‘An incredible mind’: Demetriou backs McLachlan to get big tasks done

Gillon McLachlan’s final months in the job will be as important as almost any during his time in charge but having one foot out the door to resignation would not be an impediment to him nailing the critical decisions in football, his predecessor Andrew Demetriou said.

“I think if anyone is going to do it he’ll do it, and they need him to do it, they have to find a successor to Gill and that will take time. It coincides with some of the things he has got to get done and the big one is broadcast rights because all the things flow from that, the CBAs, the club distribution plan,” Demetriou said.

Gillon McLachlan. Credit:AFL Photos

“I think it is very admirable of him to stay around and do that. It won’t be easy, but I am glad he is doing it because the competition, the industry and the clubs need him to do it.

“It will be a challenge, it won’t be easy, but if anyone can do it, it’s Gill. He has just got such an incredible mind for those sorts of things. He loves deals, he loves problem-solving. He wants to leave the game in better shape than he found it and leave a legacy.”

McLachlan has committed to stay on as CEO until the end of the year, leading the executive in negotiating a new broadcast rights deal, new men’s and women’s collective bargaining agreements, a new funding deal with clubs and a decision on a possible new 19th licence for a team in Tasmania.

Each of these issues in isolation is significant for the game but all five to be completed in months is a monumental amount of work.

Some club chiefs consider the CBA would be the most difficult piece of work, warning that the AFL Players’ Association would not be compelled to work to McLachlan’s resignation timeline and would seek to drag talks out as a tactic.

Other clubs argue that while the broadcast deal was important because it financially underpinned the economic model of the game, the most challenging deal to negotiate would be the funding arrangement with the clubs, which seeks to balance equalisation and expansion, and will confront the increased hostility of the powerful clubs, who have been spoiling for a fight with the AFL over funding imbalance.

Demetriou said the time was right for McLachlan to move on after nine seasons in the position, admitting the job has a shelf life.

Gillon McLachlan and Andrew Demetriou. Credit:Jesse Marlow

“In fairness to him and anyone who has led an organisation through the pandemic, it would have aged anyone, that two years would have felt like five years, and he did a wonderful job through the uncertainty of the pandemic and navigating club through that and making decisions,” he said.

“People forget he started when I started in 2000, so this is his 22nd year at the AFL, it’s not eight years as CEO. You know the time to go, you know when it is right.”

Demetriou said his legacy would be “his commitment to AFLW and fast-tracking that, the big broadcast deals and setting the game up financially, the purchase of Etihad Stadium, now Marvel, and of course, the navigation through the pandemic. Great achievements for the game”.

The former AFL chief shied away from recommending a candidate to succeed McLachlan, saying the agenda of the AFL Commission for the next five to 10 years would dictate the type of character or skill set the AFL needed.

“Thankfully it’s not my decision,” he said. “There are enough good candidates within the industry to put their hands up and no doubt there will be some externals who think they can do the job, and they will attract some very talented people.”

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