AFL: Geelong Cats set to lose three key off-field figures
Three influential figures are set to depart Geelong in the first major blow to the club’s premiership defence.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Geelong’s premiership defence has already hit a major curve ball with three important off-field personnel set to depart.
Following on from Eddie Betts’ decision to leave his coaching role, the Cats are now dealing with the pending departure of former premiership hero Harry Taylor who had been the head of medical and conditioning services.
Taylor is returning to Western Australia for family and lifestyle reasons after just one year in the job.
With football boss Simon Lloyd the hot favourite to be named North Melbourne’s chief executive in the coming days, there is suddenly a few holes appearing in the behind-the-scenes engine room which had been critical to the Cats stunning on-field success in 2022.
The loss of Taylor is a major blow given he had become an important conduit between the medical staff and coaching panel with his role in the handling of veteran superstars Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood seen as pivotal.
Resting Selwood and holding back Dangerfield to do a mini pre-season midway through the year had Taylor’s fingerprints all over it.
The two-time premiership defender sold his house in Geelong and moved his young family back to Geraldton after he retired in 2020 after 285 games with the Cats.
He was lured back along with a number of other former players including James Kelly, Matthew Egan and Shannon Byrnes with the move to get favourite sons back seen as a major cultural win.
Lloyd confirmed Taylor would continue to help the Cats until Christmas before moving back home permanently.
“Obviously we would love Harry to be at the club but we understand the need for him to return closer to his family,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd, who earlier this month spent time at Harvard University with Dangerfield completing a leadership course, has been targeted by the Roos to fill the CEO role which has been vacant since Ben Amarfio’s departure in September.
He has been Geelong’s head of football since 2018 after serving as the Cats’ director of coaching. He has also been an assistant coach at Fremantle and work in high-performance roles at Collingwood and Hawthorn.
Should Lloyd depart, his likely successor as football boss would be Egan who new CEO Steve Hocking convinced to return to the club as head of player development.
After one season at Kardinia Park as a part-time development coach, Betts has decided to focus on his foundation supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youngsters.
Major blow to female AFL umpire ranks
- Sam Landsberger
Trailblazer Eleni Glouftsis is expected to remain the only female field official in 2023, despite the AFL expanding its umpire ranks.
The panel for next year’s men’s season will increase to at least 40 field umpires to accommodate a fourth field umpire at every match.
The female representation at the elite level is expected to dip even lower than the recent 2.6 per cent, with senior sources revealing the first nine field umpiring vacancies for 2023 would be awarded to men.
The Herald Sun understands that only one woman – a goal umpire – will be appointed to the AFLW decider between Brisbane Lions and Melbourne in Springfield on Sunday.
The three field umpires will all be male, only months after Victorian woman Jordyn Pearson umpired the Adelaide-Melbourne grand final.
At Tuesday night’s AFLW Awards, the All-Australian field, boundary and goal umpires were all men.
Umpiring sources say the AFL’s decision to promote nine men was reflective of a program that remains dominated by males.
The league was forced to apologise for its treatment of women in May after the Herald Sun published the secret AFL-funded report that explored the national shortage of female umpires.
The AFL had declared it wanted to grow the number of female umpires from 10.8 per cent to 40 per cent nationally, albeit with no deadline set, in the aftermath of the report.
The league confirmed to the Herald Sun on Wednesday night that nine umpires had been added to the AFL panel.
“The 2023 senior umpiring panel will be finalised once a new CBA is formalised,” an AFL spokesperson said.
“Ahead of confirmation of list sizes and new four-umpire system, nine of the best-performed and most talented AFLW and state league umpires have been added to the AFL team.
“In the most recent AFLW season there was a 63 per cent increase in female umpires with AFL general manager of umpiring Lisa Lawry’s priorities include strengthening the pathways and programs so footy can recruit, develop and retain a talented, diverse and elite umpiring group.
“The AFL has also appointed a full-time female umpire academy coach to accelerate development.
“Footy will be better for increased diversity in umpiring and we are investing, resourcing and developing to ensure we get there.”
The AFL hopes the addition of a fourth field umpire, a decision which is set to cost at least an extra $1 million in wages, will extend the careers of its seasoned whistleblowers.
Older umpires become far more injury-prone when they are running at top-end speeds, and so by lowering their intensity due to having less ground to cover they should stay healthier.
The reduced physical workload and therefore fatigue levels should also help them make sharper decisions late in games.
However AFL umpires have been told that their decision-making actually dropped away from recent trials of four umpires.
But that data, collected during AFL bye rounds, covers an extremely small sample size and therefore is not seen as a deterrent to the idea.
