Mark Robinson Q&A with Jeff Browne: Collingwood’s incredible premiership, rebuilding the club and the future
Jeff Browne and Craig McRae both came to Collingwood when change was needed, and they turned the club into premiers. The Pies boss chats to Mark Robinson about the turnaround.
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Jeff Browne arrived at Collingwood with the club needing to embrace change.
Two years later, they’re premiers.
The Magpies president chats exclusively to Mark Robinson about the flag, celebrations and future.
Mark Robinson: It’s been three days since the grand final. Describe the day?
Jeff Browne: The day for me started two years ago when I was convinced by a small group of Collingwood people to have a run at the presidency. They felt there was a lack of leadership in the club. It finished 17th and we were better than 17th but we still finished 17th. And I thought about it and eventually I was convinced that I could contribute positively to re-establishing the club. I put together a group under the threat of an EGM but that wasn’t necessary at the end because some directors stepped down.
MR: And you got up.
JB: We didn’t just get up, we bolted in. There was a willingness to see change at the club, to re-energise and reinvigorate the club, to reset the culture of the club. We had a festering racism issue which we needed to get on top of and we had a playing group who were playing below their best obviously. The first thing I did was speak to the coach, speak to the footy manager and I quickly worked out we had the right people there. I was pretty happy with the football program. As a board, what you try to do is create an environment of stability where your athletes can perform at their best. That’s your job. I went and saw my old head of sales at Channel 9 (Ian Paterson) he was living in Sydney, and I said you need to come back and run all the revenue. Last year we made $50,000 …
MR: And this year?
JB: Roughly four to six (million). On Monday, our merchandise sales hit $4 million. That’s $4 million since Saturday.
MR: What were your most memorable moments on and off the ground on Saturday?
JB: I go back. We beat three really good teams in the finals. And when it was close in the end, I had great confidence in the coach and the plan because we trained for those moments. And they executed it. You see Nick’s kick out to Will Hoskin-Elliott, cool as you like? That’s practised. But for me, Sidey’s goal and Jordy’s goal. That 90m goal that Sidey kicked (laughing). To see a man like him who is so revered by the players, him and Pendles … those two guys at their age are playing their best football, it’s just incredible.
MR: Who were you sitting next to?
JB: I always sit beside Peter Moore and behind Ned (CEO Craig Kelly). When Sidey kicked that goal, I was up. It’s a waste of time giving me a seat at the football. I thought Crispy was outstanding. Tommy Mitchell was massive.
MR: Who were your Norm Smith vote getters?
JB: Bobby three. It is hard from there because there were so many moments when everyone played their role …
MR: Two votes?
JB: I’d give Pendles two. Darcy is the captain but Pendles is the spiritual leader of that group. That’s how I see it. When he played his 350th game last year, I went down to the club and I presented him with a bottle of Grange Hermitage. I said the reason I selected this is because it’s the best Australia can produce and it gets better with age.
MR: One vote?
JB: Crisp. But that goal Jordy kicked, two steps and bang, and the handball over from Nick … just amazing. Crispy played for the Lions and it was good to see him perform well against a club which apparently thought he wasn’t good enough. I love that story. But for Jordy, for all the work he’s done for himself and for the team, to kick that goal was really special to me.
MR: Most memorable moment off the ground?
JB: When Peter Moore handed the cup to his son and Craig. Peter Moore is the guy who inspired me to become the president of the Collingwood Football Club. When Darcy was made captain, his mother Jane came down to the club and we had a little gathering, and she showed me a photo of me holding Darcy as a baby in my arms. I was at his parent’s wedding. And this little guy, I’m holding this little baby … yeah beautiful. We asked the AFL, we said we’d like Peter to present the cup if we win. And they agreed, as they should.
MR: Shed a tear?
JB: No, I don’t cry. But I was emotional. Peter has been one of my closest friends for 35 years.
MR: When did you first meet?
JB: I represented him as a lawyer when he went to Melbourne from Collingwood with Kelvin Templeton.
MR: Aaahh, you’re the bloke who gave Mike Sheahan the story?
JB: Yeah I did. Mike says it’s the biggest story he ever had. He got me one day at the Mountain View Hotel when Barass owned it. We had lunch and he got onto it. I didn’t know him that well, but I felt I could trust him and he’s become a great mate.
MR: So, Peter convinced you?
JB: Yeah he did. After I represented him as a lawyer, Peter was at law school, and then he came and worked with me as a young lawyer. I can remember coming out of my office, saying, ‘Where’s Pete?’ And people in the office said he’s at training. He spent more time at footy training than training for law. Those two on the stage is a moment I will never forget because it’s the absolute passion of football. One of the greatest rules we have in football is father-son. To see Pete and Colleen Daicos with their boys, they’re also special to me. But you try not to single any of them out because you don’t have favourite children. I’m just so proud of the group.
MR: The coach. There’s a wonderful photo of you and him on the field and he has his hand on your face. Can you possibly remember what was being said?
