Gill McLachlan to stay with AFL, will not take up NRL CEO role
Roar Guru Related coverage
The AFL’s Chief Operating Officer Gill McLachlan has advised the AFL Commission that he will remain in his position, effectively ruling out a move to the NRL CEO job, following David Gallop’s departure.
AFL Media Relations manager Patrick Keane made the announcement a short time ago.
McLachlan was in the target sights of the Australian Rugby League Commission and had emerged the clear frontrunner for the job, with the potential move recently talked up by ARLC chairman John Grant.
However, in a statement made on Tuesday afternoon, McLachlan said he continued to enjoy the challenges associated with developing and growing Australian football.
“There is still much to achieve at the AFL as we continue to strategically position the code for ongoing growth in popularity and participation,” he said.
AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou said he was pleased that McLachlan would remain a key member of the AFL executive.
“Gill has played an important role in many of the AFL’s significant commercial outcomes in recent years and still has much to contribute to the AFL’s future strategic direction.”
It is believed as recently as yesterday three names were being considered for the NRL job – with interim CEO Shane Mattiske not one of them. With McLachlan not an option, Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys as well as Panthers Group chief executive Warren Wilson appear to be the other chances.
More to follow
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- AFL, NRL, Rugby League
September 4th 2012 @ 3:35pm
Chris Chard said | September 4th 2012 @ 3:35pm | Report comment
Shame, if only another McLachlan had knocked back rugby league …
September 4th 2012 @ 3:52pm
Redb said | September 4th 2012 @ 3:52pm | Report comment
What a shame for the ARLC.
At the end of the day his heart wouldnt be in it and he would have had to put up wit the tin foil hat anti AFL brigade. #tiresome.
September 4th 2012 @ 6:51pm
The Link said | September 4th 2012 @ 6:51pm | Report comment
Yeah cause the CEO of a major sport in Australia would spend his day posting on forums.
Love the AFL crocodile tears re RL when it has a specific strategy to whip that stuff up.
September 5th 2012 @ 10:01am
Redb said | September 5th 2012 @ 10:01am | Report comment
I’m talking about within rugby league not forums. Already there’s article in the SMH talking about a conspiracy about the timing of the decision with the Dally M etc, lol
September 5th 2012 @ 8:46pm
The Link said | September 5th 2012 @ 8:46pm | Report comment
You can’t get a sense of Rugby League from un-named sources in a media article, just as you can’t from forums.
September 6th 2012 @ 4:27pm
Redb said | September 6th 2012 @ 4:27pm | Report comment
Both Sydney media outlets and RL journos ran with a conspiracy theory that the AFL timed it to distract from the Dally M. Just laughable stuff.
Tin foil hat anyone?
September 4th 2012 @ 4:13pm
Australian Rules said | September 4th 2012 @ 4:13pm | Report comment
I’m sure people have seen this, but earlier this year Gil McLachlan turned down the role of CEO of Liverpool FC.
He’s a good operator, I’m the AFL will be happy to have kept him (on a renegotiated bonus structure I’m sure!).
September 4th 2012 @ 4:41pm
TC said | September 4th 2012 @ 4:41pm | Report comment
That story about LFC offering Gil the CEO’s job has only come out the last couple of days.
Fancy that. One of the world’s most famous sporting clubs offering such a high profile job (with salary to match) to the 2IC of this tiny, suburban sporting comp.
What were Craig Foster’s words again to describe the AFL?
Oh yes: inconsequential.
TC
September 4th 2012 @ 6:37pm
Anthony said | September 4th 2012 @ 6:37pm | Report comment
Love your satire, TC. Truth is, he preferred Melbourne’s weather to Liverpool’s
September 4th 2012 @ 7:55pm
Bondy. said | September 4th 2012 @ 7:55pm | Report comment
You shouldnt let the sport bother you all the time.
September 4th 2012 @ 9:51pm
Punter said | September 4th 2012 @ 9:51pm | Report comment
Another non supported fact!!!!!