Brownlow markets that could be dumped after scandal
— Jon Ralph
The AFL has been urged to ensure umpires sign weekly confidentiality clauses and force gaming partners to scrap some betting markets as part of changes to safeguard the Brownlow Medal’s integrity.
The Herald Sun understands the league is resolute in its belief umpires are the right group to cast Brownlow votes as it considers the fallout from the Brownlow leak scandal.
It will review its protocols and education for umpires in the wake of umpire Michael Pell being arrested by Victoria Police as part of an alleged Brownlow Medal leak this year.
The league believes those protocols held up well and resulted in those bets being exposed, with organisations powerless to stop an individual with privileged information passing it on against the rules.
But as part of that review it could still tighten some procedures and consider what betting types are legal under AFL rules.
The league has already prevented many of the kinds of in-play spot bets that allow fans in some codes to wager on moments as specific as an individual’s shot at goal.
Pell is yet to be charged but was asked by police about a string of bets over three-vote performances in specific games that were uncovered by the league’s betting partners.
Former AFL umpires including Matthew Head and Derek Humphrey-Smith remain stunned at the nature of the allegations given the stringent protocols around handing out Brownlow votes and the constant reinforcement not to disclose those votes.
But while umpires sign a standard contract that reinforces the confidential nature of voting, workplace law specialist Humphery-Smith said on Wednesday a deed of confidentiality might needed to be signed every week.
Head now works in risk management in the insurance industry and said one senior umpire lodged Brownlow votes in a locked box at AFL House as quickly as practically possible after a game.
But he believes those votes might need to be lodged electronically in future to limit the chance of a leak as umpires fly back from non-Victorian venues with votes in their keeping.
Industry experts believe the league could ensure their official betting partners disallow the kind of specific markets like Brownlow votes in a given game, which are open for several days before the medal is awarded.
Many of the more specific spot-betting markets once seen in cricket and tennis are now not available to minimise the chances of corruption or leaks, and the AFL already vetoes a range of in-play options.
Landers and Rogers partner Humphery-Smith said the AFL could not afford to have fans questioning the legitimacy of the Brownlow Medal.
“I would imagine the AFL would be closely reviewing the safeguards they have in place at the moment. They would intensify the education that is undertaken as soon as they get back before pre-season football,” he said.
“It is already high but they might consider lifting awareness by ensuring umpires sign up to a document that acknowledges the secrecy of the information. I don’t like to throw around terms like non-disclosure agreements but some kind of deed of confidentiality.
“I would think the AFL’s integrity unit and Victoria police’s sports integrity would come down hard. From an employment law perspective, those are the steps I would take.
“They would reinforce what would already be the sentiment from umpires.”
Betting experts said the size of the bets allegedly distributed on more than 10 AFL games would have immediately provided a red flag to betting agencies on what was a fairly obscure market.
The bets were allegedly spread across multiple betting agencies.
“They would be sitting down with those betting companies,” Humphrey-Smith said.
“Do they really need those bets or can they do it in a different way? If the conversation hasn’t already happened it will absolutely be reviewed. The risk comes about because of the available markets.”
Under AFL protocols all umpires hand in their mobile phones pre-match and only have them returned after Brownlow votes are submitted. The votes are sealed before an additional red security seal is placed on the envelop to prevent tampering.
The sealed envelope is signed by the three umpires across the red seal and placed in a tamper-proof bag and then stored offsite, with sealed vote cards audited throughout the season by accounting firm KPMG.
Head umpired the last of his AFL games in 2008 but said even then the league brought in Victoria police representatives to lecture officials on the dangers of betting and leaks.
“Even if there were people floating around the rooms who could be listening in, you would wait until everyone left or even went back to the hotel room before voting,” he said.
“I can hand-on-heart say I never heard an inappropriate comment. One umpire is assigned the paperwork and he gets the teamsheets and Brownlow votes and paperwork and puts them in an envelope.
“They drop it back into the AFL in a little postage box with lock and key immediately after the game. After an interstate game you would drop it back in on the way back from the airport.
“I think it might have to be done electronically. That is probably the way to do it and some local leagues are trialling it.”
More Coverage
Originally published as AFL: Geelong Cats set to lose three key off-field figures
Trade live: Dons take strong stance as Giants circle Stringer
Essendon has told GWS it will expect an “adequate” return for Jake Stringer, who is yet to formally ask to be traded after meeting with the Giants. FOLLOW LIVE
‘Players deserve better’: AFLW needs big ‘reset’
The AFLW needs a significant “reset” ahead of its 10th season, with league headquarters urged to put players back at the top of the priority list and develop a bold 10-year plan for the competition.