Robbo v Gill: AFL boss Gillon McLachlan sits down with Mark Robinson
Gillon McLachlan will one day ‘wake up and feel it’s time’ to step aside. But when will that be? The AFL boss opens up to Mark Robinson about his vision for 2022 and beyond.
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It was late, close to 3am, and Gillon McLachlan was, he said, teaching his 18-year-old godson to play blackjack.
It was the night after the night before, when Melbourne won its first premiership since 1964, and after a day of wining and dining with his staff, McLachlan hit the blackjack tables with a mate and his son from Adelaide.
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Hijacking seats at the end of the table, where they believed they could somewhat control key decisions, the cards fell friendly.
So much so, that when the highly-relaxed AFL boss spotted a group of Melbourne players, including captain Max Gawn, on another blackjack table three or four way, McLachlan felt generous.
“I was being a bit of a smart arse. I had a number of chips in front of me so I sent a large denominated chip to Max and with a message like, ‘Here’s something for you in case you’re short’,’’ McLachlan said.
“Max laughed and sent it back.
“So, we kept on playing and, in what was a pretty cool move half an hour later, a bottle of champagne turned up at our table.
“The guy who I gave the chip to came back and said this is from the gentleman on the other table and I looked across and Max was still playing cards, but he just had his arm up in the air.
“It was a fun moment. That was the premiership captain who has got a sense of humour and is a good bloke.’’
Before the prudish find that a 3am blackjack game for the boss a little unbecoming, McLachlan was simply celebrating the end of a second torturous season affected by Covid and, prudes be gone, he deserved the right to a few drinks and to hit a wave or 15.
After all, he and his team had manufactured a successful season from potential Covid rubble, culminating in the first grand final played at Perth’s swish new stadium.
That was then, he said, and this is now. On the eve of the season, a whole new set of challenges confront footy.
At Prahran’s Toorak Park on Friday morning, where all four of his kids play junior football and where McLachlan can sometimes be found scoring or running messages or being the timekeeper, he was expansive on several issues.
The usually unflappable polo player with a smaller mullet this year, only once lost control of the situation, his emotions spilling over when his voice boomed with panic.
His eight-month-old lab-kelpie cross named Walter had run off.
Besieged by that sickened feeling in the gut when the dog disappears – all dog owners know the feeling – McLachlan was restless for a minute or so, before Walter was located.
“He was a Covid buy,’’ he said.
“He’s a big part of the family … he’s been good for everybody.’’
McLachlan, now 49, is enthused about the year ahead, which could ultimately prove to be his last in football’s most important chair.
He took part in four interviews this sunny morning and three of them were quick to ask about his future.
He gave the same answer he gives in every pre-season interview, although the prevailing view is his time in charge is more likely up at the end of this year, almost certainly by the end of next.
The correct answer is when he believes footy is flourishing again.
“It’s important that when I leave, and to the extent it’s my decision and others have a say in that, but I won’t leave until I feel the game is back absolutely powering,’’ he said.
Describe powering?
“Our finances are going to be fine, we’ve got no debt, and we’ll make a good profit this year, so we’ve got through the financial element. Now it’s investment decisions to make around players, clubs, game development, infrastructure, and they will be made.
“And it’s just getting the confidence back in the game. We’ve got to get people going again and we’ve got to get people playing again. We’ll have a good indication next week. We have to get out of our 5km bubbles and get back to the things that make this city, this country, our game great.’’
So, when are you leaving?
“One day I will wake up and feel it’s time and who knows when that is?’’
McLachlan’s legacy was to be the introduction of AFLW, will be if a Tasmanian team is admitted to the competition and, unquestionably, has been his handling of the pandemic years and now the pathway out of them.
“Legacy stuff is for other people,’’ he said.
“Covid happened while I’m chief executive and I had a job to do. I’ve felt the weight of the responsibility pretty keenly and those pretty daunting days of March, April, May 2020, when there was no money and no real certainty about where we were going to go, were tough for everyone.
“So, the last two years have been difficult for everyone but we’ve seen the best of the industry. I’m proud of where the industry has got to and now we’re looking up, looking forward, and it’s about people getting their lives back, it’s about getting to the football next week, and it’s for kids and everyone to start playing again.’’
McLachlan chose Toorak Park because it is close to home literally and close to heart.
A former amateur star, McLachlan “gets’’ community football and what it means to families and friends, be it at Toorak Park on a Sunday morning or Mount Pleasant on a Saturday arvo.
At Prahran, his son plays under-11s and his three girls are involved in Auskick, under-13s and under-15s, respectively.
“For me, my family is community football,” he said.
