By Jon Pierik
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon says there is always tension between head office and clubs, but denies the decision to carve off some of Laura Kane’s responsibilities was due to gender bias.
Dillon has shaken up his executive, notably splitting Kane’s previous role as executive general manager of football in two, with Kane to remain on the AFL’s leadership team as executive general manager of football operations.
New role: AFL boss Andrew Dillon says Laura Kane is not a victim of gender bias among club leaders.Credit: Getty Images
Kane will still have major responsibilities, but she will no longer oversee football performance, where tensions grew after a series of bungles in her relationship with the 18 clubs and AFL umpiring department. This included the miscommunication with umpires over the Lachie Schultz concussion drama.
Her dealings with football departments are largely with men, but Dillon on Friday denied Kane was a victim of unconscious gender bias.
“I don’t think so. Laura has come up through a club. She was at North Melbourne for seven years. She has incredible relationships with the football departments. And she will be, every single day, as she is putting on the logistics of the game, and every weekend when she is at the game, interacting with coaches, heads of football, and the like,” Dillon told ABC Radio.
“What this change in structure does provide the AFL with the best chance to succeed. When I was talking to staff that were affected yesterday, they are decisions that affect people, but they are not personal because it’s actually for all of us.”
Dillon was asked whether the heads of football at clubs had an issue taking directions from Kane.
“No. I don’t think they did. As I said, it’s an issues-rich environment. There are issues always in the AFL, particularly with the 18 clubs,” Dillon said.
“It’s a hyper-competitive competition. Just the smallest thing can make a difference. So, always, whether it was me in the role, Steve Hocking, Mark Evans before that, Adrian Anderson before him, then Andrew Demetriou, there has always been tension with the clubs. But, no, it’s not a gender thing.
“Laura has broken down a lot of barriers. She is an incredibly talented administrator, and she will continue to be incredibly successful and a great help for me and a great help for the team going forward.”
Kane will oversee the delivery of the AFL, AFLW, VFL and VFLW seasons, and take charge of a newly formed health and medical team that will handle the AFL’s response to mental health and concussion issues. She will also be the executive leading the AFLW.
Dillon is hunting for a new EGM of football performance, who will be responsible for the match review office, umpiring, game analysis and player movement, laws of the game, innovation, and the AFL’s football engagement with its 18 clubs.
Dillon conceded Kane may have been set up to fail because of the wide scope of her original remit.
“That’s a good question. But what I did, I have been in the role now for 18 months … having a look at how we are going, and just seeing the complexity now in the football operations department, I made the call, football is at the heart of everything we do,” Dillon said.
“You make your decisions around that. When I, after 18 months, looking at my team and how best we are to succeed, having two roles on the executive with a focus on football was really important to me... We also do a lot of other stuff but footy is at the heart of it. Laura is a member of the AFL executive, she has an incredibly important job.”
Executive general manager of inclusion and social policy Tanya Hosch will depart the AFL on June 6, while Stephen Meade will continue to be the league’s general counsel, but no longer sit on the executive team.
The integrity portfolio will move to the remit of the incoming chief operating officer. Western Bulldogs chief executive Ameet Bains, Fremantle counterpart Simon Garlick and Sydney chief Tom Harley are in contention for that role.
Two pride rounds in ‘flexible’ AFLW fixture
The AFLW season has been brought forward and will feature 12 rounds over 12 weeks for the first time and adopt what the league has dubbed a flexible fixture framework.
The schedule for the league’s tenth season was released in full on Friday, with the campaign opening with a throwback clash between Carlton and Collingwood under lights at Ikon Park on Thursday, August 14.
On the same night, West Coast will host Gold Coast in Perth. The Eagles announced on Thursday that midfielder Jess Hosking would sit out the season for personal reasons.
“While this has been a difficult decision it is the right time for me to take a break from football for personal reasons,” said Hosking, who was recruited from Richmond and has also played for Carlton.
“I wish [coach] Daisy [Pearce] and the girls the best of luck for the season ahead.”
This season will be the first time since the competition expanded to 18 teams that it has launched during the men’s home-and-away campaign, with rounds one and two of AFLW coinciding with rounds 23 and 24 of the AFL.
To ensure supporters can watch both fixtures, AFL head of strategy and scheduling Josh Bowler has introduced provisions for slight time changes if the match windows for a club are within one hour of overlapping.
“Given this is the first time we’ve launched the AFLW season within the men’s home-and-away season with all 18 teams, it was important to ensure fans can support both teams during the crossover, so we’ve introduced a flexible fixture framework for W games.
“This will only come into play if one club’s AFL and AFLW match windows are within one hour of overlapping, then we may have a slight time change to make sure one finishes before the other starts.
“Further to that, if a club is hosting two home games over one weekend, these will fall on different days to ensure the club can operationally deliver the best possible match-day experience for fans across two venues.”
This change comes after the Western Bulldogs had a fixture clash last season when the men’s elimination final at the MCG corresponded with the women’s home opener against Port Adelaide at the Whitten Oval. The women’s match was later switched to the MCG where they played as the curtain raiser.
Once the home-and-away season is done, there will be four weeks of finals, with the grand final on Saturday, November 29.
Bowler said Pride round had been expanded to run over two weeks, while there was a greater focus on more family-friendly timeslots.
“Pride round will take place across rounds nine and 10, while Indigenous round has been
moved forward to align with rounds three and four.
“We’ve been able to utilise Thursday night footy and then put emphasis on scheduling games on
Friday, Saturday and Sunday in timeslots that make it accessible for fans and families to attend as
we strive to create consistency within this fixture.”
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