Andrew Dillon has been appointed as the new chief executive of the AFL following a 12-month search for Gillon McLachlan’s successor.
A senior AFL source confirmed the appointment to The Age with club presidents and CEOs told via phone hook-up at 8.30am.
Andrew Dillon, the successor to the AFL CEO position being vacated by Gillon McLachlan.Credit: Getty Images
Dillon will take over at the end of the men’s AFL season, with an official start date of October 2, allowing McLachlan to deal with a raft of issues including the entry of Tasmania into the competition, a new pay deal with male and female players and the AFL’s inquiry into alleged racism at Hawthorn, which are unresolved.
Dillon has been McLachlan’s second in charge at the AFL and was seen as the leading candidate to replace him. He beat a field of candidates, including Richmond CEO Brendon Gale, Western Bulldogs president Kylie Watson-Wheeler and fellow AFL executives Travis Auld and Kylie Rogers to the job of leading the country’s biggest sporting organisation.
AFL chairman Richard Goyder had been keen for McLachlan to stay for an extended period. According to industry sources, who spoke to this masthead on condition of anonymity, Goyder had been in discussions with McLachlan and Dillon to arrange the transition process during the past week.
An AFL staff meeting was arranged for 9.10am to complete the announcement.
Dillon, a lawyer and former Old Xaverians footballer, joined the league as legal counsel in 2000 and was in charge of game development before being appointed to the high-powered role of executive general manager football operations, legal and integrity, in addition to his duties as general counsel.
McLachlan announced in April last year that he would finish up as CEO, but stayed on to manage several big issues including the completion of the league’s $4.5 billion, seven-year broadcast deal with Seven and Foxtel.
McLachlan was in the top job for nine years, and his achievements include the growth of TV rights, the fast-tracking of the AFLW competition and expansion to 18 teams and steering the game through the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, he described the league shutdown and standing down of up to 80 per cent of the industry’s workforce as “the biggest financial crisis in our history”.
However, crowds attended the football in record numbers in the opening rounds of 2023, and the AFL this month celebrated an $80 million windfall from the Adelaide Gather Round.
McLachlan is expected to be in Tasmania on Wednesday to announce that the state has been granted a 19th licence.
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