The Canberra Raiders are in the closing stages of their search for a second female board member as the club ramps up plans to engage more directly with its members.
Raiders chairman Allan Hawke said the club has narrowed its shortlist down to about 10 women, which will be streamlined further when the board debates the candidates on Saturday.
Fairfax Media reported in July the Raiders had resolved to become the second NRL side after Manly to boast two female board members.
Canberra appointed Raiders Group chief financial officer Yvonne Gillett to the board early this year, but it wants another woman on deck to help attract more female fans.
The timing of the development is poignant given NRL club bosses intend to use a pre-planned meeting with NRL CEO David Smith to confront him over his plans to make independent directors compulsory at all clubs.
In May, the NRL announced that clubs face heavy fines if they don't appoint at least three independent directors on seven-member boards, which must have female representation.
The Raiders already meet that criteria as Raiders group general manager Simon Hawkins and Gillett are their only non-independent board members.
"We have about 10 women we're looking seriously at [as board members], and we're looking to refine that when we discuss it further on Saturday," Hawke said.
"If that comes off, we'll be approaching an individual following those discussions.
"One of our targets obviously is how to increase female membership and women in our game. The last time I checked, women make up 50 per cent of the population and we have to make sure we're catering to that."
A number of other clubs are disenchanted over the NRL's plans and believe the make-up of boards should be assessed on a club-by-club basis.
But Hawke said the largely independent nature of the Raiders board had been a crucial factor in encouraging differing ideas and opinions on issues.
He added he wants the board to be accessible to Raiders fans and the community.
"There are some messages for us, more particularly for myself and the board, to make sure we're communicating and connecting with the members," Hawke said.
"We did have a conversation at the board meeting last week about membership, and how we can improve the quality of that communication and build a stronger membership base.
"They are visible and people around the town who they [board members] are, and if they don't I'll be endeavouring to make sure they do.
"We want to reignite our fan base and we're lucky we have a loyal base of members who have turned up in the tough times.
"We're looking to repay their faith in us by producing a different set of results over the next few years."
The Raiders have struggled to attract marquee players it believes it needs to rebuild, but Hawks said the youth on show in last week's win over Wests Tigers will be the nucleus of the side.
"We're not sitting on our backsides, we've got a few feelers out for some other players to join the team [next year]," Hawke said.
"The guts of our team going forward was the one you saw on the park on Saturday.
"There are kids in that team who have absolute potential to play representative football, there's no doubt about it.
"But if we can get those three or four older heads around them, we've got a competitive footy team."
He is hopeful the NRL will finalise its position by the end of the season on the club's campaign to see junior concessions introduced into the salary cap next year.
"We're waiting for them to respond on that issue and we'd like to know the position of that by the end of the season so we can plan going forward," Hawke said.
"We've got the keep the predators of some of the the other clubs away from us; those who don't develop in the same way."
