In a scenario unthinkable only last year when he stepped away from the Collingwood presidency to focus on his health, Jeff Browne has emerged as a front-runner for the top job at the AFL.
Although he has not officially thrown his hat into the ring, the push for Browne to replace Richard Goyder as commission chairman has gained momentum in an environment where the club presidents are demanding both football and club experience as key credentials for the next AFL boss.
Jeff Browne and Craig McRae soak up the 2023 premiership.Credit: Getty Images
Browne, with his extensive football, media and corporate experience, now has support ranging from warm to strong from at least two thirds of the 18 clubs. He is expected to meet Goyder, a long-time friend and associate, in the coming weeks before reaching a decision.
The interview process for the new commissioners will start next month with the next AFL chairman or woman to emerge from the process which must be ratified by the 18 clubs.
Still in the running from a long list of original candidates are Port Adelaide chairman David Koch and former Geelong president Craig Drummond. Another figure with support is investment banker and former Australian Sports Commission chair John Wylie.
Another key contender, Andrew Pridham, also had significant support but any possibility of the Sydney chairman contending for a commission role was thwarted by Swans CEO Tom Harley’s recent appointment to become Andrew Dillon’s second in command.
Browne at the 2023 grand final luncheon.Credit: Jesse Marlow
Both Pridham and Browne have repeatedly rejected suggestions to other clubs that Browne could contend for a commission role to later make way for Pridham with the Swans boss insisting he remains focused on his own football club as it embarks on year one of a coaching succession plan, and now searches for a new chief executive.
Although three commissioners – chairman Goyder, Simone Wilkie and Paul Bassat – reach the end of their terms early next year only Bassat, in his 14th year on the AFL board, seems certain to step away.
Goyder has indicated he wishes to remain for at least an extra season, a push that is being resisted by some clubs. Also in his 14th year on the commission, Goyder will have served eight years as chairman at the end of this term. While never a vocal frontman for the game, he has strongly backed CEO Andrew Dillon over the past two months as the latter crafted radical changes to his executive and football teams.
Wilkie, a retired army major general and a strategic advisor to the defence industry, has been a commissioner for a decade and has been a key driver of the review into the struggling AFLW competition.
Goyder inducted Erin Phillips into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Credit: Getty Images
There is an internal push for her to serve another term to oversee the findings of that review. Should Wilkie go, she would almost certainly have to be replaced by a woman.
Browne, 71, the AFL’s former legal counsel who oversaw the implementation of most of the policies and rules which still underline the modern game, is regarded as a pioneer of the national game, well-versed to help oversee Tasmania’s complex entry into the AFL, along with former club boss-turned commissioner Andrew Ireland. Ireland has no interest in the chairman’s position.
Emerging as Collingwood president after some messy infighting at the end of 2021, Browne and his regime installed the untried Craig McRae as the new coach with almost overnight success and a premiership in 2023. Already in remission from myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer, Browne has told friends he has been assured by his medical team of good health for the next decade and beyond with ongoing maintenance and treatment.
The most significant opposition to Browne, should he confirm his candidacy, would come from St Kilda’s president Andrew Bassat, who sits on the commission’s nominations committee and clashed with Browne when the two were opposing presidents. Bassat has also feuded with his Sydney opposite Pridham, a close friend and long-time business associate of Browne’s, over the northern academies among other issues.
Although most clubs see the benefits of a commission chairman based in Melbourne, there is also some concern voiced from the Bassat camp – he has some support from a handful of interstate clubs, including Fremantle – about the prospect of the next chairman coming from a big Victorian club.
The prospect of uniting the bitter divisions among the club presidents as they seek to influence the shape of the AFL commission remains one of the games most significant backroom challenges as momentum for Browne intensifies.
Bassat and his chief executive at the Saints, Carl Dilena, presented to the AFL commission before the Hall of Fame celebration this month. In a detailed submission that led to some robust debate, they outlined the history and philosophy behind the AFL draft and equalisation in a bid to convince the competition to further toughen the northern clubs’ access to their academy players.
Gold Coast’s increasingly successful program has been one target of clubs’ concern, most vocally St Kilda whose coach Ross Lyon recently dubbed the Suns the AFL’s “nepo baby.” Bassat has also been outspoken on the unfair advantages presented by the father-son rule from which Collingwood and reigning premier Brisbane have benefited most recently.
The commission interview process is expected to kick off shortly after the 18 club chiefs assemble on the Gold Coast in early July for two days of talks in which the complex academy – both northern and next generation – bidding systems will again be the subject of some debate along with the list rules for Tasmania.
While Dillon has warned clubs that the rules surrounding player acquisition and movement will constantly be reviewed, the AFL is unlikely to further toughen access to academy players in a year when tough new rules have come into play for the first time.
Browne and Dillon have worked together extensively in the past, and Browne enjoys strong relationships with incoming AFL executives Greg Swann and Tom Harley.
At a time when the AFL is closely watching the federal government’s next move to potentially further restrict gambling advertising along with the evolving and challenging media landscape, Browne’s extensive media experience as the former managing director of Channel Nine, owner of this masthead, has been noted by his supporters among the clubs.
Goyder has retained his role as chair of the commission nominations committee despite an attempt at the start of the season to unseat him from that position. Wilkie also sits on the committee, which includes club presidents Andrew Bassat, Andrew Wellington, Pridham, Sonja Hood and John Olsen.
Browne was contacted for comment.