September 5th 2012 @ 2:27pm
Vic said | September 5th 2012 @ 2:27pm | Report comment
If England had the equivalent of AFL, they would be playing all their London games at stadiums like Wembley and Twickenham in front of 70 to 100k a match instead of 25 to 35.
English rules soccer is simply run as a selfish business and not for the fans. Do not know why people in Blighty put up with it. The sport has been taken away from those who made it.
September 4th 2012 @ 6:29pm
Matt_S said | September 4th 2012 @ 6:29pm | Report comment
That Liverpool story was found to be untrue.
September 5th 2012 @ 8:33am
Australian Rules said | September 5th 2012 @ 8:33am | Report comment
Well, the “untrue” part was apparently that a former offer had not been made.
But people in the AFL have said he was approached and “sounded out”…
September 4th 2012 @ 8:08pm
yewonk said | September 4th 2012 @ 8:08pm | Report comment
thats not true ar liverool did not offer him any such thing.
September 4th 2012 @ 4:17pm
mushi said | September 4th 2012 @ 4:17pm | Report comment
I do wonder if he used the as a bit of a free option stalking horse.
Good luck to him at the AFL, hope it all goes well.
September 4th 2012 @ 4:30pm
Brewski said | September 4th 2012 @ 4:30pm | Report comment
I just watched a replay of the Offsiders and they claim that the NRL is around 20 years behind the AFL, they claim thats precisely why the NRL want him.
Pretty embarrassing for the NRL, they pretty well threw the kitchen sink at him, at the least it should have been played out a bit more indoors, maybe the Sydney media turned him off a bit.
September 5th 2012 @ 9:29am
Pot Stirrer said | September 5th 2012 @ 9:29am | Report comment
Dont think so mate, He would have been chewed up at spat out in months, The only reason he knocked it back was becuase he is scared of the Sydney press and when he failed his posh ego would have been shattered.
September 5th 2012 @ 10:34am
Australian Rules said | September 5th 2012 @ 10:34am | Report comment
Yes Pot, that’s definitely the reason he knocked it back.
September 4th 2012 @ 4:35pm
NF said | September 4th 2012 @ 4:35pm | Report comment
‘Pretty embarrassing for the NRL’ How so Brewski just because he rejected the job is a ‘embarrassment’ you’re anti-league posts are boring & pointless. As for whoever the next CEO hopefully they are proactive, forward thinking and have strategic plans for the future something previous CEO’s never had so Brewski boast away about how great AFL administration is and all that jazz. I and everyone in the RL community just want a competent administration.
September 4th 2012 @ 4:47pm
Brewski said | September 4th 2012 @ 4:47pm | Report comment
I am only repeating what the offsiders says, but i agree with them, the NRL it appears desperately wanted him.
http://www.abc.net.au/sport/offsiders/
September 4th 2012 @ 6:05pm
Crosscoder said | September 4th 2012 @ 6:05pm | Report comment
The Offsiders,saw the show,and the comment was made by an AFL fan on the channel..The code is not 20 years behind in finance.based on the TV deal it would appear.The fact the ARLC wanted him is a show of respect for his abilities.The fact he knocked it back means he is loyal to his code,and the ARLC like any company has other options.His heart would not have really been in it.
Embarrassing for the ARLC !!! Hardly .It happens in business year in year out.Nice try Brewski.
Now the code can secure someone who really has an interest in the game.
September 5th 2012 @ 12:04pm
Von Neumann said | September 5th 2012 @ 12:04pm | Report comment
@brewski they are still repetitive. every time I see your name I think *negativity*.
you are the wrong kind of bias, mate….anti
September 5th 2012 @ 4:31pm
Brewski said | September 5th 2012 @ 4:31pm | Report comment
Thats a shame, every time i think of brewski, i think beer.
