Gillon stepping down 2022 - Press Conference at 11:30am EST

[The_Wookie]

I remember for whatever reason it was pretty obvious Gil was going to get the job when Demitriou quit, so who's the obvious one next?

In AFL House for better or worse I think #1 pick is Andrew Dillon (current General Manager - Operations, Legal & Integrity, AFL General Counsel), but i will not be surprised if its Travis Auld (General Manager - Finance, Clubs and Broadcast - similar role to Mclachlan before he took over) given the league seems to think the sun shines out of his back passage. Kylie Rogers (General Manager - Customer & Commercial) only joined the league in 2017 but did the Leagues naming rights deal with Marvel, and has broadcasting experience with Ten. Walter Lee (General Manager - Strategy) is a complete unknown, as is Sarah Fair (General Manager - HR).

Outside League HQ theres obviously Ben Gale (tigers CEO) who put his hand up a few years ago and would be ideal for a league expanding to Tassie and Brian Cook (Blues CEO) - although his time may have past. Im a big fan of Trevor Nesbitt at the Eagles, but whether hed go east is another story. Peter Jackson (ex Dees) might have been a good pick but he retired from full time work in 2018.

Outside footy, Christine Holgate (ex AusPost) has been thrown up, but I dont expect anyone outside of footy to really be a chance at the CEO role.

 

[Bjo187]

Nothing unusual in the rights negotiations. deal runs out in 2024. discussions usually start around 2 years beforehand and announced well before the previous deal ends. Mclachlan has been the prime negotiator for the league on these things since 2002.

Interesting I thought for the new rights starting in 2025 that the deal would be finalised in 2023 at the absolute earliest not 2022. Imagine ESPN for example decided to expand into Australia in 2023/24 that would boost the competition for the rights significantly.

 

[The_Wookie]

Campbell
Gale
Prendergast

Would all do a good job, the first thing they need to do is slash salaries at AFL house, how can the ceo get well more than the best player, that's absurd, and well above the wage of any club ceo.

AFL isn't a private corporation, without members of the AFL and clubs it's nothing, it needs to provide greater transparency and be run like a government

CEO will get what the market pays. In Mclachlans case, the market was going to pay a lot. Theres been plenty of crap sports CEOs in governing bodies of late - Mclachlan was being head hunted by both the NRL and Liverpool.

The AFL is absolutely a private corporation.

 

[The_Wookie]

Interesting I thought for the new rights starting in 2025 that the deal would be finalised in 2023 at the absolute earliest not 2022. Imagine ESPN for example decided to expand into Australia in 2023/24 that would boost the competition for the rights significantly.

The deal was supposed to end this year, the 2023-24 period was already an extension.

 

[Bjo187]

Just looking the 2 deals prior were finalised around 15 months and 19 months before officially starting (excluding 23 and 24 which was extended due to covid so was much shorter).

For this deal if it's done by August this year as they hope, that will be about 30 months before starting. 2.5 years is an awfully long time to assume the market won't change and something better might not come along in the meantime imo.

 

[The_Wookie]

Just looking the 2 deals prior were finalised around 15 months and 19 months before officially starting (excluding 23 and 24 which was extended due to covid so was much shorter).

For this deal if it's done by August this year as they hope, that will be about 30 months before starting. 2.5 years is an awfully long time to assume the market won't change and something better might not come along in the meantime imo.

Discussions start long before finalisation.

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

Would be nice to get a Carlton person in just before we start winning too many games. That way people can complain about how corrupt the AFL is when we start winning.

 

[The_Wookie]

Would be nice to get a Carlton person in just before we start winning too many games. That way people can complain about how corrupt the AFL is when we start winning.

Cain Liddle is free these days

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

Cain Liddle is free these days

Not sure I'd trust him to look after our best interests.
Also not sure if he'd delegate, or take over others roles?

 

[Aussie in exile]

Demetriou was the worst by a mile, a flat out crook as shown by his Acquire Learning & Crown shenanigans.

100%. With Fat Andy it was always the money first for him and the game second
Anybody who wants to return to the game need to give their head a good shake

 

[Aussie in exile]

Is there a thread for this?

Bring back Fat Andy






AFL commission chairman Richard Goyder has just told the 18 club presidents and CEOs that McLachlan has made the call to leave the post, after eight seasons in charge.

It is believed McLachlan has committed to completing the complicated processes attached to new Collective Bargaining Agreements for the women’s and men’s competitions, as well as finalising new club-funding models and a fresh broadcast deal, which expires at the end of 2024.

His departure will leave a massive hole for the game, particularly as it emerges out of two COVID-impacted seasons.

With Fat Andy's last 2 ventures into the business world i would be amazed if any business wanted to employ him
If you shook hands with Fat Andy would would have to check you still had all your fingers afterwards

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

So does the independent review of the AFL that Sydney prez Andrew Pridham called for in late 2020, to be the first since the Crawford Report (that was started in August 1992, delivered in March 1993, and most of its recommendations adopted in August 1993) happen after Gill has left, or not at all?

Don't know if Gil staying or going changes the Commission's relecutance to such a review, or if the clubs now push for it, saying the new CEO won't feel threatened by a new review.

 

[madmug]

Campbell
Gale
Prendergast

Would all do a good job, the first thing they need to do is slash salaries at AFL house, how can the ceo get well more than the best player, that's absurd, and well above the wage of any club ceo.

AFL isn't a private corporation, without members of the AFL and clubs it's nothing, it needs to provide greater transparency and be run like a government

Thats like saying a corporation is nothing without its customers or branch offices. Pretty obvious really.

