How Jeff Browne wants to steer Collingwood back to AFL glory from the boardroom

The former Channel 9 boss and current MA Financial chairman believes he has the right corporate acumen for the Collingwood presidency. But he will be judged on wins and losses.

MA Group chairman Jeff Browne in the company’s offices in Sydney. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

Jeff Browne is about to get just about the most coveted prize for a business identity in sport: the presidency of the Collingwood AFL club.

Four decades after he turned up at Collingwood to play in the under 19s, and with a storeyed corporate career spanning the law, running Channel 9 and chairing Carsales.com and MA Financial (formerly Moelis) in between, Browne should in a few weeks be officially elected Collingwood president.

While the role is high-profile, and certainly in Melbourne comes with power and cachet, Browne is also arguably taking over one of the toughest and most challenging gigs in sport.

The Magpies might think themselves to be the biggest sporting clubs in Australia. But with only three grand final wins in 60 years, Collingwood is one of the biggest underachievers in Australian sport as well.

Browne insists he is aware of what he is getting into.

“It’s a huge responsibility. There’s 82,000 members and millions of supporters and I don’t think that’s rivalled anywhere else in Australia,” he tells The Weekend Australian.

“It’s a big club and we need to be a big club, and be influential. And we need to win.”

“If I’m elected and I turn up at the club, I’m going to ask everyone for 20% more. Everyone through the club, that’s their challenge. I want you to give me 20% more and I’ll give you 100% in my time there.”

Yet Browne’s elevation, after an at times bitter behind the scenes battle with Mark Korda of KordaMentha fame for the permanent presidential role (Korda stepped up after Eddie McGuire resigned the post in February), also begs the question as to how influential a business leader really can be at a football club.

It could also go to the heart of the debate of what business can teach sport, or vice versa.

Or to get straight to the point for Collingwood fans: will Browne or wunderkind Nick Daicos, the most touted playing prospect to arrive in years, end up the club’s best off-season recruit?

Collingwood has not done enough winning lately and it certainly needs to lift after finishing a bitterly disappointing 17th on the ladder in 2021.

It was part of a tumultuous year that saw long-serving McGuire depart after 23 years as president in the wake of the club’s Do Better report into its problems with racism, coach Nathan Buckley later resigned and likely will end with Browne anointed the new president by mid-December.

Browne says winning on the field is extremely important, but will usually only be done with sound practices in place off it.

“We have to win more premierships. It is a high priority within a whole complex group of responsibilities associated with a big sporting club. The best way to reward your members is on field success. You have to have the right structures, recruit the right players, have the best coaching staff and medical staff to give ourselves the best chance.”

Browne is contesting an election alongside other 10 candidates for Collingwood’s vacant board roles, including his preferred three candidates of APRA executive Renee Roberts, venture capitalist Barry Carp and Toll Global Express boss Christine Holgate.

If the votes go the way of Browne’s ticket – it is likely about half the 11,5000 eligible voters cast a ballot – then the foursome will form a board with ex-player Paul Licuria, influential Indigenous business leader Jodie Sizer and Korda, who intends to stay another year.

Browne will then join a cohort of names on AFL boards around that country that are among the most influential from the business world. There’s NSW corporate powerhouse Tony Shepherd at GWS Giants, renowned Richmond president Peggy O’Neal, ex-PwC boss Luke Sayers at Carlton and Seek co-founder Andrew Bassat at St Kilda, to name a few.

Yet the boards are not without their issues. Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett is facing a challenge from industry superannuation doyen Ian Silk, and Bassat has forces backed by Jayco caravans magnate Gerry Ryan jockeying for board seats.

Browne was part of a battle with Korda for most of this year for the Collingwood presidency, and says he will be disappointed if his entire ticket is not elected – “in order to make a difference I need the tools, and I need this blend of skills I have very carefully selected” – in the member ballot that opened on Friday.

When asked just how influential a board can be at a football club though, Browne says the banking royal commission offers some lessons.

“It taught us that boards can‘t sit aside from the culture of an organisation. The board sets policy but as we have come to realise in my other chairman roles, boards now have to accept direct responsibility for things like culture.

“A high performance culture does require oversight and involvement from the board – not interference. We need to keep our finger on that, make players and staff feel secure and safe and want to go and train like no-one else because they want to win.

“That’s culture.”

Browne is unlikely to be asked by new coach Craig McRae for any selection advice. But he did play for Collingwood at under 19s level and his brother Murray played 47 games in the 1980s. Browne went on to play in the old Victorian Football Association before practising law, running Nine in the wake of McGuire’s ill-fated stint as boss, and more recently chairing CarSales.com.au and now MA Financial.

Sir Rod Eddington famously said corporate identities often “check their brains at the door” when they walk into a sporting club boardroom, and Browne says he is aware of the potential pitfalls while also being confident he can handle the role.

“A board can overstep the mark and there’s many people at sporting clubs who think they can go out and play the game, and obviously you’ve got to pull back from that. But if you’ve played sport – as I have – and you love sport, you’re going to have an opinion. And if you’ve had experience and been involved in senior management you sort of know how to influence things in the right way.

“You need to be respectful and careful, and trust people who have been given jobs to do. You should be around as a good ear, provide counsel. Occasionally you will have an opinion and those people have to listen, but they don’t have to do everything you think. You need to have open, honest and sometimes some tense discussions. That is healthy.”

While Browne says there are parallels between his business experience and sport – one being having managed TV stars at Nine, who are competitive like athletes – he admits the closed nature of AFL makes it hard to grow quickly.

“You can’t grow market share to grow your profits and build your capital base. But I‘d certainly like to increase the membership beyond the 82,000 … to have the biggest membership in the AFL and to then use whatever financial benefit we can generate from that.”

Browne stops short of setting exact goals though, like a once downtrodden Richmond did to much ridicule a decade ago before delivering on promises to win grand finals, cut debt and boost membership numbers.

“I think it‘s silly to do that. What I want everyone to know is we are on the right path to ultimate success. How long that path is will depend on the quality of your athletes, the quality of the policy from the board, the administration and the support around it. There’s a lot of variables, but the ultimate success at Collingwood is winning premierships. Nothing less.”

Browne also says the 18 clubs should have a bigger say in the strategic direction of the AFL, which has centralised power in recent years, and has even floated McGuire as a candidate for the governing AFL Commission.

“I think clubs are more responsible. They‘re better contributors. And I think they should be seriously listened to, in terms of their views on the direction of the competition as a whole.”

Ultimately, Browne will be judged on how strong Collingwood is. He wants the club to continue its charitable community programs, deal with the Do Better report and continue to be inclusive with its AFLW female, netball and wheelchair teams.

He insists, should he formally become president, that he will be ready for the spotlight come round one next season when the spotlight comes his way as he watches on from the grandstand.

“I can’t watch dispassionately. But I will be aware of the focus, and I’ll need to present. But I won’t be embarrassed that I’m passionate about the club and its performance.”