AFL 2023: Leigh Matthews withdraws interest in joining AFL Commission

Leigh Matthews had expressed interest in filling one of two vacancies on the AFL Commission but the slow process is believed to have contributed to him pulling out of the running.

Leigh Matthews (right) announces the winner of the Leigh Matthews Trophy.

Football legend Leigh Matthews has withdrawn his interest in joining the AFL commission. 

The four-time premiership coach had been approached by league headquarters in the first half of 2022 but it is understood he grew frustrated with the lengthy process to fill the two current vacancies on the panel that governs the game. 

This masthead has confirmed that Matthews, who is noted by many as the game’s greatest ever player, has withdrawn from the process having publicly declared his interest earlier this year. 

“I have had a couple of conversations way back,” he said in April.

“Not for months because it’s all been put on hold. Only a couple of conversations and I expressed some interest.

“It’s a volunteer role and you can’t do media. I had a couple of conversations in the last 12 months but everything has been put on hold. But that is why my name popped up.

“There were a couple of conversations. ‘Are you interested?’ And I said, ‘Oh yeah, I might be interested.’

“The conversation would only go anywhere if there was genuine interest in me being a candidate they thought would be good for the commission.”

Football legend Leigh Matthews. Picture: AAP Image/Daniel Pockett

The two positions have sat vacant since the end of 2021, with the league saying earlier this year that any appointments were on hold until a replacement for outgoing chief executive Gillon McLachlan was named. 

Geelong skipper Patrick Dangerfield was linked to one of the vacancies earlier this year, but said there would be “challenges around the conflicts” to have a current player on the commission. 

Matthews said in April that the league’s appetite was to appoint “a couple of football background people” given the current commission – headed by chairman Richard Goyder – does not currently have a football person involved. “They have been looking for a person or two from the northern states or WA, which is why Matthew Pavlich’s name popped up,” Matthews said in April.

“Andrew Ireland would be an ideal candidate too. The idea was they needed a couple of football background people.”

Originally published as AFL 2023: Leigh Matthews withdraws interest in joining AFL Commission