Jeff Kennett and Eddie McGuire among club presidents on AFL’s coronavirus ‘war cabinet’
Powerhouse presidents Jeff Kennett and Eddie McGuire headline the AFL’s ‘war cabinet’ which has been assembled to steer football through the coronavirus crisis.
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Some of footy’s biggest names have set aside personal animosities to front an AFL “war cabinet” formed to steer the game through its greatest crisis.
Club presidents Andrew Pridham, Eddie McGuire, Jeff Kennett and Peter Gordon were yesterday drafted onto an emergency committee alongside AFL chairman Richard Goyder, chief executive Gillon McLachlan and commissioners Paul Bassat and Robin Bishop.
Pay cuts across the AFL industry are being considered among the most immediate fiscal measures.
McGuire and Pridham are adversaries from way back, while Kennett has been one of the commission’s most ardent critics.
But the former Victorian premier, who said the challenge confronting football – and society – made the Global Financial Crisis look like “a pimple on an elephant’s back” – declared he had never encountered a greater spirit of industry co-operation in his nine years as Hawthorn boss.
“It’s as dire as we allow it to become,” Kennett told the Herald Sun.
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“When we (his Victorian government) redid the state, you acted quickly in order to shorten the period of pain. If you fiddle with this and don’t take decisive actions, then the pain will endure longer and be felt by more.
“When you are facing a challenge, you’ve got to recognise the challenge and move quickly.
“With this we don’t quite understand what is going to happen next but there is a communications standard (within the AFL industry) that I have not seen before and that encourages me to believe that by working together we will protect the code, the health of those who are a part of it and our staff, even though there will be dislocation along the way.”
McGuire, footy’s longest-serving current president, said the committee would help carry the burden that had been thrust onto the AFL leadership.
“It’s just going to be a one-in-all-in situation, it is as simple as that,” McGuire said on radio.
“Every time I come up with an answer, the world changes again.
“You get up this morning and you go ‘right we’ve got 17 games, let’s hope we start on Thursday night’ … everyone’s keen and we’re prosecuting that case as much as we can, then all of a sudden Donald Trump shuts the world down.
“These are big decisions and it’s not (just) Gill, it’s the entire football industry that are making these decisions.
“All the clubs are being canvassed … we can act as ambassadors for the other clubs.
“I’ve spoken to a number of club president’s just letting them know what I know so that no one is holding any information.
“We’re all doing this as one.”
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McGuire and Pridham have clashed numerous times over the Collingwood president’s on-air gaffes about Swan great Adam Goodes and amputee Cythia Banham, while they have also traded barbs about Sydney’s academies.
Kennett and McGuire have had harsh words about the Hawthorn president’s assertion that the AFL is a “boys’ club”.
As far back as 2014, Kennett has called for McGuire to stand down as Collingwood president, give he has been in the role since late 1998.
Both Kennett and Gordon have criticised the AFL over their extended aid packages to Gold Coast.
But Kennett said he was “optimistic, because of the co-operation, that we will get through this”.
“It is serious, but it’s a challenge that we will overcome by working together,” he said.
“I have not seen a time in my nine years as president of a club when the AFL and the clubs – the commission, the presidents and the CEO’s – have worked closer together.
“It’s quite clear that when things under are under challenge, particularly when we can’t predict what the future is, that you’ve got to trim your sails.
“The AFL and all the clubs are trying to trim their sails to ensure that the competition comes out of this.
“But our priorities are the health of our communities, both those we employ and our supporters, in particular our staff to help them through this challenge.
“This is a matter of looking at the rest of the year, to come out of the peak times and then to start rebuilding and hopefully, if we do it correctly, then 2021 looks promising.”
Kennett also he couldn’t be prouder that Hawthorn has not had one membership returned since the AFL’s resolve to still stage a 17-game season.
McGuire also said the fact Collingwood had had a spike in new memberships brought “a tear to your eye.”
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