September 4th 2012 @ 6:52pm
BigAl said | September 4th 2012 @ 6:52pm | Report comment
At the very least the fact that the NRL went after him shows that they are not backwards in coming forward to show how serious they are about wanting their business to go ahead ! . . . if you can follow all that.
September 4th 2012 @ 4:41pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | September 4th 2012 @ 4:41pm | Report comment
Agree, McLachlan is a very good operator & a thoroughly decent bloke, too.
I haven’t seen Gil for a number of years … although we are “Facebook Friends”! (I hope that doesn’t blow my anonymity!
)
It’s the first time I’ve heard any story about Gil’s being offered the CEO role at Anfield, however, there’s no way Liverpool FC would pay its CEO anything near the package Gil would be entitled to as COO (and, most likely, the next CEO) of the AFL.
He’s an all round sportsman – he captained Uni Blues (prestigious amateur ARF team, known for its business networks), he used to play polo & was an avid mid-week futsal player!
September 4th 2012 @ 4:44pm
TC said | September 4th 2012 @ 4:44pm | Report comment
Gil would turn in his grave if he knew about the scorn you pour on the great Australian game.
TC
September 4th 2012 @ 5:00pm
Jaceman said | September 4th 2012 @ 5:00pm | Report comment
The NRL is negotiating with Government about rationalising Sydney stadium use and McLachlans experience with Etihad, MCG, Skoda, Metricom, Adelaide Oval, Burswood, Launceston, Gabba would have been handy. However he would always be viewed with suspicion. I guess this was all about – hey boss I have the family secrets so dont forget about me…
Was that Fussball heaping praise…did I not take my medication??
September 4th 2012 @ 6:55pm
amazonfan said | September 4th 2012 @ 6:55pm | Report comment
Agreed. It should also be asked why why should the Australian football community care what any non-football fan in Australia thinks about anything to do with the Great Australian Game? Not to mention this is another AFL/NRL thread in which this person, who claims to not be interested in Australian football/League, is posting on.
September 4th 2012 @ 5:25pm
millane said | September 4th 2012 @ 5:25pm | Report comment
what are you doing on this thread
September 4th 2012 @ 5:43pm
Brewski said | September 4th 2012 @ 5:43pm | Report comment
Had to tell everyone Gill McLachlan played futsal, so therefore, he must be a OK guy.
September 4th 2012 @ 6:14pm
millane said | September 4th 2012 @ 6:14pm | Report comment
hows things brewski… it seems rather strange behaviour from someone who has expressed an absolute hatred for the australian game… equally bizarre when you consider his oft repeated declaration he has no interest/need to read/comment on threads other than his beloved round-ball game…
September 4th 2012 @ 7:06pm
Brewski said | September 4th 2012 @ 7:06pm | Report comment
I had my say on fussball on another thread, and i stand by those comments, and it had nothing to do with any code or code warring.
Bizzare does not even come close.
September 4th 2012 @ 8:10pm
yewonk said | September 4th 2012 @ 8:10pm | Report comment
its not true
September 5th 2012 @ 8:39am
Australian Rules said | September 5th 2012 @ 8:39am | Report comment
Unless that’s all you have to offer (rather than a link, a quote, proof etc)…your contribution is of extremely limited value.
September 5th 2012 @ 9:06am
Bondy. said | September 5th 2012 @ 9:06am | Report comment
Oh I see, thats where he gets he’s intelligence from futsal.
September 4th 2012 @ 5:04pm
Kevin said | September 4th 2012 @ 5:04pm | Report comment
Saw that on offsiders and while I do agree with some of the ” basis” for the comment that the NRL is 20 years behind , I immediately thought that it should be treated with caution as in;
Representative football “SOO,” they are not 20 years behind but perhaps in front
International football they are not 20 years behind but also perhaps in front ,
So some qualification needs to be made surely…
September 4th 2012 @ 5:13pm
Brewski said | September 4th 2012 @ 5:13pm | Report comment
I would agree that they are in front 20 years + on international football… no question, however IMO SOO wrecks their club comp, the AFL found that eventually SOO comes second, and i am betting that RL SOO will be shuffled around and eventually come second to their club comp.
