Geelong’s football operations chief Simon Lloyd has been sounded out by North Melbourne for the Kangaroos’ vacant chief executive job.
AFL industry sources confirmed that Lloyd, Geelong’s general manager of football for the past five seasons, had been approached by the Kangaroos to become one of the candidates for the chief executive role.
Geelong footy boss Simon Lloyd (left) with Cats coach Chris Scott.Credit:AFL Photos
Lloyd has been with Geelong since the end of the 2015 season, having crossed to the Cats from Fremantle, where he spent six years and was part of the coaching staff. He worked at Collingwood as high-performance manager, psychologist and a specialist coach. Lloyd also previously worked at Hawthorn.
Lloyd’s credentials have obviously been enhanced by Geelong’s premiership this year and the view of the Cats as a well-managed organisation with a strong workplace culture. He has spent the past fortnight completing a course at the Harvard Business School in the US alongside Patrick Dangerfield.
His resume is diverse, in that he has a psychology and coaching pedigree, as well as administration experience with the Cats, but that North have approached him is an indication that the Roos are willing to look at CEO with a football, as opposed to commercial, background.
The Kangaroos are one of three clubs in the hunt for a new CEO, along with Collingwood and Essendon. Ex-Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell has ruled himself out of contention for any CEO roles next year as he concentrates on a business venture.
North Melbourne are being assisted in their search for a new CEO by accomplished former Melbourne and Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson, with the search led by Paul Hallman of Six Degrees Executive, who is conducting interviews alongside Jackson and two members of the club board.
North’s previous CEO Ben Amarfio finished up on October 31. He held the role for three years.
The exit of Amarfio follows a turbulent end to the 2022 season for the Kangaroos, who sacked coach David Noble and hired four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson on a five-year deal. Football operations chief Daniel McPherson and three recruiting staff also departed the club.
North acted promptly on a review of their football department by ex-football boss and chief executive Geoff Walsh, who is now the football chief at St Kilda.
The club’s president Sonja Hood has been canvassing opinion from a range of people involved in football including former AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou, who was a past player at North Melbourne, about the suitability of candidates for the CEOs role.
Football Australia’s Peter Filopoulos has also reportedly been interviewed for the role with the club assessing a number of potential candidates. The process remains ongoing with about half a dozen candidates still being considered.
