St Kilda list manager James Gallagher will depart the club at the end of this year and return to South Australia with his family.
The announcement comes not even two months after the Saints’ football department review that led to former coach Brett Ratten’s departure.
Outgoing Saints list boss James Gallagher.Credit:AFL Photos
“It has been a privilege to hold this position, but it is a role that is all consuming,” Gallagher said.
“With the changes to my family priorities, meaning that we won’t be living in Victoria, I don’t believe that this will enable me to commit to the presence required at the club to execute the role successfully and in the manner that the club and I would expect, leading to the decision to step away.
“I have absolutely loved my time at St Kilda and have been fortunate to work with a lot of wonderful people across the entire club, including our playing group, who are a terrific bunch of young men.”
Gallagher joined the Saints in September 2018 and oversaw Max King’s selection with the No.4 pick that year, before engineering the 2019 trade period haul that secured them Bradley Hill, Dan Butler, Dougal Howard, Zak Jones and Paddy Ryder.
St Kilda went on to qualify for finals the next year – which triggered rave reviews for their list strategy – and beat the Western Bulldogs, only to lose to eventual premiers Richmond.
But the Saints finished 10th in each of the past two seasons, including losing eight of their last 11 matches this year after Ratten was reappointed in July.
Former North Melbourne list manager Glenn Luff conducted an independent assessment of St Kilda’s list and list management performance as part of the club’s wide-ranging review.
The review concluded that the list management strategy outlined five years ago to “drive greater competitiveness” firstly through trades then free agency and the draft was “still appropriate in hindsight”.
But the process identified some “deficiencies” and the need for an updated strategy, including addressing the lack of top-end talent.
Meanwhile, Essendon members have prioritised stability over a fresh face in their board election after months of off-field tumult, voting in ex-Bombers defender Andrew Welsh and Andrew Muir to fill the two open positions.
Ex-Essendon defender Andrew Welsh (second from left) will fill one of two open board spots at the Bombers.Credit:Paul Rovere
Muir successfully sought re-election, while Welsh won the approval of members after being appointed three months ago to replace Simon Madden and will lead Essendon’s football subcommittee.
Unsuccessful candidates, including Ben Dunn, were informed on Tuesday before Essendon announced that Muir and Welsh would be formally declared for a three-year term at the club’s AGM on Thursday night.
The board decision comes at the end of a year of significant upheaval for the Bombers, who haven’t won a final since 2004 and missed out on September action altogether this year.
They sacked coach Ben Rutten after a botched pursuit of Alastair Clarkson, then hired ex-North Melbourne coach Brad Scott in late September, with chief executive Xavier Campbell and ex-president Paul Brasher also departing.
Brasher’s exit also resulted in Madden following suit immediately, while finance director Peter Allen and football director Sean Wellman left not long after.
David Barham took over from Brasher amid the turmoil around Rutten’s tenure and shortly after launched an external review. But Andrew Thorburn lasted just one day as Campbell’s replacement before resigning after backlash over his links to a controversial church.
Respected former West Coast football boss Craig Vozzo eventually scored the CEO job and will start in January.
Craig Vozzo will be Essendon’s new chief executive.Credit:Getty Images
Even Scott’s appointment was not without drama, with board member and legendary four-time premiership coach Kevin Sheedy breaking ranks to publicly state he wanted James Hird instead.
Former president Paul Little even hinted he might challenge Barham’s board after a dramatic period in the club’s history.
Muir first joined the Bombers’ board in 2015 and is a successful businessman and philanthropist with more than 25 years of retail, leadership, strategic and management experience.
Welsh played 162 games for Essendon between 2002 and 2011, including a period as vice-captain, before transitioning into the business world.
He said in October he was ready for the challenge of unifying a club that had lost its way “for a variety of different reasons”. “The club needs stability, the club needs unity,” Welsh said at the time. “We have got a great opportunity ahead of us and the board that I am sitting on is 100 per cent committed to seeing that change through.
“It is hard. These things aren’t easy and there are things that happen along the way that you wish didn’t and other things that work really well.
“But change of this size to set this football club up for the next era is not going to be easy. We just want everyone who wants the club to be great again to be unified and stable.”
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