Should that not happen, their club comp will suffer even further, clubs that pay good money for players, fans that pay good money for memberships don’t want their best players injured whilst the premeirship awaits.
September 4th 2012 @ 6:19pm
Crosscoder said | September 4th 2012 @ 6:19pm | Report comment
The very same SOO,that players want to play,that fans attend to packed houses and watch in their millions on TV.The series that helps bring in a motza.
Scoop : Players get injured in club games.It is a conact sport.
The final series has ended up being one of the best results for the game for quite a while.Eevn the bleeding Canberrans are getting excited.
The thing that wrecks clubs,are poor refereeing decisions,injuries whenever and whereever they occur and players out of form.
The SOO has gone from strength to strength and has had its share of knockers.Trolls are just a few more,added to the equation.
Record aggregate crowds this year for the code.So much for the SOO impact and so much for the cynics that have come rushing in on this thread.
The 20 year gap,is utter crap,and using the Offsiders is akin to relying on Big Footsy as a source of reliiable rl info.Its an AFL lovefest.It reminds me of the Offsiders Caroline Wilson oft made comments about rugby league”How many hits can this game take”.As many as you like Caroline.
September 4th 2012 @ 6:41pm
millane said | September 4th 2012 @ 6:41pm | Report comment
her comments are almost pathetically obsessive as uncle roys – who cant go 1-offsiders appearance without slagging off AFL
i guess we see and hear what we want to CC
September 4th 2012 @ 8:08pm
Crosscoder said | September 4th 2012 @ 8:08pm | Report comment
Don’t have too much of a choice on the Offsiders,Millane.A stacked deck woul be a fair description.
Roy is a token rl panel member,and gets Wilson ….in a knot.Whether he is right or wrong,it’s about the only decent form of vigorous entertainment on that show.
If seeing and hearing what I want to hear,was the basis of my viewing,the Offsiders would be well down the pecking order of my viewing habits.They are hardly user friendly.
September 4th 2012 @ 8:18pm
millane said | September 4th 2012 @ 8:18pm | Report comment
bit like the australian media as a whole (and public broadcasters in particular) CC where australians are continually force fed sydney voices, sydney view points and sydney opinions ad-nauseum
regards the public broadcasters – would be funny if not for the fact my tax dollars (and many millions of others australians like me) are paying good money to hear sydney folk tell me how it is… no thanks
September 5th 2012 @ 7:44am
Crosscoder said | September 5th 2012 @ 7:44am | Report comment
Not correct millane.the Courier Mail,and GC Bulletin have Melburnians heading their editorial staff.Browne head of ch9 ,I understand is a Melburnian.Tracy Grimshaw is a Melburnian,every weeknight.
Sandra Sully is a Queenslander,the red headed sport’s reporter on ch10 is either a Melburnian or Adelooidan(sic).Hinds is a Melburnian.I could go on.
And we get AFL first sport story on ch9 4 pm news.It’s not a one way street.
And most importantly of all a certain Victorian has not shut up in this fair cit,not y one bit:Sheedy.He is hardly a local.
Yet we listen.
The Offsiders is Melbourne based( a public broadcasting program).My tax dollars also.
Yet my tax dollars and for many others from Sydney are used to provide huge grants for public AFL purpose stadiums for rebuilds or refurbishments.
My tax dollars are used for a public broadcasting system that is almost opposed to many of my views.Yet I listen.
Then again Sydney is the largest city of the best country in the world,so it is natural that the biggest of the best
should be respected LOL.
Melburnian voices are hardly mute north of the Murray.
