He's League's Mr Right
Rebecca Wilson
The Daily Telegraph
September 01, 2012 12:00AM
THE gentrified boys club that is Melbourne and, to a slightly lesser extent, the AFL, is probably the last place the Australian Rugby League Commission expected to find its future chief executive.
On paper, hiring the AFL's chief operating officer, Gill McLachlan, is one of the biggest risks the ARLC may ever take. McLachlan is a blue blood who cut his teeth in exclusive private schools and on the grassy AFL grounds of Melbourne.
He sports a gold signet ring, wears designer suits and spends his leisure time mixing with Bleak City's social darlings. He has even been known to enjoy a spot of polo.
Scratch the surface, though, and the real Gill McLachlan is a different man.
He is the AFL's toughest negotiator who has never taken a backward step in the time he has spent under Australia's best sports executive, Andrew Demetriou.
McLachlan is a deal maker who was instrumental in pulling off the AFL's historic television rights contracts and has spent the best part of the past five years cutting deals with just about anyone who has a contract with the sport.
He is charming to meet with a quick wit and sharp intellect. Media types in Melbourne say he can be a wolf in sheep's clothing - nice as pie on the outside but tough as flint when he gets down to business.
He knows little about rugby league and is not acquainted with any of its power brokers. He has admired its progress from afar but, up until this week, he has never had to know anything about the sport's political or commercial imperatives. He has little idea of the snake pit that awaits him if he accepts the role.
This is precisely why he is the perfect man for the job. Finding a great sports executive with no rugby league baggage in Sydney is a tough ask. The candidates who have been head hunted all come with varying degrees of vested interests, political alignments and pre-existing notions of rugby league's place in the world.
The acting incumbent, Shane Mattiske, is a Gallop protege who baulks at change.
As good an executive as David Gallop was, there are dozens of changes which he refused to make at head office.
Gallop was a loyal dog who allowed many of those working for him far too much leeway and way too much time in the job.
He preferred the status quo to dramatic change and the result is that areas like junior development and referees are withering on the vine.
Gallop was also a person who liked to be liked.
He shied away from the really tough battles that needed to be had with self-serving powerbrokers who badgered him relentlessly until he surrendered.
Unfortunately, he was also forced to spend far too much time handling crises so that looking forward became difficult.
McLachlan is the man with the capacity to make desperately needed changes at HQ. He has overseen the best junior development and mass participation program in the country with Auskick.
He understands marketing and the important role of the media. While league is still skewed to males, the AFL has built a generation of female fans who now nearly outnumber their male counterparts.
He does not take a backward step from broadcasters. Those who deal with him say he can be ruthless across a boardroom table. He has helped Demetriou build a juggernaut that is the envy of world sport. AFL headquarters in Melbourne is a shrine to efficiency, growth and purpose.
In New South Wales alone, the AFL has hired more than 60 staff to target new sponsors, fans and players.
The NRL has been grossly understaffed for decades. McLachlan's strong personality would ensure the commission is kept at arm's length while he sets about building stronger marketing, media, operations and development departments.
Above all, McLachlan is his own man. He will not be enslaved by vested interests and he won't hesitate to tell commission chairman, John Grant, that he is not, in fact, the chief executive. McLachlan and Demetriou greatly respect the AFL commission but they do not run head office. They are kept at arm's length, involved in policy development but not implementation.
It will be tough for McLachlan but nothing great is ever easy. Conquering Sydney and league will require some brave decisions but the bravest one of all is taking on the job in the first place.
