AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan will stand down from his role at the end of the season, saying he has no regrets about his tenure but it is the “right time” to move on with the league in robust health.
The South Australian, who has been in the league’s top job for eight full seasons, intended to step away before Covid-19 hit, but vowed to stay on and help navigate the competition through the pandemic.
At a press conference on Tuesday morning, he fought back tears as he confirmed this season would be his last in the role.
“It’s an honour and a privilege to serve this game – the best game in the world,” McLachlan said. “The responsibility has never been lost on me and I feel good that the game is in better shape now than when I took over, but with the scoreboard that will be for others to judge.
“I’m leaving now because it feels right, right from the AFL, right for my family. The AFL is in incredible shape and by whatever metric you assess it, I feel it is the right time.”
During the remainder of his tenure, McLachlan will try to resolve four major issues: a new broadcast deal, collective bargaining agreements for both the men’s and women’s competitions, a new club funding model and plans for a Tasmanian team.
McLachlan was previously the league’s general manager of commercial operations and chief operating officer. He took up the role of CEO in 2014, replacing Andrew Demetriou, and at the time spoke of having a “clear vision of where the game needs to go and how we’re going to get there”.
He will leave having secured a significant legacy, most notably after successfully guiding the game through the unprecedented logistical and financial disruption of the pandemic.
Victorian sports minister Martin Pakula said his performance in leading the AFL through the last two years was “nothing short of outstanding”.
“There were those times in March 2020 where he and I were on the phone almost every day,” Pakula said. “As much as this pandemic was incredibly challenging for all of us – for business, for households, for government – for the AFL the level of complexity was extreme.
“Gil had to manage government media clubs, stadia, players, and his own team and did an extraordinary job. I think the AFL has been brilliantly led for nine years.”
The 49-year-old has also championed the growth of the women’s game – he was in the hot seat when the AFLW launched in 2017 and he has been instrumental in fast-tracking the competition’s growth, with expansion to 18 teams to come by August this year.
AFL chair Richard Goyder said he and the league held mixed feelings about the decision, which he learned of at the weekend.
“From my point of view and the Commission’s point of view it would be correct to say that we’re not happy with that decision but we are completely supportive of it, if you get that sense,” said Goyder.
“Gill has always said to me that he wanted to go at the top of his game, at the time of his choosing and when the AFL was in as good a shape as it can be.
“And I think that’s fair play, and the Commission thinks that’s fair play, and certainly fair for him and his family. He’s done an outstanding job.”
Goyder pointed to record numbers in participation, membership, attendance, broadcast deals and viewership that the AFL enjoyed on his watch, along with growth in New South Wales and Queensland, and outside of the men’s game.
“Girls and women in the game with 600,000 participants now,” Goyder said. “The investment in facilities, not just at the elite level but throughout the community which is a massive legacy.
“Competitive balance has been a huge issue and continues to be something that we really aspire to in the AFL. Any team on any day. I think that is part of Gill’s legacy.”
Attention now turns to his successor, with the recruitment process – in which McLachlan said he will not be involved – to begin in the following days. Richmond CEO Brendon Gale and AFL executives Andrew Dillon and Travis Auld are among the potential candidates.
“Richard and the commission, it is their decision to make,” McLachlan said. “I feel absolutely certain about that whoever replaces me will be completely different. They will have to bring their own style and be their own person, man or woman.”