September 5th 2012 @ 11:31am
Jaceman said | September 5th 2012 @ 11:31am | Report comment
Wilson and Masters offset each other. The 20 years behind comment was regarding stadium development which even you CC has to concede. The SOO is great but as we saw in SOO1 and when Harrigan used to referee it it was designed for an even game (all penalties bar one obvious foul play went to the team behind on the scoreboard). I was reminded of this watching 2001 GF this morning on Pay where Harrigan got Parra back from 0-24 to lose 24-30 to Newcastle with penalty count of 7-1 and bizarre decisions favouring parramatta.
September 5th 2012 @ 2:26pm
Crosscoder said | September 5th 2012 @ 2:26pm | Report comment
Thanks Dingo your observance is noted with great anticipation,on a rugby league thread.
Responding to comments,keep abreast of the prior posts.
September 5th 2012 @ 2:33pm
Crosscoder said | September 5th 2012 @ 2:33pm | Report comment
No on the stadium aspect I do not agree the code is 20 years behind Jaceman..Two large stadiums in Sydney of a decent standard.Parramatta needs a roof at either end less than 5 years to develop and build.
The other outlying ones Manly,Penrith,Canberra,cronuula could all be complete within 10 years if funding was available.
The one thing I agree on,we are behind in stadium imprvments,but rationalising or centarlising will not work in Sydney ,no matter how much you market it for a normal NRL club game for the outer clubs.
September 6th 2012 @ 4:29pm
Redb said | September 6th 2012 @ 4:29pm | Report comment
All TV networks are based in Sydney. The ‘National’ News at 5pm most days is a Sydney construct.
September 7th 2012 @ 3:12pm
Crosscoder said | September 7th 2012 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
Based in sydney with plenty of Melburnian and AFL input.Not the other way round in Melbourne.
Offsiders is not Sydney based else Medusa would not get a guernsey..
National news a Sydney construct.So now Sydney broadcasters construct news ,it would appear.I have read the lot now.
September 7th 2012 @ 3:30pm
Redb said | September 7th 2012 @ 3:30pm | Report comment
Sydney news first. Heaps of examples of minor Sydney Stories parading as national interest. Take the blinkers off.
September 7th 2012 @ 3:47pm
Crosscoder said | September 7th 2012 @ 3:47pm | Report comment
Melbourne news AFL dominates sport understandably ,rarely NRL appears.Contrast with Sydney 9/10 and 7 give AFL coverage just about every night in some shape or form.
Sydney voices perhaps more magnanimous.
September 4th 2012 @ 5:19pm
baldie said | September 4th 2012 @ 5:19pm | Report comment
“Representative football “SOO,” they are not 20 years behind but perhaps in front”
I am in the minority here but I believes SOO is one of the things that is keeping league behind. How can the sport ever grow when the biggest event on the calendar is a game that is only of interest to people from NSW & QLD?
September 4th 2012 @ 5:20pm
mushi said | September 4th 2012 @ 5:20pm | Report comment
20 years is just moronic hyperbole. And really it was only put on here as part of his trolling effort.
Just the manner in which media is consumed is so starkly different that a comparission between the NRL now and the AFL in 1992 is utterly stupid.
I’m not saying the NRL isn’t behind in total but you need to be a new kind of stupid to say 20 years and then stand behind the number as anything more than gross exaggeration to stir a code war.
Even then lets entertain the moronic notion that the NRL is the 1992 AFL why would this be the precise reason to hire a guy who has only worked at the AFL for 12 years in total.
If the chasm begins back twenty years your eight years of development short, presumably those eight years are important or we would only be 12 years behind right? Or maybe, just maybe they are making crap up and speaking out of their rear ends.
September 4th 2012 @ 10:11pm
Brewski said | September 4th 2012 @ 10:11pm | Report comment
Maybe just maybe they know more than you or i, and maybe they don’t and are making it all up, or maybe you know more than them.
From my observations of RL, and i have lived in Sydney and Canberra for extended periods of time, RL has always been a fair way behind in most facets, maybe this new deal $$$ will even it up some, but maybe not.
