AFL CEO search: Who will replace Gillon McLachlan in the top job?

Brendon Gale and Andrew Dillon are the out and out favourites to replace Gillon McLachlan, but a controversial name has emerged as a dark horse. Check out the lead contenders and vote.

Gillon McLachlan’s right hand man and confidante Andrew Dillon is the dark horse candidate that could leapfrog favourites Brendon Gale and Travis Auld into the league’s chief executive role.

The AFL will in coming days start a process to replace departing CEO McLachlan, with the league to appoint an external search firm expected to be Sydney-based Spencer Stuart.

The league will be keen to interview a diverse group of candidates, with AFL commercial boss Kylie Rogers seen as a real contender given her spectacular success generating non-broadcast revenue.

Richmond’s Gale, Essendon’s Xavier Campbell, Gold Coast’s Mark Evans, MCG boss Stuart Fox and former Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour are all potential candidates.

Gale is seen as having the perfect mix of football background, business skill and a strong moral compass, while Auld is seen as an ideal candidate given a strong recent performance as the AFL’s fixture, broadcast and finance chief.

His stellar work helping land the fixture and keeping broadcast deals afloat during two pandemic-riven years has drawn strong support.

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Andrew Dillon is highly regarded at the top level. Picture: Getty Images

But Dillon has been at the AFL for 20 years as the league’s legal counsel and now football boss and has strong admirers, given an impeccable resume across all portfolios.

He has thrived in the background as McLachlan’s key sounding board but is being urged to put his name forward for the role in what would be a different brand of leadership to his boss’s personable, charismatic demeanour.

Dillon also has strong support at commission and club level.

As a senior industry source said of Dillon: “He has the footy acumen. No one knows the business better than him, he has been Gill’s confidante. He is the one Gill calls for everything. And he has more footy knowledge than any internal candidate”.

The Herald Sun understands McLachlan has been sounded out by headhunters looking to fill the role of Brisbane 2032’s chief executive officer.

But he has made clear he is not interested in that role, admitting he had no firm idea what his next role might be.

Former Swimming Australia president John Bertrand said on Monday he was one of the great sports administrators but might be disadvantaged by his lack of Olympic expertise in the role delivering the 2032 Olympics.

The AFL is expected to cast the net wide, given the outstanding list of businessmen and women on AFL clubs boards, aware a surprise candidate could still emerge.

The AFL has Robin Bishop, founding partner of BGH Capital, on its board as another example of a business heavy hitter who could be a left-field candidate.

AFL chairman Richard Goyder said, as he farewelled McLachlan, the league was in a strong position after urging his CEO to consider a long-term deal but realising he instead wanted to move on.

“I feel really good about the quality of people that we’ve got within the AFL system right now – in terms of AFL House and within the clubs,” Goyder said.

“I feel we’ve got in that group people who are more than capable of taking over from Gill. Then we’ll go through a process and there may well be others that come to hand that we will have a look at.

“I feel very confident that in due course we’ll be able to make an appointment which will be a really strong appointment to take the AFL forward.

“We’ll appoint an external search firm. So that just helps keep a bit of distance between the Commission and me and any potential candidate. Also, they bring some capability and expertise to it and it just enables us to step back a bit.

“It will keep us busy for coming months. It’s the most important decision, in many ways, the Commission makes, I think, is appointing the CEO.”

Travis Auld is seen as an ideal candidate. Picture: Getty Images

The candidates to replace Gillon

BRENDON GALE

The Richmond chief executive has the perfect resume after his time as a Richmond player, AFLPA boss and Tigers chief at a club he has dragged back to respectability with three premierships, 100,000 members and multi-million dollar profits. The 53-year-old Tasmanian brings valuable football acumen, sharp intellect and a strong moral compass at a time when the league will also likely shepherd through a 19th licence in his home state.

ANDREW DILLON

The AFL’s general manager of football operations and legal integrity could easily fill McLachlan’s shoes. It is understood the man who had McLachlan’s ear like few others is keen to apply for the role. He has customarily taken a role in the background, less keen to network at events than the gregarious McLachlan. But having joined the AFL at the same time as McLachlan, the highly capable Dillon has the experience across football and integrity matters to win the job. Don’t discount under any circumstances.

TRAVIS AULD

The former Essendon chief operating officer became the inaugural Gold Coast chief executive in 2009 before arriving at AFL House in September 2014, now responsible for the industry’s finances, relationships with 18 clubs and broadcast and fixturing. Auld is seen as a more likely candidate than Dillon given his forward-facing role in the public and with clubs, having also won admiration for the manner in which he handled the fixturing crisis brought about by pandemic.

Brendon Gale is seen as a leading candidate to replace Gillon McLachlan. Picture: Getty Images

KYLIE ROGERS

The AFL’s general manager of customer and commercial will likely be a candidate in her own right but with the league determined to interview strong and successful women it will put her on track to be strongly considered. Rogers heads up a commercial department which the AFL boasts generates non-football revenue of $200 million a year. But she would still be a long shot.

CHRISTINE HOLGATE

The former Australian Post boss and Collingwood board member has elite marketing and business skills but has not attempted to force herself on football decisions in her role at the Pies board. That might end up holding her back as an AFL CEO who would need to be across all matters football.

STUART FOX

The former Hawthorn chief executive is now the boss of the MCC and has impeccable connections, expertise on stadiums and exceptional football nous given 16 years at successful AFL clubs Geelong and the Hawks as part of 20 seasons in the AFL industry.

MARK EVANS

Gold Coast chief executive Evans has strong support from within AFL House as a former football operations boss who was sent to the Suns to turn them around. Known as a common sense operator who blends strong commercial and football nous.

OTHERS

-Robin Bishop

-Ahmed Fahour

-Xavier Campbell