Whatever the score, the goal’s an AFL grand final invite money can’t buy

The beauty of the AFL grand final is the ‘egalitarian’ nature of the day.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan and chairman Richard Goyder on Friday. Picture: David Geraghty

The beauty of the AFL grand final, according to the league’s chairman, Richard Goyder, is the “egalitarian” nature of the day.

“One minute you can be having a risk-free conversation with someone as you walk over the bridge to the MCG and then … there’s the fun in the boardroom,” he says.

That “fun” though is strictly non-transferable, and the reason the AFL has become a sporting and business behemoth.

While the league caps another big year, with Saturday afternoon’s grand final at the MCG ­between Richmond and the GWS Giants, the action and jostling for position will be just as intense in the Olympic Room. On level 2 of the Olympic Grandstand, the room fits about 700 people at a squeeze and its reputation has taken on mythical proportions.

The grand final has grown into the biggest corporate and political event of the year, with an incredible array of politicians, business identities and football legends descending from 11am for the best networking gig money cannot buy.

Think prime ministers, opposition leaders, premiers, billionaires, chief executives and chairs, and football and sporting legends.

Sporting a Donald Trump-style hat with “Make Richmond Great Again” on it, Hostplus CEO David Elia will be in the Olympic Room. “It really is the upper echelon of Australian politics, business and sport all mixed together,” he says. “And it is by invite only. You can’t buy your way in there.”

Gillon McLachlan, the AFL CEO, and his executive team spend up to a year planning the guest list. “It is a great day and the sport reaches … all parts of the community and the country. So people really want to be there on grand final day.”

Who else but Tony Shepherd, one of the nation’s most powerful business figures, could pull off ­bipartisan support for a football team and break down state and federal barriers in the process. GWS president Shepherd has managed to pull off the trifecta of Scott Morrison, Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian supporting the Giants.

He moved quickly to win the Prime Minister’s backing this week, sending two orange and grey GWS scarfs to the highest office in the land. Shepherd also expects the Opposition Leader — best known as a rabid South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL fan — to back his team, having also supplied him with Giants paraphernalia “The thing about ScoMo and Albo is they are both sports tragics,” Shepherd says. “And they are from Sydney. People like that we are the underdogs so you’ll see a decent amount of support for us.”

Nationals leader Michael McCormack is also expected to be in the Olympic Room, as will Josh Frydenberg, while big sponsors such as Toyota Australia president and CEO Matthew Callachor — who shells out $18.5m a year for AFL naming rights — will be seated near Goyder and McLachlan for lunch, as will Telstra boss Andy Penn and Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany. Billionaire Kerry Stokes and his son, Ryan, and their respective wives, Christine Simpson and Claire Stokes, will be there as bosses of AFL free-to-air broadcaster Seven West Media.

Paul Scurrah will have dual roles as the new CEO of Virgin Australia, an AFL and Giants sponsor, and director of the Gold Coast Suns. AFL legends such as John Nichols, Kevin Sheedy, Peter Hudson and Ron Barrassi will be star attractions, alongside Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe.

Governor-General David Hurley is on the invite list, as is Victorian Governor Linda Dessau and state Sports Minister Martin Pakula. Federal Defence Minister Marise Payne is expected with her partner, the NSW Tourism Minister and Giants fanatic Stuart Ayres. The Tigers also have a committed devotee in Coca-Cola Amatil CEO Alison Watkins. “There’s no better atmosphere than 100k people at the ‘G’.”

MLC Australia CEO Geoff Lloyd has become a fanatical ­Giants fan and member of the club’s Captains Club coterie. “We’ll be sitting in the outer with all the other Giants fans. I’m from Queensland and was into rugby league and union beforehand, so the Giants have been a way of getting me into Aussie rules.”

The competing teams will each have two tables in the Olympic Room, with Richmond president and superannuation law expert Peggy O’Neal and club CEO Brendon Gale hosting sponsors. Shepherd will do the same, featuring board members like Melissa Doyle and PwC Sydney managing partner Joseph Carrozzi, a former Giants director.

O’Neal says she knows it is a big day just by looking around the room. “We have a lot of big events at Richmond and I’ll know everyone there. This one you look around and go ‘these are people from all over the place’.” Shepherd can barely contain his excitement. “I’m more toey than a Roman sandal,” he says. “It’s a great tradition to be there as a club president and it is very enjoyable. But it’ll be a bit different this year. We’ll get down to the (change) rooms and see the boys before the match.”

Another Giants attendee will be Michael Hope of Hope Estate winery in the Hunter Valley. He met Giants CEO Dave Matthews at a Bruce Springsteen concert in 2017 and offered to sponsor the club after attending a subsequent match. “What I love about the ­Giants is it feels like a country footy club. Everyone is so grounded and there is such a good culture. It’s like hanging out with a team in the local Newcastle comp — I just love it.”

There will also be billionaires and other members of The List — Australia’s Richest 250 — in the room. Paul Little, a former Essendon president, is expected to ­attend in his capacity as chairman of Visit Victoria, while business identity Peter Scanlon should be there as an ex-AFL commissioner, alongside Bill Kelty, Graeme Samuel and ex-Rio Tinto chief financial officer Chris Lynch.

Assorted newspaper editors and media bosses will be in the room. “I think newspaper editors like to be in the room for the access to the politicians, and the politicians like the access to the newspaper editors,” one insider says.

The action will move to the September Club marquee outside the stadium once the winner is decided. “The September Club is where the real action is after the match. It really heats up in there,” says one regular. Seven West Media head of revenue Kurt Burnette will be hosting 100 of Seven’s top advertisers and media buyers, while Seven stars David Koch (also the Port Adelaide president) Sam Armytage, Sam Mac and Mark Beretta will accompany a range of AFL legends, Olympians and cricketers in the venue, showcasing the sports that Seven will telecast in the next year.