http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...s/news-story/b4f65fe48edbcfbd4b51415cf2932f25
Secret plot to extend Grant’s role as chairman of ARC until the end of the Commonwealth Games
DAVID RICCIO CHIEF SPORTS WRITER, The Daily Telegraph
an hour ago
ARLC chairman John Grant will remain in his post until the end of the Commonwealth Games in April, if a backroom proposal to extend his tenure is approved.
The unlikely scenario has been proposed by at least one of the eight commissioners, who believes Grant should continue to control the game during the crossover period when his heir apparent, Peter Beattie is running the Games on the Gold Coast.
Beattie is the Commonwealth Games chair and is widely expected to replace Grant as ARL chairman.
Beattie, the Queensland premier from 1998 until 2007, was headhunted by the commission before being appointed in July.
Discontent from within the clubs was a factor in Grant’s decision to announce last June that he would not be reapplying for the ARL chairmanship, once his tenure ends in February.
However, the timing of his exit has led to the question from inside the commission — and which has reached several club chairman — of whether Grant should remain in the role, until Beattie relinquishes all duties from the Commonwealth Games?
Grant’s 2018 pre-season departure would mean that Beattie’s introduction to leading the Commission would be divided both in commitment and state lines.
He would be expected to lead the code, which is under alarming financial strain, while also delivering on a Queensland government promise to deliver the “best ever” Commonwealth Games, which will be held on the Gold Coast between April 4-15.
Not surprisingly, the mere notion of Grant staying longer than his intended February departure has been met with disapproval by leading club administrators, who had called for his axing 12 months ago.
“There’s been a discussion and a suggestion by one of the commissioners that he (Grant) stays until Beattie can step in after the Commonwealth Games,’’ one club chairman said.
“It’s a suggestion which has made its way to the clubs. It can’t happen. Are we surprised that it’s been suggested by one of Grant’s supporters? No.
“But given the state of the game has found itself in, how could it even be raised as a possibility?”
The proposal flies in the face of Beattie’s belief that as chairman of the Commonwealth Games organising committee, he could continue in the role during the Games, while also commencing his role on the ARL commission.
“The ugly, hard decisions on the Commonwealth Games have been made in the past year and the Games are humming,’’ Beattie said last July.
“Everything I do, I do 100 per cent. But just as the NRL has a CEO, GOLDOC has a very good CEO in Mark Peters. In eight and a half months’ time, the heavy work of the Games would be over.’’
