Richard Goyder has been the invisible leader and the growing view is he should follow Gillon McLachlan out of the AFL

Richard Goyder has been the AFL’s invisible leader and the growing view is he should follow Gill McLachlan out the door. But will the replacement who makes the most sense even receive a call about the job?

Richard Goyder and Gillon McLachlan when it was announced the CEO would be leaving the AFL in October. Picture: David Crosling

Richard Goyder’s nickname at some clubs is “Over to you, Gill”.

It’s a moniker coined at the height of the pandemic when the AFL Commission chair swiftly handed the floor to league chief executive Gillon McLachlan during regular industry web calls.

While seen as a titan of Australian business (he also chairs Qantas and Woodside Energy), Goyder is not as highly-regarded by some within football.

He’s been the invisible leader, whose contribution won’t be remembered as substantive.

The AFL is drifting and there’s a growing view that Goyder should follow McLachlan out the door when the CEO finally lets go in October.

The push is already on from the Melbourne boys’ club establishment to install outgoing Victorian Governor Linda Dessau as his replacement.

Eddie McGuire and McLachlan himself have recently lauded Dessau’s credentials, but it would seem to be a backward move.

Dessau sat on the AFL commission during the Essendon drugs debacle, the Melbourne tanking farce and many more of the game’s integrity fiascos and has been out of the game for almost a decade.

Richard Goyder and Gillon McLachlan after it was announced the CEO would be leaving the AFL in October. Picture: Getty Images

The candidate who makes best sense – but who probably won’t even receive a phone call – is ex-Richmond president Peggy O’ Neal.

O’Neal, who oversaw the transformation of the Tigers from basket case to powerhouse, would not tolerate the lack of transparency and accountability that has come to define the AFL since the rise of Andrew Demetriou.

She also understands first-hand the struggles of clubs and their players and the importance of good governance in professional sport.

It goes without saying that true power at AFL HQ was ceded by the once-authoritative commission to the league executive when Demetriou took charge, courtesy of the strong endorsement of Ron Evans and Bill Kelty, more than two decades ago.

Goyder, as Evans and former AFL chair Mike Fitzpatrick did for Demetriou, has kept out of McLachlan’s way, playing the role of cheerleader instead of overseer.

Residing in Perth, on the other side of the country, Goyder simply has not been across the day-to-day machinations of an industry that operates largely out of Melbourne.

When asked about his own future after the commission’s botched search for McLachlan’s replacement that finally landed on league general counsel Andrew Dillon in May, Goyder declared: “I don’t think a lot of people understand the complexity of the AFL”.

Really?

Brendon Gale and Peggy O’Neal watch on during Richmond training. Picture: AAP Images

Qantas is a complex operation – ‘yes’ – but this is a football competition boasting financial rivers of gold that doesn’t have to pay a single cent of tax.

How many regulatory requirements that apply to Woodside Energy, Qantas or Wesfarmers are bogging the AFL down? Hardly any.

Is it so complex that it takes a year, $1 million and a worldwide search to identify the man in the office down the hall as McLachlan’s successor?

And does it take 10 months to find a replacement football operations manager?

The extended absence of a footy boss after the exit of Brad Scott to Essendon in September, coupled with McLachlan’s never-ending retirement party, has created an environment of uncertainty.

Confusion over dangerous tackles, even if Dillon believes there is none, is growing by the week.

The league seems to be hanging its hat on Richmond’s Brendon Gale accepting the top football job, but why would he go there after what was said about him and his wife during the CEO search?

The game is in need of regeneration and Goyder is part of the problem, not the solution.

Originally published as Richard Goyder has been the invisible leader and the growing view is he should follow Gillon McLachlan out of the AFL