Family legacy drives historic growth at Roosters
Family legacy has driven Menai Roosters to surging membership numbers under a husband-and-wife team, replicating the leadership success of his parent’s reign over 30 years ago.
Club President and Vice-President, Hayden and Tyneale Kendrick, have more than doubled club membership since taking over the club two years ago.
They are restoring the Sutherland Shire Rugby League club to its former glory where in the 1990s they fielded 25 teams under Hayden’s parents, Greg and Sue Kendrick.
“When my dad and mum ran it, it was a really healthy club and I suppose that was my ambition. I wanted to get that club back to where when I was playing and the whole local community got around us. “
He credits the committee along with the many volunteers involved in making these dreams a reality. Tyneale is mirroring the supporting role his mother, the late Sue Kendrick, played alongside his father Greg in running the club while Hayden and his brother Wade were playing in their youth.
Kendrick reminisces on his time playing for the club fondly, where he was fortunate enough to play eight grand finals in a row, despite admitting, “I wasn’t the best player, but I did my job” and hopes the next generation can learn a lot from a team environment where everyone is included.
“It teaches you to work together. I think it's really good life lessons especially for kids. It doesn't matter, your ability, your skill level. Whether you're a female or a male, everyone's included in football. As long as everyone's playing in the same team and having fun, what more could you want out of kids’ growth? That goes into adults as well. I've seen a lot of adults sometimes have a little chip on their shoulder, but once you're in that team environment, you're all in it together. There's one in you're all in so and I think it's accountability.
There's a lot of kids that I've coached over the years and seen being coached and sometimes having problems at home and it's like their escape when they come to training, and it's helped a lot of people. At the end of the day, everyone's the same when you're on the football field. It doesn't matter where you're from or how you grew up. Once you're on that football field, you're a team. “
Hayden and Tyneale’s sons, Riley, ten, and Tyler, seven, both play at the club.
“What I hope families get out of being involved in our club is lifelong friends and memories.” Tyneale says, “Hayden and I have always told our kids how important a team sport is for so many reasons. School can be hard; you can have issues with your mates. You can turn up to footy and your team has no idea what’s happens at school, but your team has your back. When you get older in life and get a job you will work with people that are older than you and from different cultures and have different beliefs. At Menai Roosters we give to our members a place to leave your issues at home, school or work and come and play footy with your mates.”
The club’s membership increases in recent years is partly on the back of introducing League Tag, a modified version of Rugby League where tackling is replaced by ‘tagging’ the ball player, removing their Velcro tag. The Roosters have multiple teams for girls, as well as over 30 Women and Over 35 Men, which include many parents of junior players taking part to see if they still have it. This also saw Hayden return to the field in 2023, wearing the Menai Rooster’s jersey for the first time since he was a teen in the late 1990s. Parents (often also coaches) running on the same field on game day as their children has added a new element to modelling the values of the club through playing.
“Sometimes it's nice to get on the field and show the kids that what you're trying to preach. You try to show them what you used to be able to do back in the day. “
Club Secretary, Deanne (Dee) Charalambous, along with her husband Michael, Club Treasurer and Roosters old boy, know all too well what benefit family involvement can mean to a community such as this. Their children, George, 12, and Carly, 10, both play in teams, with Dee and Michael running out for over-age League Tag teams in recent seasons as well.
“Family involvement is something that's big for us.” Dee says, “The club doesn't solely look at a single team. Our kids are our club, and they are the future of our world. And for us, family involvement means all people in your family, regardless of whether they play or not.”
An increase of Girls League Tag teams has brought a change in culture around the predominantly male sport, with The Roosters fielding seven female teams, which is over 30% of the teams at the club.
“In 2023 we had our first ever all-female team, which was the Under 10’s Girls League Tag team, and they managed to go all the way and bring home our first piece of silverware in our modern history. That was huge for us. As a club, we had never had a female team before. Those girls set the bar for the rest of us.
Whether it's one player, or the whole family is playing, everybody's welcome at our club, and so we build on family engagement, making sure that there's a place for everybody at the club.”
This is best seen in the Mini Roosters program, led by local legend Moses Manu, building and instilling fundamental skills of physical education and gross motor movement in kids under five. Introduced in 2023, numbers have grown each season and helped improve the club’s junior numbers coming through.
The 2025 season saw the club field a Men’s A Reserves team for the first time in over a decade.
This was a dream come true for Hayden. “The first day I stepped foot in this place being the president, it was my passion to build a senior team, which we haven't had over in a decade”, he said.
Hayden was once a ball boy of A Reserves and is now a team trainer under head coach Brett ‘Donnie’ Kyprianou, a Menai Roosters legend who, as a former representative level player was himself coached by now NRL Coach, Shane Flanagan.
Rugby League participation in general has been increasing in recent years. For a third year in a row, NSWRL participation has seen record growth with registration numbers up 10 percent per year. This includes a seven percent growth for males, and 20 percent for females, with female participation expected to surpass 30,000 for the first time.
“Rugby League is in an extremely healthy state in NSW, and I am thrilled our participation is on track for another record season,” NSWRL Chief Executive David Trodden said.
“It is a testament not only to the interest that people have in our great game but to all the hard work that NSWRL staff, NRL Game Development Officers and, most importantly, the volunteers put in across NSW.
Volunteer numbers at the Roosters have increased since Dee joined in 2023, more than doubling the committee to 12 people, with the reasons for joining reflecting the club values.
“The reason why we do it is ultimately for the kids and to make sure that the kids, regardless the scoreboard, regardless of how the game plays out, they come off that field happy and smiling because they're with their mates. And they've got members of the coaching staff, trainers, managers, parents who work together as a team like the children on the field, and they all get along. The ultimate goal is to make sure that our children are learning a new skill. But they're also having fun doing it. “
Tyneale has also seen a difference in the community in recent years. “The changes I’ve seen in the club is the growth, passion, commitment and happiness. The club has a great culture of family; everyone is a family. I love that people are making new friends, getting friends to join up as they see our club as a great family club. I love that every member has a positive attitude and wants the best for our club.”, She says.
“The Menai Roosters is a place where everybody belongs where everybody's included where everybody is a family.”, Dee hopes, “It doesn't matter where you come from, or what avenues of life, it’s a place where everybody comes together in a supportive environment. That's just what drove me to help and to be involved is so that I want the kids of the next generation to grow up in a safe place where parents are happy to drop their kids off at training, knowing that they're well looked after.
I want our culture to really set us apart from other clubs. We’re not about winning. We're not about numbers. You're not a number when you come to Menai, you're a person, and with that you bring your own to our club, and we value that we uphold those values of trust, and empathy, and friendship, and we hope that's what everyone brings to our club. That’s why we have written on our clubhouse wall that we’re One Club, One Family.”
Written by TMCMVMT
All photos taken by TMCMVMT