AFL’s Kangaroos need to consider David Gallop
Roar Guru By johnhunt92, 7 Jun 2012 johnhunt92 is a Roar Guru
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- AFL, David Gallop, North Melbourne Kangaroos, NRL, Rugby League
Drew Petrie marks for North Melbourne (Slattery Images)
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Tuesday’s resignations of David Gallop and Eugene Arocca from the NRL and North Melbourne respectively were in many ways quite similar. Both had their positions made untenable by superiors and both will be big losses to their organisations.
While Brayshaw was the public face of the “new” North Melbourne, Arocca was the “nuts and bolts” man who got things done for the club without any of the publicity Brayshaw received.
Gallop was a fine administrator for the NRL in its development, as the ARL-News Limited partnership was built on a base of distrust.
He took it on himself to make the big decisions and while Gallop was not always right, he was never one to hide from the big calls.
Both CEO’s also suffered the indignity in departing in a similar indignant manner.
Arocca was being undermined by the North Melbourne board as they dithered over whether to give him a new deal. This was a sign in Arocca’s eyes, that the board had no faith in him.
Gallop, on the other hand, moved on. New management came in with new ideas and a new philosophy on how to run the NRL.
It is also obvious that the new rugby league Commission has never heard of the term “Don’t Piss on Statues”, as their send off was more a kick out the door than a warm goodbye.
Back to North Melbourne, they have an uphill task compared to the NRL in finding a good Chief Executive.
A small fan and corporate base, mounting debts and a team on the nose, the Kangaroos need someone with nous and grit to get the club rising again.
In my opinion, the ‘Roos need to chase David Gallop for the role.
Gallop has the skill, nous and street fighter abilities needed by North Melbourne. He should be at the top of James Brayshaw’s list.
North Melbourne should give Gallop six months rest and recuperation and then go after him hard.
Offer him good money and a free reign to change what he sees fit to make North Melbourne a successful football club.
Brayshaw seems to be in good contact with the AFL, so he should get them to help pay his salary as it would be a jewel in the crown for the AFL to get another piece of rugby league talent.
Although it seems unlikely that Gallop would agree, Brayshaw should do his job properly and go after the best available administrator in Australian sport.
While it would be a culture shock, it could be the appointment that breathes new life into a stagnant and mediocre management of the North Melbourne Football Club.
The Crowd Says (21) | Page 1 of Comments
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June 7th 2012 @ 2:00am
Johnno said | June 7th 2012 @ 2:00am | Report comment
What about one of the Schwabs.
June 7th 2012 @ 2:16pm
Lazy Ted Failyou said | June 7th 2012 @ 2:16pm | Report comment
Honestly, what do people think North Melb can afford. As opposed to NRL, which has 700 odd employees, North has maybe 50. So a CEO will get what handling a 50 people business will get and a market cap of what a club like North get. Am sure North is about 2 percent of what the NRL is, so Gallop expect a haircut. You could afford a place in the sunny western suburbs of Melbourne. Altona North is not terribly bad.
June 7th 2012 @ 2:26pm
The Cattery said | June 7th 2012 @ 2:26pm | Report comment
Is that where the PM lives?
June 7th 2012 @ 9:28pm
Plotter said | June 7th 2012 @ 9:28pm | Report comment
They have close to 50 footballers on the books. Not nit-picking, but the Lions have 100 staff in addition to their players, so AFL clubs employ in the range of 150-200 employees.
And tongue-in-cheek, the Roos probably have as many development staff on as the NRL…
June 7th 2012 @ 7:55am
The Cattery said | June 7th 2012 @ 7:55am | Report comment
I thought the rumours that Ben Buckley would be approached to take on the vacated North role sufficiently far-fetched (although Buckley is a former ex-captain of the roos and retains close links with Demetriou, so not entirely outlandish), but approach Gallop?
Impossible to envisage.
June 7th 2012 @ 10:51am
JamesP said | June 7th 2012 @ 10:51am | Report comment
Ben Buckley is also a Tasmanian – I think we know where the Roos will end up quick smart with him in charge. Why would BB want to take a step down? Surely his next target would be Demetriou’s job once he moves on?
I reckon the Roos should go after Scott Munn. He has an AFL background, was instrumental in helping set up the Gold Coast (he was the COO, and went for the CEO job but was beaten by Travis Auld who was poached from Essendon). He then became inaugural CEO of the Melbourne Heart. Check out his story below.
Also in that article it mentions Archie Fraser – who by all accounts did a good job as CEO of St Kilda (although admittedly not a good job as CEO of the A-league)
http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/soccer/victory-rival-names-new-boss/2009/08/05/1249350592731.html
June 7th 2012 @ 8:12am
TomC said | June 7th 2012 @ 8:12am | Report comment
What?
June 7th 2012 @ 8:14am
Redb said | June 7th 2012 @ 8:14am | Report comment
Not a chance. Why would a CEO at governing body level take a step down into club land?
June 7th 2012 @ 8:23am
Australian Rules said | June 7th 2012 @ 8:23am | Report comment
Zero chance of this happening.
1) Gallop has for years claimed publicly that he doesn’t watch Australian Football – I foresee this to be a problem then.
2) Gallop always resented the fact that Demetriou’s salary was more than triple his own. Would he really now accept an even lower pay grade…or worse yet…allow the AFL (Demetriou) to subsidise some of his club salary? Um…doubt it.
3) Would he go from the Chief administrator of the No.2 code in Australia to the Chief of the smallest AFL club? Nup.
