David Koch touted as future AFL chairman by club chiefs

Retired Sunrise host and Port Adelaide president David Koch has received high-profile support for a huge move in the AFL.

Retired Sunrise host and Port Adelaide president David Koch has been tipped as one of the leading candidates to take over from embattled AFL Commissioner Richard Goyder.

With Goyder also serving as chair at Qantas, and the beleaguered airline’s crisis having already claimed the scalp of CEO Alan Joyce, club sources are thinking about the line of succession.

Watch every match of The 2023 Toyota AFL Finals Series before the Grand Final Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo Sports. Join now and start streaming instantly >

News Corp reports that multiple AFL clubs have named Koch as an “ideal candidate” for the role of AFL chair, having led Port Adelaide as president since 2012.

“He’s (Koch) a very decent bloke who you can talk to and most importantly he understands clubs,” one club chief told News Corp.

“If the Qantas situation develops to the point where his (Goyder’s) position as chairman became untenable then naturally the focus would shift to his suitability to lead the AFL.”

Port Adelaide president David Koch (left) and AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan (right). (AAP Image/David Mariuz)

While Koch could not be contacted by News Corp, another club figure said Goyder’s failed push in support of the Western Bulldogs’ Kylie Watson-Wheeler had done him no favours.

Koch currently sits on the league’s nominations committee, and has dealt with the current vacancies on the AFL Commission that have gone unfilled for over two years.

Football legend Leigh Matthews withdrew his name from consideration for the process last week, while former Docker Matt de Boer and Swans executive Andrew Ireland remain in the frame.

The comments from club chiefs aren’t the first time Goyder has come under fire this season, with a joke at Gather Round in Adelaide slammed as being in “poor taste” by veteran journalist Caroline Wilson.

“Richard Goyder, in that time honoured tradition of AFL bosses, tried to make a joke at the Gather Round launch about a key administrative failing,” Wilson said on Footy Classified.

“In this case, his failure to appoint a successor for the man he reveres, Gillon McLachlan, and his cavalier treatment of the five other candidates for the top job.

“The problem was, it wasn’t funny.

“Waxing lyrical about the South Australian Premier, his good looks, and his amateur footy background, Goyder joked that Peter Malinauskas was not unlike Gillon McLachlan, and maybe he should be the next AFL CEO.

“Frankly, this was insulting.

“Certainly, to four of the five candidates who were in the room when he made that joke, all of whom have spent the best part of the last year devoting themselves for going for the job, and all of whom have had their brands tarnished by Richard Goyder’s performance.

“Not funny, Richard.”

League chair Richard Goyder also serves as chair of under-fire airline Qantas. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

The league’s Executive General Manager of Football Operations, Andrew Dillon, has since been announced as the replacement for McLachlan as AFL CEO.

Dillon has worked in Australian football for 20 years and joined the league’s head office as Legal Counsel in 2000.

He was appointed General Manager – Legal and Business Affairs in July 2004, and at the end of 2011, Dillon was appointed General Manager of National and International Development and General Counsel.

In 2013, he was appointed General Manager, Legal, Integrity and Compliance in addition to General Counsel.

He took on the role of Game Development in March 2017, which saw him involved in community and state football leagues, football facilities and infrastructure, in addition to the relationships with all AFL state bodies.

Dillon acted as Executive General Manager of Football Operations from July 2021 and was formally appointed to that role in addition to his other duties in September that year.

Dillon’s promotion has seen a shuffle off the AFL’s executive team with Laura Kane promoted to a role as acting general manager of football, while Stephen Meade was appointed as the AFL’s general counsel.