Will a private school educated, polo playing Melburnian become the next head of the NRL?
Andrew Webster
The Daily Telegraph
August 29, 2012 12:00AM
AS Andrew Demetriou briskly walked towards the main stadium and the evening athletics session during the final days of the London Olympics, he wanted to talk rugby league.
"Who's the new chief executive going to be?" he asked The Daily Telegraph, curiously with FFA boss Ben Buckley only a few metres away.
Demetriou was clearly fishing to see if it would be the man he had left at home in Melbourne, behind the wheel of the monster truck that is the AFL.
Gillon McLachlan is the tall "elegant", "urbane" and "chivalrous" former Melbourne Grammar student, with a sporting background in polo and Aussie Rules, who could become the most powerful man in rugby league.
The chances of it happening seem to be as much about whether McLachlan could stomach leaving his code as the ARL Commission coughing up the $1.5 million a year to make it happen.
Mystery surrounded the sight of McLachlan in Sydney yesterday. The line out of the AFL was that he was in Sin City to meet with broadcasters - something he does often.
McLachlan was not sighted at League Central yesterday as the ARLC met during a typically long board meeting.
Regardless, many within the AFL see rugby league's attempt to steal Demetriou's lieutenant as a rare but courageous manoeuvre. A sign it is serious about taking the monster truck head on.
Not only would signing McLachlan be a stunning coup, it would also kick AFL right in the cajones.That Demetriou was prepared to take long service leave midway through the AFL season, and confidently hand over control to his chief operating officer, shows how highly regarded McLachlan is.
"I've made it clear having been overseas, and having him as acting CEO, of the regard I have for him," Demetriou said. "I've known him for 12 years. He's not just exceptional talent, but a very, very fine person. When you're as talented as he is, I hope he stays with the AFL. He's been at the forefront of some significant decisions that will leave a great legacy for our code. We'll do our best to keep him, but I understand why there would be interest in him."
McLachlan stepped into the void Buckley left in 2006 when he left the AFL to take control of soccer. Since then, he has stood side by side with Demetriou in cutting the game's biggest deals.
He has been responsible for putting together stadium deals for the GWS in Sydney and Canberra, and on the Gold Coast.
Apart from helping build new stadia for an expanding code, he has worked with clubs to maximise the revenue they can earn from them.
Demetriou is renowned as the shrewdest negotiator in sport. Some reckon McLachlan is better.
He does so with a calm and affable manner.
He is close to Channel 9 boss Jeff Browne, who has become a significant player in rugby league and even more so since last week's billion-dollar broadcast deal.
Already, some NRL club powerbrokers are licking their lips at the prospect of signing an administrator they have never met.
Interim chief executive Shane Mattiske, who is considered one of the frontrunners, left some of them yawning when he spoke at length at a meeting on Monday.
While Mattiske has proven himself a capable official, they consider him to be a David Gallop clone.
Rugby league's problem in luring McLachlan isn't so much a matter of money as the status that lays ahead.
He has long been considered Demetriou's heir apparent, but the boss - who has returned from his Olympic sabbatical - says no handshake agreement is in place.
"My successor is chosen by the AFL Commission, not myself," he said. "But he would be a candidate at some stage."
As it stands, he seems like the only one rugby league wants.