JB: It’s a bit of a fog. That photo says it all. I admire the man so much. I am in awe of his coaching ability but I admire the man. One of the things that we’ve brought to Collingwood in these two years is integrity and quality of the people. And you know what? We all like each other and that’s why I had to tell my players about my battle, because we just put it all out there for each other. Fly is an exceptional person on many levels. He’s obviously a high-quality human being first and foremost, is a new dad, loves his family and has his 44 sons. That’s how he thinks about our group. Not 23, but 44.
MR: The transformation of this football club from infighting, sometimes bitter, mostly hated to be widely admired …
JB: Yeah. I’m really proud of that.
MR: Admired and respected.
JB: I will take the last one most of all. Respected. I think Gill (McLachlan) described me on your show, when he was asked who was the biggest pain in the arse as president, he said me. He says he loves me but I’m hard work. I will take that every day because I believe that the things we’re doing at Collingwood, and we’ve got so much more to do, we can improve so much more ….
MR: Just at the football club?
JB: As a football club and as an influence in the industry. I believe in innovation and change. The AFL has become so bureaucratic that I believe innovation and change is going to come from the good clubs and the clubs have to dial it into the AFL so they change the way they think about it.
MR: Can you give a couple examples?
JB: I’ve been going on about the soft cap for a while. The AFL’s attitude is pour ballast into the battleships, not float the boats. We’ve got to create better environments. We have to provide better facilities for athletes. I was down there on Friday with the prime minister opening our new facilities and he’s text me since and said it was fantastic what we’ve done there. Our women’s athletes now have equal facilities and change rooms. We’ve started a sports medical science centre and I eventually want to build that up and take that elsewhere and replicate that elsewhere. We do events at Collingwood very well and I want to white-label that and I’m going to take it out to other clubs and other organisations and run their functions and seminars. I want to gather together all the IP we’ve learned through Do Better and curate that into a model that we can take to other clubs, and we’ve engaged with two other AFL clubs on that. But I want to go wider to other sporting groups in the community. We’ve made a lot of progress on that and I don’t want it to just sit with Collingwood, we need to take those leanings and get them out.
MR: What’s in front of Andrew Dillon right now in terms of urgency?
JB: I think bureaucracy busting is the biggest issue.
MR: Have you thoughts on the future of AFL commission chairman Richard Goyder?
JB: I’ve been chairman of two public companies and this (Walkinshaw), where I’ve transitioned CEOs. And to have a constant chair through transitioning CEOs is pretty important. You can’t transition a CEO and a chairman. We need to create stability. There needs to be a succession plan but you cannot transition CEOs and chairmen. You can’t do that, it would be destructive, but I don’t see anyone on the commission who can do that job.
MR: So, the hunt for the next chairman is afoot?
JB: There’s two new appointments and they need to look at probably refreshing again.
Richard is a long-time friend of mine, we’ve both been involved for many years in juvenile diabetes research, I lived in Perth for five years, I count him as a friend. He’s got some issues with Qantas but he’s a cool head. I’ve sat with Andrew Dillon and told him what I thought the issues were, so he’s listening.
MR: Anyway, back to the day. Clearly one of the great days of your life?
JB: Yeah it was.
MR: Other great days was when you got married … and then divorced …
JB: Yeah, did that a couple of times (laughing). No, the birth of my children were my best days.
I had my three children, Tom, Sarah and Sam, with me when the siren went. That made it even more special particularly in the circumstances.
MR: Did you say after the game the Collingwood Football club was the greatest sporting club in the world?
JB: I said at the function the Collingwood Football Club has assumed its rightful place in history as the greatest club in the world.
MR: Sporting club?
JB: No, the greatest club. And that includes all the independent order of odd fellows and everyone in there.
MR: Who are the independent order of odd fellows?
JB: All those old mutual societies. I liken football clubs to all those old mutual societies, where the Masons came together, where they all came together to help each other be better. I constantly clip Ned where he talks about us as a business, we’re not a business, we’re a mutual society where we all look to each other to improve ourselves and help us improve them.
MR: You really believe that Collingwood is known throughout the sporting world?
JB: I do. I’ve had calls internationally. I spoke to Dubai yesterday. I just had calls from New York overnight. I’m sending out packages of memorabilia to New York where we have a great support base.
MR: Your love of Collingwood might rival that of the previous president.
JB: I love this footy club, mostly always have. I played in a John Greening benefit match at Victoria Park in the pre-season of ’72. I played in the reserves and I played on Cowboy Neale. It was a hot day. I got dropped the week after and I said to the coach Ron Richards, I said, ‘I don’t think I’m going to make it here’. And Ron said, ‘Jeff, I think you’re right’. For a moment I didn’t love the Collingwood Football Club (laughing).
MR: Life is strange. You get diagnosed with cancer and five weeks later your footy team wins the flag …
JB: No, the football club. The team and coaches won the premiership for our football club. And our football club is millions of people and they are all affected by it.
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