but it served to emphasise the challenges the game faces right now. Hearteningly, engagement in Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand has been trending up in increased demographics in its 26 provincial unions, and player numbers are on the rise again.

“Throughout my career path, I am motivated by learning,” says Perez. “During my time with any organisation, I strive to leave it in a stronger position than when I joined. When the CFO/GM corporate services opportunity at NZR arose, it brought together many aspects of my career journey and skill set.

“It’s a combination of local grassroots community outcomes, a high-performance mindset and global commercial ambition,” Perez says.

The latter is best seen in a deal with the Silver Lake Group, a Silicon Valley-based investor that acquired a 33% stake in football’s A-League in 2022. With NZR, the firm injected NZ$262 million into the sport’s grassroots and growth initiatives, and reserves.

“The game needs to evolve in terms of when, where and how it is played, with greater awareness of player welfare, to ensure rugby remains relevant and integrated in our communities,” says Perez.

“The same is true for our fans, with changing trends in how sports are viewed. A range of tech platforms enable much greater choice for entertainment and the establishment of [free digital streaming service] NZR+, alongside our partnership with Sky TV, gives us a really great tool to engage with fans both in New Zealand and globally.”

Adapting to the times

One green shoot has been in Japan. The Japan Rugby League One is in its third year of competition and continues to ride a wave of support piqued by the 2019 Rugby World Cup held in the 125-million people-strong nation. New Zealand legends like Dan Carter and Richie McCaw are household names, and former All Blacks captain Sam Cane recently completed his first season with Tokyo Sungoliath.

And, as in AFL, women’s rugby is attracting more players and more fans.

Perez says the Women’s 2021 Rugby World Cup played in 2022 and won by New Zealand’s Black Ferns in Auckland was “magical”.

Perez, in her own right, has made a career out of adapting to new environments and helping organisations evolve to tackle modern challenges. She does this by “doing the basics brilliantly” and having an “enabling mindset”.

"In our profession, we are fortunate to have highly transferable skill sets."

Since beginning with KMPG as an auditor in New Zealand and London, she has aided organisational transition in companies like Telecom (now Spark), AXA (now AMP) and in New Zealand’s Department of Corrections, initially as CFO and then as deputy chief executive, finance, planning and assurance.

“In our profession, we are fortunate to have highly transferable skill sets,” she says. “This brings the unique opportunity to work across industries and sectors, learning new industry-specific drivers, while building on foundational skills.”

It sounds like something All Blacks head coach, Scott Robertson, might say. Taking the reins a year after the heartache of a devastating 12–11 defeat to South Africa in the 2023 World Cup Final, Robertson is trying to claim a record-equalling fourth World Cup in 2027.

Perez and the team in HQ, will be doing everything they can off-field to enable that success on the pitch.

“Our staff feel a strong connection to and passion for what we do. I see people across the organisation feel the contribution they make to our teams winning, our fans cheering and our kids playing.”