Pie in the sky stuff.
June 7th 2012 @ 10:55am
JamesP said | June 7th 2012 @ 10:55am | Report comment
I reckon GWS should chase him hard for their CEO role! Interim CEO Dave Matthews was brought in to replace Dale Holmes. If he wants to move on – they should chase him. Won’t happen I know…just saying…
June 7th 2012 @ 11:14am
super G said | June 7th 2012 @ 11:14am | Report comment
Snowflake’s chance in hell of happening.
In regards to North Melbourne, natural attrition will dictate, as is the case with NRL equivalent clubs like Cronulla and Penrith, that these small fish clubs in the big pond will shrink rather than grow over the years.
They might have the odd successful season as Cronulla are experiencing at the moment but no amount of on-field success or a great CEO will turn these clubs into heavyweights with a huge fan base.
I think the horse has bolted for a lot of these clubs in both comps and it’s only a question of survival from here on in.
June 7th 2012 @ 11:31am
Brewski said | June 7th 2012 @ 11:31am | Report comment
There is always going to be weak clubs, so as soon as you cull the weakest, another steps up to the firing line.
Norf is never going to be a giant like Collingwood or Richmond, history has dictated that, but it can be viable, it’s just hard continual work that will burn out many people, that is the nature of the beast and year to year survival.
June 7th 2012 @ 11:41am
super G said | June 7th 2012 @ 11:41am | Report comment
Agreed Brewski. I’m not saying clubs should be culled however. Natural attrition will take its course down the track anyway. In soccer/football almost an entire league of clubs fell this way.
The likes of Marconi, Syd.Utd, Melbourne Knights still exist, just not at the level they once inhabited. Maybe that’s what’s in store down the track for the above mentioned strugglers.
June 7th 2012 @ 12:43pm
andyincanberra said | June 7th 2012 @ 12:43pm | Report comment
Interesting article. I’m not sure David Gallop would be a good fit NMFC, I’d always thought that he was a great steward of Rugby League, but his strength was more dealing with crisis rather than performing radical surgery. When David Gallop took over the NRL, it had a fundamentally strong product and a strong (if somewhat disillusioned) supporter base. He was a steady hand when the NRL needed it most, through the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandel etc.
I’m not sure what the cure for North Melbourne is, but they certainly don’t come from a position of strength and need more than just a steady hand. They seem to squander every opportunity given to them, not merging with Fitzroy because they didn’t want to be the North Melbourne Lions, not moving to the Gold Coast. Their other forays to build a supporter base come accross as half-hearted and insincere (Sydney and Canberra), the equivalent of a Fly-in Fly-out worker. North Melbourne need to realise that in order to protect their brand they need to do something radical, or else there will not be a brand to protect.
June 7th 2012 @ 12:56pm
desie said | June 7th 2012 @ 12:56pm | Report comment
What garbage.
We didn’t merge with Fitzroy because the other clubs decided at the last minute that with the list concessions coupled with the fact that we already strong at that time, we would be become an on-field powerhouse. Ultimately the Sydney/Canberra/Gold Coast thing didn’t work because, unlike Tassie, they are not natural football areas anyway.
Gallop is pie in the sky stuff, he’s on record as saying he doesn’t like the game and clearly wouldn’t be interested.
Our off-field fundamentals are heading in the right direction, revenue grown by 30% over the last five years, record membership and $1 million removed from our debt over the last six months. Hardly “squandering every opportunity”.
June 7th 2012 @ 1:52pm
Ian Whitchurch said | June 7th 2012 @ 1:52pm | Report comment
Andyincanberra,
Desie is right about the North-Fitzroy merger – this is a good article about it.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/12/1057979655688.html
June 7th 2012 @ 2:17pm
The Cattery said | June 7th 2012 @ 2:17pm | Report comment
Good article. I tend to support the Bears’ CEO perspective, that while North and Fitzroy were wasting time talking amongst themselves, they were talking directly with the bloke who mattered most, the Receiver, whose obligation was to recover the money owed Nauru, and who would have had zero sentiment for what happened to Fitzroy.
It’s not hard to imagine the AFL knowing this all along, and chuckling behind the scenes, knowing it was inevitable that the Lions would end up with Brisbane.
It’s also easy to imagine the other Vic clubs supporting a merger with little ol’ struggling Brisbane, and their less ambitious plans to grab players (only 2 of the 8 really amounted to anything at the end of the day, the better ones escaped the net).
June 7th 2012 @ 2:38pm
andyincanberra said | June 7th 2012 @ 2:38pm | Report comment
Point taken. My memory is a little vague on the particulars or the propsed Fitzroy merger and I should have done a little research. However my point really is that the Vic market is crowded, and while NMFC has made some to grow its supporter-base (Fitzroy merger aside), it has in the past come across as half-hearted. I personally think that they should have moved to the GC when there was the opportunity.
June 7th 2012 @ 3:45pm
Tommygun said | June 7th 2012 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
What about Brian Waldron?
Good with bookeeping(both sets), very familiar with the Melbourne sporting landscape…
June 7th 2012 @ 4:43pm
Australian Rules said | June 7th 2012 @ 4:43pm | Report comment
That’s exactly the kind of street smarts and strategic nous that North need…except the getting caught part.
June 7th 2012 @ 8:12pm
John Seabrook said | June 7th 2012 @ 8:12pm | Report comment
Ludicrous suggestion to be frank.