“They still go to the AFL, but I’m here at community football as much as I’m at the elite football. We train Friday nights, all the parents are here and what I’m proud of is 40 per cent of the kids are girls.
“Broadly, community has been my life. I know what footy means to communities, families and to the elite and how it works all together. It’s not possible to underestimate the role of community football in this country and we’ve got to make sure we keep investing in it and keep growing it.’’
There were three main agenda items at the commission and presidents’ meeting this week – AFLW, Tasmania and the soft salary cap – although some clubs are truly getting nancy about the huge distributions to some clubs.
McLachlan refuses to agree the AFLW season is a mess. He, instead, indicates he is proud the rescheduled competition – it started on January 7 – was able to get away when Covid was at peak numbers.
“It’s been the best season of footy ever in standard,’’ he said.
He confirmed the new starting season, if agreed to by the players, clubs and broadcasters, would begin next year on the bye weekend before the mens’ finals.
They plan to play double-headers during the final series and play all nine games in Melbourne on the Friday public holiday before the men’s grand final.
Full-time, fully paid professionals by 2026 is also on the agenda and he says finding money to pay the players is not an issue.
“There’s growth in their own competition, growth in broadcast and sponsorship, we’ve started charging at the gate, so the model is building,’’ he said.
“Then there’s the investment of the competition. We grow every year, for 20 years we’ve grown at nearly 10 per cent compounded. So that money gets reinvested in players, facilities, clubs, the game, and AFLW is part of that story.’’
He said the best players earned “high hundreds of thousands’’ and currently there’s about 20 players earning more than $80,000.
What will that look like in 2026?
“I don’t know what the answer is, but it will be a lot more than what it is now,” he said.
“We are on a journey and I will keep building.
“Our vision is that all our female players are making a living out of football.
“If you look at where we started and where we are now, the growth has been spectacular.’’
Tassie and the power of footy
Tasmania was sadly on the agenda last Saturday and is excitedly on agenda over the coming months, when it will be decided if the proud football state gets its own footy team.
Last Saturday, however, was a day at the footy in Devonport in honour of the kids who died in the jumping castle disaster.
McLachlan attended and sat with the Tasmanian premier, the club presidents and chief executives, including Brendon Gale from the Tigers, a move that would surprise some in the industry who opine that McLachlan was not a fan of Gale’s.
McLachlan once again saw first-hand the power of footy.
“The core of our game is that it actually brings people from every background and every shape and size together and they come, and all issues drop off and they look at what’s happening on the field,” he said. “And, in that small moment, I hope what our game did for those devastated families and for the community is come together and get some comfort. I feel the game did it’s little bit.’’
He was bemused by the Gale inquiries, specifically about Gale’s candidacy as a replacement for him at the AFL, and whether he had any issues with the Tigers, as was suggested through the club’s tumultuous 2021 season.
“Zero issues,’’ McLachlan said.
On the highly-respected Gale, he said: “From my perspective he’s an excellent chief executive and he and I have a great relationship and we’re friends. I think we’re friends.’’
Could he do your job? “Yes. Clearly it has to be the best person, but I think being a club chief executive means you’re more qualified than less qualified.’’
The two vacant commission positions are in the process of being filled by the nominations committee, which includes Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham, although that appears to be several months off completion.
It’s understood former Brisbane Lions and Sydney administrator Andrew Ireland is one name that keeps being put up in lights, and a person of Leigh Matthews’ standing and practicality could also be an advantage.
Both those gentlemen are from Queensland, which has never had representation at the Commission table.
The announcement if a new Tasmania team will likely be made in August, a decision which McLachlan surprisingly said was not his to make.
The recent release of plans and diagrams of the proposed new stadium in Hobart was a strong indication Tasmania and its government were “serious’’.
“That’s what that image represented for all Tasmanians and for those outside, like, ‘OK, this is going to be a pretty serious proposal from the state’.’’
McLachlan said it was not his decision to give the thumbs up or thumbs down.
“I understand it’s a big decision for the game and a big decision for Tasmania and Tasmanians, but it’s not my decision,’’ he said.
“This is a decision the industry needs to own. It’s my ultimate responsibility to work through to what is the best position for football and whatever the best looks like will obviously depend on what arrangements can be secured, and then take that position with a recommendation to the commission and then to the presidents.
“A decision like this needs to be all of game. Forget the structures of the voting, whatever decision is made needs to be what the commission clearly and the presidents want as a collective.
“Football will own this decision through the commission and the presidents, not me.
“My responsibility is to secure the best proposal, whatever that looks like, for football and provide a recommendation, but it will be done with the sharing and information and ownership of the commission and presidents.”
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