September 4th 2012 @ 6:51pm
Kevin said | September 4th 2012 @ 6:51pm | Report comment
Baldie , did 400000 Melbourne people watch each game of the origin?
I guess only spainards watch “el Classico” and poms watch the Manchester derby, yanks the super bowl , you couldnt watch bathurst unless you owned a ford or holden , Anzac day at the G unless you were an bombers or pies member and so on and so on
September 4th 2012 @ 7:01pm
Brewski said | September 4th 2012 @ 7:01pm | Report comment
Generally all these other games you talk about are in the H & A series.
If you are a member of Parrammata etc, and happy to stump up your membership, and you are happy for your players to play SOO, and then be injured in the process then go for it.
Then its all good.
I guess considering that being part of your club via membership is not a big thing in the NRL, most fans don’t really care.
September 4th 2012 @ 9:49pm
Punter said | September 4th 2012 @ 9:49pm | Report comment
@ Brewski, you will find most sports have a representative flavour about them apart AFL!!!! It’s an honour for most sporting clubs to have their players reaching higher honours, have a look at your local swimming club & see their Olympians, Boxing clubs, Rugby league clubs, Football clubs, Rugby clubs, Cricket clubs, boxing clubs, even go down to your local Ice rink & you will see those that represented.
September 4th 2012 @ 10:00pm
Brewski said | September 4th 2012 @ 10:00pm | Report comment
Punter, AFAIK even the EPL clubs and their fans look unfavourably on their players playing reresentative games, thats all i am saying, and thats why the AFL stopped SOO.
Australian football fans and clubs rate the premiership higher than SOO, in RL maybe that is not the case.
And even many RL people agree with these points, however channel nine may disagree !.
The AFL do play rep games, and you will find that they will be after the premiership season, as it should be IMO.
September 4th 2012 @ 10:18pm
Bondy. said | September 4th 2012 @ 10:18pm | Report comment
Brewski.
You’d probably be the only sport in the world to put club level over representative footy,unusual.
September 4th 2012 @ 10:34pm
Brewski said | September 4th 2012 @ 10:34pm | Report comment
Are you serious, only the biggest football comp in the world.
NFL.
try harder.
September 5th 2012 @ 9:33am
Pot Stirrer said | September 5th 2012 @ 9:33am | Report comment
Are you serious, no other country plays NFL seriously, oh just like AFL.
September 5th 2012 @ 10:40pm
Brewski said | September 5th 2012 @ 10:40pm | Report comment
American football and Australian football thankyou !.
And FWIW at lower levels of those particular games there is plenty of rep games both here and O/S.
September 4th 2012 @ 10:26pm
millane said | September 4th 2012 @ 10:26pm | Report comment
what about NFL… the gaelic sporting codes…
September 4th 2012 @ 10:28pm
Bondy. said | September 4th 2012 @ 10:28pm | Report comment
I thought that might trap me ,gridiron domestic.
Brewski you say you live in canberra I know another bloke who posts from there.
September 4th 2012 @ 10:36pm
Brewski said | September 4th 2012 @ 10:36pm | Report comment
Bondy .. i must know him, only around 400,000 people in Canberra/QBY etc.
I lived in Canberra ….. !.
September 5th 2012 @ 12:47pm
Von Neumann said | September 5th 2012 @ 12:47pm | Report comment
whats all your pointless arguing got to do with the enjoyment of the game.
September 4th 2012 @ 7:02pm
baldie said | September 4th 2012 @ 7:02pm | Report comment
The difference between those and origin is that a child who played all their junior sport in Melbourne could potentially participate in them, unlike state of origin…
September 4th 2012 @ 7:17pm
Kevin said | September 4th 2012 @ 7:17pm | Report comment
Baldie they used to say that too about a child who played all their sport in NZ, there’s always a way!!!!
So you agree that the ” interest” as you put it is well and truley available to those outside of nsw and qld