CBA set for Socceroos sponsorship deal; Santos struggles with no-show reputation

The Socceroos celebrate victory over Saudi Arabia, a result that earned them qualification for the 2026 World Cup. Picture: Petty Images

Matt Comyn’s Commonwealth Bank is swapping one round ball for the other, with an announcement imminent that it will step up as a major sponsor of the national Socceroos team.

That deal will sit alongside its current backing of the Matildas women’s team, and combined it is likely CBA will be paying $10m-$15m annually to back soccer’s national teams.

The Matildas, let’s face it, are far more popular than the Socceroos – the latter has no household names despite qualifying for the 2026 World Cup just last week – but the deal is important for Football Australia given the Socceroos contract with previous sponsor Subway recently ended.

Normally the timing would be seen as a great coup for CBA, given the Socceroos just guaranteed their participation in the biggest sporting event in the world.

But the 2026 World Cup will be held across Canada, Mexico and the US, so there’s every chance Comyn will get the chance to field questions about how the bank feels about having its logo attached to vision of ­Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials deporting planeloads of football fans, and probably the occasional national team.

CBA CFO Alan Docherty, left, and CEO Matt Comyn at the bank’s first-half financial analyst briefing. Picture: Nic Long for Commonwealth Bank

The CBA deal comes after Football Australia boss James Johnson, who is off to Canada, recently stepped down to be, who is off to Canada and likely to be replaced by interim chief executive Heather Garriock.

CBA is just about to end its long-standing relationship with Cricket Australia, with rival Westpac set to replace it in what is just about the worst kept secret in Australian sports business circles right now.

Drumming up support

A few chuckles in Canberra circles this week at the thought that Santos boss Kevin Gallagher might need to hit the lobbying circuit to drum up federal support for Abu Dhabi’s $30bn takeover offer for the oil and gas giant – which will also deliver Gallagher a payout probably worth more than $50m.

Forget the regular insults slung Canberra’s way by the Santos boss, Margin Call hears he’s also developed a reputation for seeking meetings with ministers – dating back several governments – only to cancel at the last minute, often without much explanation or excuse.

Ministerial staffers once dreaded getting a call from Santos for a meeting, fearing the haranguing that might ensue from Gallagher or chief government wrangler Tracey Winters. That might now be touched with a little bit of anticipation, given the stakes on the line.

Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher. Picture: Brenton Edwards

It also appears that Abu Dhabi’s due diligence team will have just a little bit more work to do on the transaction, with yet another traditional owner group taking to the courts this week to oppose a Santos development plan.

This time it’s the Gomeroi ­people of NSW, who filed an ­application in the Federal Court to challenge a decision by the ­National Native Title Tribunal to allow the grant of production leases at Santos’s Narrabri project in the state.

It’s the second time around in the Federal Court for the Gomeroi, who had the initial approval for the coal-seam gas wells sent back to the NNTT in March 2024 because the tribunal had not taken into account their impact on climate change.

The NNTT granted them again in May, so back to court everybody goes.

Origin gets personals

Returning to the subject of WA’s nascent rugby league franchise, the Perth Bears, and it appears the shut-out of the sport in the state’s daily tabloid is still locked in.

Despite a sellout crowd for Wednesday night’s State of Origin game at Optus Stadium, The West Australian relegated a preview of the game to page 46 – nestling at the back of the paper’s sports section, next to the personals column featuring advertisements for “quality girls + luxury rooms + best service” in Belmont, and “Body 2 Body massages” in Tuart Hill.

There was one other cheeky mention, in the form of a front-page write-off boasting that “State of Origin is back” – in the form of a Dockers versus Essendon AFL game on Thursday night at Optus.

Despite the newspaper’s distaste for the game in its pages, Margin Call hears that plenty of key staff at the Kerry Stokes-controlled newspaper have been happy to accept invitations to corporate hospitality for Wednesday’s game – including Seven West Media WA chief executive Maryna Fewster, the West’s editor-in-chief, Chris Dore, and other senior editorial and sports reporting staff. No certainty of attendance in that, of course. But everybody loves a big event.

Certain to be in attendance is WA Premier Roger Cook, who brokered the $60m package of state government funding that ensured Perth Bears would be the NRL’s expansion team. Cook ­attends on the eve of the WA state budget – no problem there, though, given Treasurer Rita Saffioti will be doing all the heavy lifting on Thursday.

Margin Call also hears that the Bears are closing on their first appointment of an independent non-executive director to the club. Local fans will be pleased to hear that well-known non-West Australian Joe Hockey is the tip to be the first appointment made to join the board’s three Sydney-based NRL appointees on the board.

Leave aside the fact Hockey spends most of his time in the US these days, he’s a noted North Sydney Bears tragic – and perhaps best known in WA for his stiff resistance, when federal treasurer, to stacking the GST distribution system in the state’s favour.

Still, given Hockey’s Bondi Partners also includes former WA premier and “State Daddy” Mark McGowan (also a noted non-West Australian) on its roster, we’re sure he’ll be well advised on how to win over locals.