Calls are building for Todd Greenberg to step in and lead Cricket Australia amid turmoil

With some in cricket circles questioning Nick Hockley’s long term viability as CEO of Cricket Australia, is the CEO of the players association, Todd Greenberg, the answer?

A worrying gulf has developed between Cricket Australia and the Australian team, as subtle calls begin for former NRL boss Todd Greenberg to jump the fence and run the game.

There is frustration within the team that the Warner leadership review fiasco has been allowed to play out and dominate headlines before their failed World Cup campaign and now the start of the Test summer, when it could have been sorted in the off-season.

It has not affected Australia’s demolition of the West Indies, but it certainly didn’t help preparations for the World Cup, where selectors felt compelled to bring forward Pat Cummins’ ODI captaincy announcement to stop the speculation being fueled by the prolonged process into reviewing Warner’s lifetime ban.

Is Australian Cricketers’ Association CEO Todd Greenberg the answer to heal Aussie cricket? Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

It’s understood there are serious reservations from some state directors about CA boss Nick Hockley’s viability as a long-term CEO, although that is far from a unanimous view and feelings from different states appear mixed. In any case, nothing is likely to happen quickly with TV rights and MOU negotiations in full swing and Hockley trusted to see those important talks through.

But Hockley is under mounting pressure, not least of all for the way the derailed Warner review process has blown up on the tarmac and impacted the Australian team in the heart of the summer.

On Friday, Greenberg, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers Association, revealed that the Australian team was “really annoyed” at the disastrous process CA had followed, which prompted Warner’s explosive statement on the eve of the Adelaide Test that he was pulling out of the review.

“It would be a fair understatement for me to say we (players association) are unbelievably frustrated. We are very frustrated, not just for David and his family, but also his teammates who I know are really annoyed about this process, that it has been allowed to drag into the Test summer,” said Greenberg on SEN.

“That is something that has frustrated a lot of us.

“… We raised this in February in the hope it could be addressed in the off-season. For David to be forced into a position like this on the eve of a Test, doesn’t serve him well, his family well, it doesn’t serve his team well and I would suggest it doesn’t serve Australian cricket well.”

Nearly eight weeks ago, National Selector George Bailey echoed the sentiment from within the team hierarchy when he respectfully asked Cricket Australia to deal with the review swiftly.

“I welcome Cricket Australia’s review into the Code of Conduct. I think that’s excellent,” said Bailey way back on October 18 when announcing Cummins’ ODI captaincy four days’ before Australia’s first World Cup match.

“What I do hope is that it happens in a really timely manner.

“Again, I think the longer that drags out just leads to speculation. I don’t think that’s helpful and I don’t think it’s helpful for David.”

The distrust from players towards Cricket Australia’s administration has pre-dated Hockley taking over the reins.

But the treatment of Tim Paine, the bowing to the states over Steve Smith’s eligibility for last year’s Big Bash and the flawed handling of Justin Langer’s departure, have only added to the angst which had its low-point with the ugly 2017 pay dispute.

Hockley recognised this and has worked hard to try and build relationships with the players and the Cricketers’ Association.

CA CEO Nick Hockley attempted to mend the body’s relationship with David Warner earlier this year in Pakistan. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

When he breached the Covid bubble in Pakistan earlier this year he made a beeline for Warner and attempted to mend the relationship between the star and head office.

The reality is Hockley shares a good personal relationship with a number of players, and the real disconnect between the team and head office is with invisible head of cricket, Ben Oliver.

Oliver, who was close with Langer and controversially survived his departure, is meant to be the CA figure representing and looking after the team yet hasn’t been with the team for the opening two Tests and only sparingly during the World Cup.

But the question now is whether Hockley has the skills to breach the divide that exists, because the resulting fallout couldn’t have been much worse had he taken the antagonistic approach of some of his forbearers.

Hockley’s best efforts and intentions have failed to make inroads and although he successfully managed to bring Warner back into the Big Bash fold, ultimately his best attempts to appease the star have backfired and the situation now is arguably worse than it was.

Clearly Greenberg has a natural advantage in player relations given his job is to represent them and not run cricket more broadly, but a leader who can help bring players back into the fold is a large part of why there is a push for him to take over, a sentiment reflected by Test great Simon Katich.

“What stood out for me is he is a man who has a huge amount of experience. As a man who has come from the NRL. He’s now a CEO of the ACA and the way he spoke about this whole leadership to me screams of leadership,” Katich said on SEN.

