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Sport Nation
Find your Sport Nation frequencyRead the room Richard: It's time for the AFL Chairman to go
Gerard Healy • May 14th, 2025 8:29 pm
While the AFL Commission fiddles in Darwin, the game burns.
What a debacle the last two weeks have been for AFL football, administration, and therefore the game, and it’s getting worse by the hour.
Much of the discussion around the football world today has been about process, he said, she said, should’ve and could’ve, who told lies, etc, but the main issue has been missed.
It’s more simply about leadership at all levels of the game, and while Laura Kane rightly took responsibility as Head of Football, until there’s a full investigation by Andrew Dillon of everyone involved, it’s impossible to know what changes need to be made.
It is Dillon who needs to oversee this and own it, for it might define his tenure.
But clearly, changes need to be made, and I don’t mean adding more people on big money, full or part-time. Perhaps the answer lies in culling a few of the many voices complicating the process, and I’m told that may already have started.
But the most obvious change, as I’ve suggested over the last 12 months, is overdue at the top. If ever the game needed a change of leadership, it’s now, and the real leadership is at the top of the AFL Commission, as Jeff Kennett pointed out today.
After serving the game admirably as a commissioner since 2011 and Chairman since 2017, it’s simply time for Richard Goyder to pull up stumps, this year. At worst, orchestrate a 12-month handover to the incoming Chairman, who can get to work immediately.
Currently, the commission is meeting in Darwin, and Goyder, unless things have changed, will be executing a plan trying to extend his time for another three-year term.
His rationale for staying on as leader is that no one on the current Commission wants to do the job.
With respect, they’re not the only ones in the field, and whilst Goyder evidently has the view that the incumbent Chairman should appoint their own successor as Mike Fitzpatrick did when he appointed Goyder, it’s not a God-given right and is nonsense.
Not even the Pope gets to choose his successor, for it risks getting more of the same when clearly a change of style, ambition and direction for the game is desperately needed, with Rugby League now, some would say, rightfully boasting they are the biggest game in town.
As Chairman, his partnership with Gillon McLachlan worked and worked well.
Goyder is a hands-off Chairman, and McLachlan was a hands-on CEO with a magnetic personality, a sharp intuition, and a magnificent front man and leader of the game.
It allowed Goyder to work in the background, visible only on Brownlow night. Toasting the Brownlow medal winner was the only time he spoke publicly on behalf of the game.
They were a great double act and achieved many great things that can be articulated in depth.
Ultimately, Richard Goyder has been at the helm of the game for nine years and on the commission for over 14. Much has been achieved, and he should be proud of his contribution, but it’s now time to go.
The dynamics with Andrew Dillon demand a more public and visible chairman to complement Andrew, which in no way diminishes his obvious abilities. He’s a hands-on football person. Perfect for the job as it tries to regenerate grass roots, but he needs a different Chairman than Richard Goyder for the game to flourish under his leadership, and that is obvious to most at club level.
It needs a Chairman with new ideas and a Commission more interested in the health of the game nationally rather than over prioritising a progressive agenda, a Chairman that will demand initially a review of the game and where it’s heading over the next decade and more both on and off the field, a Chairman who will examine and cull the bloated staffing of the games administration, focus on its on field rules and judiciary, but more specifically a Chairman that will demand a plan for how we are going to get there.
That has been sadly missing in Sydney and New South Wales for 15 years, while millions have been wasted, a plan for all people, all players, all nationalities Australia wide …. it is overdue and it’s not the ridiculous NGAs that no sane Commission could endorse.
The game's standing as the No. 1 football code in the country is now seriously under threat, and an action plan has been missing for too long.
The establishment of the Giants was always strategically challenging. It was only going to work if accompanied by a growth campaign at all levels, in all districts and schools to support the game at the lower levels. It didn’t happen, and the cost is immense.
Ultimately, the Giants have added an extra game to the broadcast rights, excellent exposure in Canberra, but not much else in Sydney. No players and no real growth in crowds. The Giants have been superb as a club, but the AFL dropped the ball in Sydney and not for the first time.
More importantly, though, it served to awaken the, at the time, complacent rugby league machine, which since the appointment of Peter V'landys, encircled Sydney with high-performance centres and new stadia, all funded by government money, making growth in Sydney that much harder if not impossible.
Add the Perth Bears again, funded by the WA government, and the picture is perfectly clear.
The challenge is on nationally, and Rugby League may now be in front, while we spend our CEO meetings arguing about father/sons. Are we truly going back to the 70s and 80s, where blinded club interests bankrupted the game?
It’s challenging times, and the Commission badly needs renewal to reflect that.
Clearly, changes need to be made at AFL house, but the greatest leadership challenge for those at the top is to know when your time is up.
And for Richard Goyder and a number of others who have overstayed their time, that's now. It should be announced this week in Darwin that the search for the next chairman will get underway.
Jeff Brown, former Collingwood Chairman, is a standout, as is
Andrew Pridham, Chairman of the Swans, who helped save the game through COVID. They would be at the top of the tree.
Andrew Pridham, Chairman of the Swans, who helped save the game through COVID. They would be at the top of the tree.
David Koch has his supporters, and one from left field, John Wylie, former chairman of the Sports Commission. Both are also seen as potential Chairmen currently being talked about openly at clubland.
It's pretty simple. Read the room Richard, and make the call.
