Last September, in a function room at the MCG, Delta Goodrem performed her hit song Sitting on Top of the World. Halfway through, she was joined on the dance floor by Gil McLachlan. The outgoing AFL CEO was at the top of his game. He’d just signed off on a $4.5bn broadcast rights deal. The previous weekend had seen some of the best finals football ever played. McLachlan stooped, twirled and dipped. Delta blushed. The room gurgled.
Less than a fortnight later, an extraordinary story landed on the ABC website. McLachlan knew the Hawthorn racism allegations were coming. He knew they were bad. But he didn’t know the ABC would drop them in grand final week. Still, he was suitably grave. He used all the right adjectives. He and the AFL did what they do best – they took control. They laid out the terms. They chose the barristers. They wrote the terms of reference. Their lawyers would collate the evidence. They would release the findings.
