Geelong Cats chairman Colin Carter confirms he will retire from board and announces his replacement

Leadership changes are under way at the Geelong Cats with chairman Colin Carter confirming his retirement after a 35-year career in football and the man who will replace him.

AN era of leadership change has started at the Geelong Cats, with chairman Colin Carter to step aside after a decade in the job.

Medibank Private chief executive officer Craig Drummond will take over from Carter at next month’s annual general meeting.

One of Drummond’s first tasks will be to consider who his board wants to take over CEO Brian Cook and captain Joel Selwood, who are both likely to depart their roles in the coming year or so.

Carter’s retirement draws the curtain on a 35-year career shaping Aussie rules footy at the highest level.

As a consultant, he helped the VFL Commission nationalise their competition in the mid-80s before spending five years on Geelong’s board, followed by 15 years as an AFL commissioner.

Geelong Cats chairman Colin Carter is stepping down. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

He returned to Kardinia Park as a director in 2008, replacing Frank Costa as chairman in 2011 to celebrate the club’s 150th anniversary and a premiership in his first season at the helm.

Drummond joined the Cats board that same season.

He has been CEO of Medibank Private since 2016, and has shared his expertise on the Cats’ finance and audit committee.

Although his employer competes directly with one of Geelong’s major sponsors — GMHBA — the club believes Drummond’s track record proves those relationships will continue to be managed without conflict.

“He’s a very capable executive. He’s very well regarded and he’s been close to the footy club for a long time,” Carter said.

Selwood became Cats captain in 2012, forming a formidable and stable leadership trinity for the past nine years with Carter and Cook.

He played his 300th game last season, and has captained the club for 200 of those, a club record and 26 shy of the league record.

Medibank CEO Craig Drummond will be the Cats new chairman. John Feder/The Australian.

It’s expected he will continue in the role this year, but that has not yet been confirmed.

Like Cook, it’s understood his contract will expire at the end of the coming season.

Cook, who started as CEO in 1999, shelved retirement plans a year ago to extend his tenure for a further two years.

Carter said it was a credit to the environment Cook had created that Geelong’s CEO job would be highly sought after when he does retire.

“Succession is one of the responsibilities of a board, and that is a topic that is regularly discussed,” he said.

“Our board, like all other boards, will have a sense of who’s coming through internally, and who else is out there in the industry. There are quite a few Geelong alumnus out there; (AFL footy operations chief) Steve Hocking, (Hawthorn CEO) Justin Reeves and (MCC chief) Stuart Fox to name a few.

“There are others as well, so I think when the time comes the board’s big problem will be to choose between good candidates.

“In the same way that a lot of people are pointing out Geelong is a destination club for players, Geelong is also a destination club for other positions within the club. So I think the challenge will be in choosing between good candidates rather than finding any good candidates that want to put up their hand.”

Originally published as Geelong Cats chairman Colin Carter confirms he will retire from board and announces his replacement