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Adelaide Football Club’s hunt for a new headquarters is honing in on Thebarton Oval and the Adelaide parklands nursery.
Former state premier John Olsen, who was appointed chairman by the Crows late last year, said he hoped the club would be in a position to nominate its preferred site by June.
Olsen told The Advertiser earlier in the week the search was intensifying and focusing on two locations.
One was Thebarton Oval, which many have already tipped to be the likely future home of the Crows.
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But Olsen said there was another option on the table, however would not give details.
The Advertiser on Wednesday revealed the second site was being widely speculated as the Adelaide parklands nursery.
“Thebarton is one site that we are having a very close look at,” Olsen said.
“But so is another site ... and we are having discussions with several local governments and progressing that work as expeditiously as we can.
“It is a key priority for us, and for our fans and members.
“There are two locations that we are seriously looking at, there are one or two others that preliminary additional work is being undertaken, but you could narrow it down to two.”
The fallout of COVID-19 forced the Crows to shelve plans to revamp the Adelaide Aquatic Centre in the North Adelaide parklands as part of a $65m development.
The proposal faced fierce opposition from parklands activists.
Olsen – who last year suggested the aquatic centre could be looked at again – said the club was no longer considering it as a possibility.
The Crows still have $15m from the Federal Government to go towards building a new training base.
Dropping the aquatic centre plan is likely to mean the price tag of any redevelopment will be significantly less than $65m.
There is also $6m in federal funding promised two years ago for a proposed SANFL Thebarton Oval redevelopment to create an elite-level sports facility for male and female talent programs, which would further strengthen the case for having it become a Crows training base.
But Olsen said it was a “fairly complex issue”.
“There are so many components to it. We want an elite training facility, opportunities for member and fan engagement, ways to honour the club history and the journey of the Adelaide Football Club,” he said.
Public transport either servicing or running close to the site is also a key criteria, which could hurt Thebarton’s chances.
“It needs to be accessible for members and fans,” Olsen said.
CROWS RAMP UP HUNT FOR NEXT CEO
The COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown in Victoria will impact the ability to interview prospective candidates to be the new Adelaide chief executive, Crows chairman John Olsen says.
Over 50 people have applied to replace Andrew Fagan, and the Crows were hoping to start interviewing prospective candidates from the end of this week – ahead of finalising an appointment next month.
But Olsen told The Advertiser the selection committee was wishing to do in-person interviews with candidates, which had become a bit trickier following the Victorian outbreak and lockdown.
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“We’ll attempt to do zoom interviews but we also want to do in-person interviews and as you have seen with the borders closing at short notice, that it is a challenge to be able to plan,” he said.
“But despite that we have borders that have put constraints on us from time to time, I hope that we’d start interviews on ability of key candidates for a shortlist in the next 10 to 14 days, give me a fortnight on it.
“My only caveat on it is if we have COVID impacting on the process that we want to take place.”
A number of big name footy administrators within South Australia and interstate have been linked to the role, with the Crows looking for someone with industry experience.
Olsen said the external recruiting firm the Crows had engaged, Morton Philips, had provided good feedback about who had applied for the role.
REVEALED: WHAT CROWS WANT IN NEW CEO
“We’ve been really pleased with the level of interest, the quality of candidates that have expressed interest, the fact that we must be heading to 50 or over 50 applications now,” he said.
“Of the applications we have received the recruiting firm indicates to me that there are some really high quality candidates in the field so that is really encouraging.”
The Crows have stipulated that their new chief executive has a “proven ability in strategic planning, driving a high performance culture, football administration, innovation, commercial operations and extensive media relations expertise.”
The new CEO also has been charged with “building stronger connection with the membership”.
Meet the men who could end Crows’ CEO search
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Former AFL boss Wayne Jackson says Adelaide should approach prominent club administrators such as Brian Cook and Trevor Nisbett to help with the hunt for its next chief executive.
Jackson said the Crows’ new appointment, to replace the resigning Andrew Fagan, had to “have a strong empathy for Australian football”.
Cook is standing down from his 22-year CEO role at Geelong at the end of this year, while Nisbett has been the chief administrator with the Eagles since 1999.
The Crows have embarked on a national search for a new chief executive, after it was announced at the club’s 2021 season launch last month that Fagan would step down from the role after just over six years.
Jackson, a former West Torrens player who was CEO of the AFL from 1996 to 2003, said there was an “outstanding” candidate for the role at the Crows – but there was just one big problem.
“The outstanding individual Australia-wide for that job is unfortunately coaching North Melbourne,” he said.
“David Noble would have been an outstanding chief executive of the Crows, but that’s gone.”
Jackson said the Crows should also speak to the AFL about who might be a potential replacement for Fagan, and should even speak to former Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas.
The Advertiser understands that while considered a long shot, there is a belief among people close to the Crows that Cook, who will depart as Geelong chief executive at the end of the season, and Nisbett, who has been CEO at the Eagles since 1999, could be gettable.
Jackson said the next Crows chief executive needed to be strong in a business and commercial sense but also needed “strong cultural ties to Australian football”.
“The CEO has to have a very strong affinity for the game of Australian football, not tennis or golf or whatever because they aren’t combative games,” he said.
“They have to have a strong empathy for Australian football and I don’t know who that person is.”
Jackson said as part of the search, the Crows should be approaching other club CEOs to get their perspective on what they might need going forward.
“I’d be talking to people like Brian Cook and Trevor Nisbett who I know well,” he said.
“I would be talking to people like them (and saying) ‘on the basis of from your observation from afar, what would be your priorities for a CEO for the Adelaide Crows?’.
“Because the CEO of the Adelaide Crows would have a different role to play than the CEO of Collingwood, for example.
“I would be talking to Brian Cook and these guys who are in the industry and have a lot of experience dealing with Andrew Fagan and the Crows and say ‘look, what do you think would be the main characteristics the Adelaide Crows should be looking for?’.”
Jackson said he would also talk to Thomas, who has ruled himself out for the role following his departure from the Power last year, to get his thoughts.
“They are good people these guys and if the right person is talking to them … I would certainly be doing that,” he said.
“I would be talking to the AFL, to Gillon and the people there. I’d be talking to the clubs, I’d even be talking to Keith Thomas … they are all pretty helpful people when you aren’t playing them on a Saturday.”
West Coast’s football boss Craig Vozzo, a South Australian, was interviewed for Port’s CEO role last year and applied for the Crows position when Fagan got it and again has been touted to be a strong candidate for the job this time around.
Richmond’s chief marketing officer, Simon Matthews, St Kilda’s chief operating officer Simon Lethlean and James Gallagher, who is General Manager Legal and Player Affairs at the AFL Players’ Association, have also been raised as possible candidates.
Closer to home, Norwood chief executive James Fantasia is expected to make a play for the role having been a football boss at Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs, and ex-Crows recruiting manager, while Jake Parkinson and Darren Chandler worked with new chairman John Olsen at the SANFL.
Internally, head of football Adam Kelly has experience as a chief executive and also worked with Olsen at the SANFL.
Meanwhile, three people will challenge Kym Ryder for a member-elected position on the Crows’ board.
Ryder’s two-year term expires and he is up against former Crows employee Nick Takos, commercial lawyer Shanti Berggren and former ABC board member Donny Walford for another stint.
The result will be announced on March 3 at the club’s annual members meeting.
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