With a few weeks as Gold Coast’s General Manager – Football Operations now under his belt, Jon Haines has enjoyed his start to life at the SUNS.
The experienced administrator hasn’t missed a beat and was in attendance at Gold Coast’s first open training session of the year, held at Palm Beach Parklands on Friday.
“It’s been really exciting in a lot of ways, I’ve been really impressed with the inclusive nature of everyone involved with the club, from players to staff,”
“I’ve been really impressed with the intent and the training effort of the players, I think they’re tackling the new program really well.” Haines told SUNS TV at Gold Coast’s open training session.
Following the football department’s restructure, Haines is tasked with running the day to day operations of the football program.
Along with Craig Cameron, General Manager – List & Strategy, he will help drive Gold Coast’s football strategy across the club.
“One of the fundamental parts of the role is working closely with each area of the football department and making sure we’ve got really good connection and alignment between the different departments; from High Performance to Medical to Player Welfare and Development, through to coaching,” Haines said.
“From a List Management and Recruiting perspective, working really closely with those guys and making sure that as a football department we’re really strongly aligned and have a really clear strategy on where we are heading.”
Having held a number of executive-level positions within the football industry, he is well suited to the role.
Haines has relocated to the Gold Coast from Perth, where he was Executive Manager Football Operations with the WA Football Commission.
“That role basically oversaw football in WA, all the way through from grassroots through to senior football and everything in between,”
“Previous to that, I was at North Melbourne Football Club in a variety of roles, initially in a coaching capacity and overseeing the development of the North Melbourne list. And then I finished up there spending a couple of years as the General Manager of Football Operations at North as well.”
Haines is keen to ensure that there’s a strong connection between the football club and the local community.
“One thing that we all understand is that we’ve got an obligation and a commitment to make sure that, as a club, we really engage strongly with our local community and our supporter base,”
“So these types of activities are really important strategically for the club but also from a pure football perspective, it’s really important that the players spend time with their supporters and people who are behind the club.”
