New Perth Bears boss Anthony De Ceglie reckons he will find some corporate support from WA’s mining sector.
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NRL chief
Peter V’landys and WA Premier
Roger Cook’s plans to convert Perth from an AFL-only town to a rugby league outpost are continuing apace. Even if
Kerry Stokes is yet to get behind the cause.
Fresh from poaching Seven news boss
Anthony De Ceglie to head the new Perth Bears, the city’s wheelers and dealers are now working hard to get on its board.
The team is staying tight-lipped about any potential off-field appointments, but
Peter Cumins is rumoured to be in with a chance for a director gig. The Cash Converters executive was behind the original bid for a Perth NRL team, before V’Landys and co torched his plan for a more lucrative deal with Cook’s Labor government.
Proving he’s not one to hold a grudge, Cumins was spotted dining with De Ceglie at Crown’s Bistro Guillaume last week. He was also happily ensconced in various pre-game festivities on Wednesday for the State of Origin.
Meanwhile, former WA Labor minister
Peter Tinley has been linked to a potential role with the club. Tinley chaired a parliamentary working group into the viability of a Perth NRL team. He’s also mates with Cook. After all the premier has done to secure a team, he must be keen to see some WA Labor flavour sprinkled into the Bears’ DNA.
In the spirit of bipartisanship, former federal Liberal minister
Ben Morton’s name has also popped up.
De Ceglie told us on Sunday he had been getting some “incredibly positive” feedback from potential sponsors, after a week making use of the flood of NRL types in Perth for the State of Origin. BHP is shaping as a potential backer, along with some insurers.
The Big Australian’s
iron ore chief Tim Day, a proud Queenslander and NRL fan, was spotted enjoying the corporate hospitality at the game last week.
Gina Rinehart may not be interested in sponsorship (she doesn’t do contact sport), but at least the Bears might still cash in on some of WA’s mining activity.
In fact, Wednesday’s game proved something of a soft landing for the Seven turncoat after a tumultuous first few weeks in the job. Not a Sherrin in sight, the corporate suites of Perth’s home of AFL were overrun by an east coast armada of Channel Nine and Foxtel executives, NRL brass and rugby league legends.
V’Landys and Cook were unsurprisingly sidled up to each other for much of the night in Optus Stadium’s Chairman’s Lounge, as well as Nine CEO
Matt Stanton.
De Ceglie was also seen in conversation with Tourism WA chair
Di Bain just weeks after her husband and Perth business heavyweight
John Poynton delivered him with one of the all-time public slap-downs.
Perth’s a small town, with some big personalities who apparently have long memories, and Poynton seems to think many won’t be so willing to forgive De Ceglie’s previous sins at
The West Australian.
If Wednesday’s paper is anything to go by, editor-in-chief
Chris Dore and Stokes are certainly yet to move on. The only mention of the game was buried on page 46 of sport, sidled up to some colourful classifieds. The AFL was loud and proud on page 1 with a promo for “the real State of Origin”. Which was apparently Fremantle versus Essendon.
Dore, who attended the game on Wednesday alongside Seven West Media chief
Maryna Fewster and
The West’s editor,
Sarah-Jane Tasker, told us he was “confident”
the Bears would get plenty of coverage in the paper’s courts and crime pages once it launched.
At least the AFL is providing no shortage of news. Pressure is heaping on
Richard Goyder – unsurprisingly absent from the Chairman’s Lounge on Wednesday, despite being one of Perth’s best-known chairmen – to relinquish his role at the top of the AFL Commission as the league comes out of a scandal-filled month.
But the big question is, who will leave to make way for a potential replacement? There are just 10 AFL commissioners and no term limits.
Seek co-founder
Paul Bassat has been canvassed as one potential departee. He declined to comment when we asked him of his plans. But he is up for re-election this year and, having joined the board in 2013, is the longest-standing commissioner bar Goyder. Ex-army major general
Simone Wilkie is not due for a re-election bid, but her name has also been thrown around as among those considering a change.
We hear the Perth Bears are in the market for directors with experience in sport.
New Perth Bears boss Anthony De Ceglie reckons he will find some corporate support from WA’s mining sector.
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