Point is, the AFL is the head of the clubs. Members are unlikely to leave en mass.

We may want it to show greater transparancy, but it won't, & what will everyone do about it?

Complain, & watch footy?

 

[Trent the flight Steward]

Thats like saying a corporation is nothing without its customers or branch offices. Pretty obvious really.

Point is, the AFL is the head of the clubs. Members are unlikely to leave en mass.

We may want it to show greater transparancy, but it won't, & what will everyone do about it?

Complain, & watch footy?

People want greater transparency, just look at council meetings, not held behind closed doors but broadcast, if you have the tv rights, surely having tribunals streamed live is more beneficial to an interview with a player at qtr time and the president's meetings, stream live, gone are the days of shutting everyone out and the old boys club meet to work out a deal behind closed doors, where the aggrieved go and tell Caro

 

[Trent the flight Steward]

So does the independent review of the AFL that Sydney prez Andrew Pridham called for in late 2020, to be the first since the Crawford Report (that was started in August 1992, delivered in March 1993, and most of its recommendations adopted in August 1993) happen after Gill has left, or not at all?

Don't know if Gil staying or going changes the Commission's relecutance to such a review, or if the clubs now push for it, saying the new CEO won't feel threatened by a new review.

It would give the commision a good idea of what the key selection criteria is for the job if they did, they've got 6 months to get it right

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

It would give the commision a good idea of what the key selection criteria is for the job if they did, they've got 6 months to get it right

They dont need a review to work out the criteria needed to become CEO.

The clubs want a review about power sharing in the AFL. In 1993 after the Crawford Report recommendations, the clubs handed over a lot of power to the Commission.

Sometime during Wayne Jackson's 2nd half of his tenure when Demetriou was his 2IC, they, but Demetriou in particular, convinced Commission chair Ron Evans to hand over a fair chunk of the Commission's power to the AFL executives.

I dont remember the exact dates and tranches of power transfer but it is documented in Mick Warner's book The Boys Club.

The clubs reckon the AFL execs have too much power and they belittle the clubs and dont listen to them.

Will an independent review achieve what the clubs want? No idea and Im sceptical it would.

Even though there seemed to be an orderly transfer of power in the past, I am a great believer in what Michael Corleone said in Godfather III, the worst of the trilogy, but the second best line in the trilogy;

Real power cant be given, it must be taken.

It wont be easy to take power away from the AFL executives and give some to the clubs and some to the Commission. But an independent review and a new CEO from outside the AFL, and probably from club land, might be the best bet.

 

[banzai]

Hope it's not Gale so we don't lose him, but atleast he will get the Tassie team up and running quickly.

 

[Bjo187]

I hope we get a new ceo that doesn't fold to the AFLW like Gill has. I think the creation of AFLW was a great initiative and good for the game, however the constant expansion and money drain on the competition is going to be a long term burden. I just read the female players are asking for triple pay in their new deal. I think this is absurd as the competition is already costing the AFL over 20 million in losses per year. Then on the other hand you have Tasmania having to prove their fully self sustainable to even get considered for a licence. I hope the new CEO has the courage to push back on these demands as they are quite astounding after only 5 years of the league being in place. As someone else stated the AFLW should look at running independently, it will ensure they put work into being a sustainable competition and the revenue generated can support any pay rises, as opposed to coat tailing off the men's competition.

 

[#26]

Thank you for your service, bug eyes.

 

[PaPaGeorGeo]

Just looking the 2 deals prior were finalised around 15 months and 19 months before officially starting (excluding 23 and 24 which was extended due to covid so was much shorter).

For this deal if it's done by August this year as they hope, that will be about 30 months before starting. 2.5 years is an awfully long time to assume the market won't change and something better might not come along in the meantime imo.

i think usually the CBA & TV rights are done together because the players wouldn’t want to negotiate the CBA without knowing what the TV rights
are going to be. Due to covid they extended the tv rights to a) give some stability to the finances & b) I think to smooth over any lost revenue from the shortened covid season.

They are now out of sync so doing the TV rights earlier means they can get them in sync again

 

[RUNVS]

I just hope that the next CEO is not too Victorian centric as it is a risk sometimes with appointing an AFL CEO.

 

[windyhill]

Surely not mcguire, can you imagine that prick getting it......

 

[blaisee]

Interesting on Gill, thought he was largely outstanding in the job overall.

Saved the game through COVID which was no mean feat.

Only knock on him was the appointment of Hocking and the amount of power he gave him, and the lack of accountability to Hockings role.

The mandate was to increase scoring, and Hocking changed rules, and changed the fabric of the game, mad ultimately reduced scoring, probably the worst appointment in the history of the AFL IMHO

To his credit Gil must have realised that in the end and shoved him out the door back to Geelong, but unfortunately its too late.

 

[Chief]

Surely not mcguire, can you imagine that prick getting it......

"Have any players been stuck down a mine? How much can we pay them for their story?"

 

[Bjo187]

Interesting on Gill, thought he was largely outstanding in the job overall.

Saved the game through COVID which was no mean feat.

Only knock on him was the appointment of Hocking and the amount of power he gave him, and the lack of accountability to Hockings role.

The mandate was to increase scoring, and Hocking changed rules, and changed the fabric of the game, mad ultimately reduced scoring, probably the worst appointment in the history of the AFL IMHO

To his credit Gil must have realised that in the end and shoved him out the door back to Geelong, but unfortunately its too late.

Interesting take, there was a segment on sen yesterday that the game is much better to watch than 5 years ago and I completely agree. Mostly due to hockings changes, the ball actually moves around these days, regardless of an increase in scoring or not.