The Score: Andrew Demetriou’s life after footy, Bolton’s global perspective and the latest whisper
SCOTT GULLAN on Andrew Demetriou’s new venture, Brendan Bolton’s global perspective and the latest whisper.
EX-CHIEF’S NEW CHAPTER
ANDREW Demetriou’s first move in his new corporate life has raised eyebrows and again put him in the opposite camp to James Hird.
The former AFL boss has become a shareholder and board member of little-known sports sponsorship and communication company Bastion Group.
There are AFL links everywhere in the company, which was founded by former Adelaide Crows and St Kilda player Fergus Watts.
His father Jim, a former St Kilda CEO who also has worked at league headquarters, is chairman while Archie Fraser, another ex-Saints boss and A-League chief, is a director.
Hamish McLachlan, the brother of Gillon who is Demetriou’s replacement at the AFL, is also a director of the company.
The Bastion Group, which has revenue of $10 million, is in direct competition with Hird’s company, Gemba, which has previously engineered AFL sponsorships for the likes of Toyota and Telstra.
Hird has remained on Gemba’s board during his time as Essendon coach.
Demetriou has also been linked to several other boards including Crown and Channel 7.
But it’s the Bastion deal and speculation about how much work the group might pick up down Docklands way which has industry watchers on alert.
HAWTHORN’S FILL-IN COACH HAS A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
THE secret behind Brendon Bolton’s rapid rise to being in charge of the reigning premiers can be traced to the other side of the world.
As a young PE teacher in Hobart, Bolton was given the opportunity to travel to England to improve his studies.
Former Fitzroy and North Melbourne midfielder Matthew Armstrong, who coached Bolton when he was an honest toiler for the Northern Bombers in the Tasmanian State League, takes up the story:
“He was doing a teaching course at Rosetta High School here in Tasmania and the school principal at the time told him to go over to Europe for this course,” Armstrong said.
“It was about accelerated learning, the ability to absorb information quicker and to teach quicker. It really held him in good stead with not only his teaching but his footy coaching.
“I think it was something Hawthorn picked up on after a time, his ability to teach, educate and get the message across quickly is very good. He does different things but it works.”
Armstrong remembers Bolton as an 18-year-old feeding off everything he did, always asking questions and wanting to get better.
“He’s just the same now, very passionate with an enormous amount of desire and commitment.”
He wasn’t surprised to see Bolton’s refreshingly honest, open and at times comical press conference after Saturday’s win over West Coast.
“I saw the interviews and just started laughing. That’s him to a T.”
THE NUMBER: 3
IN honour of Melbourne’s three-goal effort on Monday, we’ve gone through the record books to find the last time it happened. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that long ago with Port Adelaide scoring 3.3 (21) against Collingwood at Football Park in Round 20, 2011, although the losing margin was a bit different to this time — 138 points.
THE WHISPER
Could another key behind-the-scenes staff member be on the move at Fox Footy? The shuffling of the deck chairs has coincided with an overseas break by the star of the show in question.
Originally published as The Score: Andrew Demetriou’s life after footy, Bolton’s global perspective and the latest whisper
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