“I think given the way things have unfolded in the last couple of days and the way CA has outsourced a lot of these tough leadership decisions which come with the roles, I think there’s going to be pressure on Nick Hockley moving forward and if this man is not in the mix, then I’ll be very surprised.”

CEO defiant amid calls for change in face of Warner mess

Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley is under mounting pressure, with calls for former NRL boss Todd Greenberg to be considered to run the game.

Greenberg is currently in charge of the Australian Cricketers Association and has built a strong relationship with the Australian playing group as their representative.

Speaking on SEN Radio before play on Friday, Greenberg slammed Cricket Australia for losing control of the process to review David Warner’s leadership ban, and said the superstar opener was left with “no alternative” but to quit the process which was playing out through the Test summer.

Greenberg said Warner’s Australian teammates were also fed-up with Cricket Australia allowing a process which could have been sorted in the off-season, to drag on through the World Cup and into the Test series.

Former Test great Simon Katich said on SEN that he believed Hockley’s position at CEO would now come under a microscope, and if a change was made, Greenberg should be in the frame to take over.

Pressure is building on Nick Hockley. Picture: AFP Images

“Well it struck me (from Greenberg’s interview) the leadership and some of the answers he gave around what’s transpired and not just with the David Warner saga but probably in a number of areas over the last 12 months, and even going back to what happened in Cape Town,” said Katich.

“What stood out for me is he is a man who has a huge amount of experience. As a man who has come from the NRL. He’s now a CEO of the ACA and the way he spoke about this whole leadership to me screams of leadership.

“I think given the way things have unfolded in the last couple of days and the way CA has outsourced a lot of these tough leadership decisions which come with the roles, I think there’s going to be pressure on Nick Hockley moving forward and if this man is not in the mix, then I’ll be very surprised.”

Greenberg said in an interview with SEN’s Gerard Whateley that Warner had no choice but to quit the process, and that CA had monumentally let down the game.

“I don’t think he had any alternative. I think it was probably the only decision he could make, particularly as he is preparing for a Test,” said Greenberg.

Todd Greenberg has a good relationship with the players. Picture: Getty Images

“We raised this in February in the hope it could be addressed in the off-season. For David to be forced into a position like this on the eve of a Test, doesn’t serve him well, his family well, it doesn’t serve his team well and I would suggest it doesn’t serve Australian cricket well.

“I see this as a missed opportunity for the game, a missed opportunity for cricket and a missed opportunity for the BBL.

“It would be a fair understatement for me to say we are not unbelievably frustrated. That is the overarching emotion I felt. We are very frustrated, not just for David and his family, but also his teammates who I know are really annoyed about this process, that it has been allowed to drag into the Test summer.

“What we have got instead is a very convoluted process that somehow arrived at a media event that wanted to rake over ground that David had already acknowledged his guilt for and had shown significant remorse for, and paid a significant price for. “The moment Cricket Australia outsourced the review, in my view they lost control of the process.”

However, speaking later on Friday at Adelaide Oval during the second Test, Hockley pushed back against Greenberg’s claim that Warner had no alternative but to withdraw his application.

“I disagree. He had a number of options,” Hockley said.

“He could have continued with the process and an application could have been made during the hearing for…a select group of accredited media to not participate. And he could have said ‘I’m going to withdraw but I’m not going to make any public statements’ and I did relay to him [that] I was concerned I wouldn’t want him to prejudice any future application with any public public comments. But clearly, David just felt the need to say some things.”

Hockley was appointed full-time chief of CA last year, and has come under fire in some quarters for his handling of Justin Langer’s departure from the Australian coaching role, and Tim Paine’s scandalous resignation from the Test captaincy.

Paine was critical in his recently released book about Hockley’s decision to outsource some of the handling of his sexting shame.

Questioned about his relationships with current players and general speculation about his job security, Hockley defended his recent conduct.

“I think I’ve developed a really strong relationship with David over my entire time in the role,” Hockley said.

“And I’d like to think a strong relationship with other players. Ultimately that’s for them to describe how they feel about that.”

Asked specifically about Katich’s comments, Hockley stood firm.

“I’d say that we’ve been working really hard. I’m really proud of the work we’ve done to modify the code. People can have their own opinions.The alternative to putting in place a proper process is to just essentially make reactive decisions. That is not that is not appropriate around matters of integrity. The sports world globally, is under the microscope around their integrity processes. I make no apology for the fact that we’ve engaged with the best people that we’ve got, best in class governance and we’ve run a proper, fair, independent process.”

Originally published as Calls are building for Todd Greenberg to step in and lead Cricket Australia amid turmoil