Community footy the priority for next AFL boss Andrew Dillon

The newly elected next AFL chief executive says there is one key thing he wants to change when he takes charge of the league.

New AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon says he is committed to rejuvenating community football. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

Incoming AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon says rejuvenating community football will be a top focus, admitting the health of the game at grassroots level plummeted during the pandemic.

Dillon, a longtime AFL senior staffer who oversees the organisation’s legal and football departments, was announced as Gillon McLachlan’s successor to clubs in a telephone hook-up on Monday morning before he was unveiled to the public.

A six-time VAFA premiership player, Dillon emphasised his love of local football and its importance to his upbringing and told reporters he would focus heavily on repairing the damage done to the game by the pandemic.

Junior participation levels have stagnated after kids did not return to the sport following the near two-season hiatus during 2020 and 2021, while the decline of regional competitions in Victoria has continued with clubs including Jacana (EDFL), Rushworth (Kyabram District) and Corowa-Rutherglen (Ovens and Murray) all failing to field a senior side in 2023.

Andrew Dillon (centre) will take over as AFL chief executive from the end of the 2023 season in October. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

“We’re going to be club focused … we’ve got a truly national competition, we want to be a truly national sport overseen by a truly national organisation,” Dillon said.

“Where we continue to grow will be community (football), so I think we just need to continue to invest in community and that’s the place where it hasn’t been forgotten but sometimes it has been the first … through Covid, community footy got hit more than any.

“That’s the challenge and the opportunity I see.”

Dillon did not detail any new plans he had to improve the health of grassroots football but pointed to the AFL Commission’s decision late last year to commit a minimum of 10 per cent of the league’s revenue towards the local game.

“I think if we can invest that in the right way, in the right places, we’ll just propel the AFL to be the No.1 choice of sport for all people all over Australia,” he said.

Dillon says there will be no tension with predecessor Gillon McLachlan while the two work together for the remainder of the season. Picture: Michael Wilson / Getty Images

The incoming chief executive is set to take the reigns from McLachlan in October, with the commission implementing a transition period in order for the outgoing football boss to oversee the fallout from the independent review into allegations of racism at Hawthorn and the new collective bargaining agreement with the AFL Players’ Association.

Dillon said he had no concerns about working with McLachlan over the five-month transition period.

“Gill and I have worked together very closely for 23 years, we’ve spoken about this – we’ve got no issues with how it’s going to work,” he said.

“I think the biggest concern over the next five months, particularly with my wife, is how Gill and I are going to deal with the break-up.

“We’re fine … it happens in corporate Australia all the time, transition periods, and Gill and I with the relationship that we’ve got, the professional relationship, I think there will be no concerns there.”

Originally published as Community footy the priority for next AFL boss Andrew Dillon