Brisbane 2032: NRL boss Peter V’landys and AFL’s Gil McLachlan in mix for top role

The Brisbane Olympics are still 11 years away - but the manoeuvring for board and executive roles is well underway.

(Clockwise from L-R): AOC President John Coates, NRL boss Peter V'landys and AFL supremo Gil McLachlan.

It‘s the first big and hugely competitive race for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, but it has nothing to do with a track or a swimming pool.

Instead, it is the chase for the Brisbane Olympics president’s role – as well as board positions and executive roles for the soon-to-be-convened local organising committee – that has captains of industry and sporting administrators across the land breathlessly jostling for positions.

Rugby league king Peter V’landys has been touted as one man who should run the Brisbane Olympics. AFL chief Gillon McLachlan’s name has been tossed around, as has former Queensland tourism minister Kate Jones.

Former league supremos David Gallop and Todd Greenberg have also been linked to the Brisbane Olympic Organising Committee.

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Peter V'Landys.

Kate Jones.

But insiders say the man or woman who runs the Olympics will be “league above” a local former or current sporting administrator. Such is the magnitude of the Brisbane president’s role, it is more likely to go to an accomplished corporate figure – preferably with Olympic experience – or a former prime minister.

Dual Olympian Rob Scott, the Wesfarmers chief executive, and Olympic gold medallist Kieran Perkins, a bank executive, are seen as prime candidates for the president’s role. Former Olympic diver Michael Murphy, who holds an MBA from Harvard and is now a managing director of Bain Capital, has also been mentioned.

Former rugby and soccer chief, now chair of Star Entertainment John O’Neill is also in the mix due to his experience across the business and sport sectors. Former Queensland Investment Corporation boss and ex-Wallaby Damien Frawley is another respected candidate, as is Gold Coast Suns chair Tony Cochrane and swimming champion Mark Stockwell.

Rob Scott.

Kieran Perkins.

There’s an expectation that the president, a full-time role that reports to the International Olympic Committee board each quarter, will move well in international circles and politically.

All the executives will be expected to work closely with powerful Australian Olympic Comm­ittee boss John Coates, who makes no secret he doesn’t suffer fools.

“There will be a process where there’ll be internationally known recruitment consultants appointed and out of that they will make a recommendation to the Premier and the Prime Minister who will then make a joint decision,” Mr Coates told The Australian.

He said former leaders of Olympic organising committees included prominent businessmen and prolific Olympians such as ­Sebastian Coe, who led London’s bid for the 2012 Games. Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese PM, led Tokyo’s committee and he was replaced by Seiko Hashimoto, a former politician and Olympian.

It is shaping up to be an 11-year marathon before the opening ceremony will be held at a revamped Gabba in late July 2032.

Mr V’landys should be strongly considered to run the Games, says former Queensland premier Peter Beattie who chaired the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Mr Beattie, who has ruled himself out of joining the Brisbane Organising Committee, believes an “independent” president from Sydney or Melbourne would be the best fit for the first Olympic Games on Australian soil since 2000. “They need someone like Peter V‘landys to chair; he is a doer who can get the thing done,” Mr Beattie said. “He talks a big game and delivers an even bigger game. He is Mr Deliverable.

“Australia’s reputation is on the line. Sponsorships in Melbourne and Sydney need to be locked in – you can’t be provincial on this. I think it needs to be chaired by someone based in either Sydney or Melbourne.”

Mr Beattie also believes fellow commissioner Megan Davis would be a suitable addition to the organising committee.

Whatever is the case, there is a determination that the event will not just be run by Queenslanders.

One insider said: “The federal government knows how parochial Queensland is. They want an Australian Olympics hosted in Queensland, rather than a Queensland Olympic Games.”

Phones have been running hot and emails flying around ever since Brisbane was announced as the 2032 Games host city on July 21, with the jockeying for positions akin to the athletic exertions of a 100m sprinter or 200m swimmer.

The skill set necessary might be the administration version of the modern pentathlon. Instead of running, swimming, shooting, riding and fencing substitute in government relations, international diplomacy, fundraising acumen, networking skills and behind the scenes political backstabbing prowess as necessary abilities in this heavily competitive race.

Documents obtained by The Australian show planning for a 20-person board for the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (OCOG) is already under way.

An independent president will oversee the board, which could have a maximum of 22 members, four nominated by the prime minister and four by the Queensland government.

One insider says it is unclear who will have veto power over appointments, with tensions already running high between the Morrison and Palaszczuk governments over Covid-19, quarantine and various other matters, let alone Olympic negotiations.

The president of the AOC, currently Mr Coates before his retirement next year, is required for a slot, as is the AOC chief executive, currently Matt Carroll, and the Paralympics President, a role now held by Jock O’Callaghan.

The potential selections are sure to be the talk of the room when Ms Palaszczuk hosts a black-tie dinner on Saturday. Attendees include billionaire Gina Rinehart.

But as one insider said, the race for the Brisbane Olympics board is all about the finish rather than the start. “You probably don’t want to be on this sort of thing at the start, or the middle. It’s all about being there at the end,” they said.

Originally published as Brisbane 2032: NRL boss Peter V’landys and AFL’s Gil McLachlan in mix for top role