A showdown is looming between the AFL club presidents and Richard Goyder over the commission chairman’s exit strategy and the timing of his departure.
St Kilda president Andrew Bassat is expected to have the backing of club bosses to meet Goyder and suggest that he stand down from his role as head of the commission’s nominations committee. That committee will choose Goyder’s replacement.
Richard Goyder is leading the search to find his successor.Credit: Steve Kiprillis
Not only do the presidents want a bigger say in who will become the next AFL chairman or woman, but there is also disquiet over Goyder’s reported plan to remain at the helm until 2028. The presidents want to speed up the previously slow-moving Goyder’s succession plan.
The majority of the club heads met privately at Sydney’s Sofitel Hotel on Tuesday before fronting Goyder and the league chiefs. While misgivings about Tasmania were a hot topic, Goyder’s future and his determination to heavily influence the choice of his successor was another key issue on the presidents’ agenda.
Six club chiefs, none of whom wanted to be identified due to the highly sensitive nature of the talks, confirmed they did not believe Goyder should remain chairman of the commission’s nominations committee. Most believe that role should go to a club president.
That committee also currently includes presidents Bassat, whose brother Paul is a commissioner, John Olsen (Adelaide), Andrew Wellington (Brisbane), Sonja Hood (North Melbourne) and Andrew Pridham (Sydney).
The AFL chairman also raised eyebrows among the presidents with his decision to again spend a significant amount of money on an international corporate search firm to identify candidates for the commissioner who will ultimately replace him. The same search firm earned at least a six-figure sum to identify Gillon McLachlan’s replacement, although the search for Goyder’s successor is not expected to be as costly.
Each one of the final shortlisted candidates for the role – which ultimately went to McLachlan’s deputy Andrew Dillon – either worked in an executive role at the AFL or, in the case of Brendon Gale and Kylie Watson-Wheeler, in a head role at an AFL club.
Goyder told the clubs this week that he and his CEO Dillon were currently negotiating financial terms with the headhunter.
Four presidents told this masthead that the majority view was not against elite corporate credentials but that a deeper knowledge and understanding of the clubs should remain a priority.
Over the past two years, a number of club presidents, including former Geelong and Collingwood presidents Craig Drummond and Jeff Browne along with David Koch (Port Adelaide) and Sydney’s Pridham, have been suggested as future AFL chairmen.
Goyder is entering his ninth AFL season as chairman and has served on the commission since 2011. He is up for re-election early next year but has indicated he wants to stay longer to oversee and work alongside his replacement for a period.
The view of the clubs is that the slow-moving nature of Goyder’s leadership style could see the appointment of the next commission chair drag on for at least another year and potentially longer.
Goyder took more than a year to appoint McLachlan’s replacement and the commission led the game for three years without anyone boasting football playing experience until Andrew Ireland and Matt de Boer came on board in 2024.
Former Collingwood president Jeff Browne.Credit: AFL Photos
While club presidential pressure probably influenced those appointments, the clubs have not exerted true muscle over commission appointments since the start of this century when West Australian commissioner Terry O’Connor was ousted because of his perceived bias against Victorian clubs.
The presidents are expected to be met with resistance from Goyder and the commission, particularly over their wish for him to step down as head of the nominations committee. That proposed move would be a radical break from past practice, with the AFL Commission priding itself on its independence.
In recent years there has been growing frustration regarding the selection process of commissioners, with the view that the AFL was paying them lip service by placing presidents on a nominations committee in which they had little voice. That frustration came to a head in 2017 when the presidents said they were barely consulted over the appointment of Robin Bishop, a founding partner of BGH Capital.
In 2018, a group of Victorian club presidents – fearing their influence was waning – met away from AFL bosses in former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett’s private corner store in Cremorne in a bid to force a cultural correction in the AFL’s pecking order.
And the presidents have held semi-regular meetings, shutting out the AFL since August 2023 when they met over concerns that they and their fellow directors could be exposed personally to concussion claims from players. The success of that push helped unite the club leaders.
Andrew Bassat told this masthead this week: “I think Richard is doing a good job. Richard is actively working on succession, and I think at the right time, that will happen.”
Goyder told this masthead he would not comment.
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