The impact of an unequal fixture on clubs’ success is overblown, according to AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon, who admitted he was worried about the decline in the number of Indigenous players drafted.
After the first 12 months of the Dillon era at the AFL, the chief executive received strong support from senior industry figures for the job he has done in charge of the league.
Andrew Dillon defended the fixture but admitted he wanted to stop teams “bottoming out”.Credit: Monique Westerman/Getty Images
But club presidents and CEOs spoken to by this masthead said the biggest question mark on the Dillon era so far was not the performance of the boss, but that of his broader administration team.
An alarming drop in the number of Indigenous players in the talent pathway, fixing the AFLW, and more heavily investing in New South Wales were the key agenda items that clubs said Dillon’s AFL needed to address in his second year.
In a broad interview with The Age, Dillon said the game was in good health in terms of the quality of football, the evenness of the competition, attendances and viewership.
Asked where he would like to see the game improve, Dillon nominated stopping struggling teams from “bottoming out” within seasons. However, he said complaints about the impact of the fixture were overstated.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon spoke about the future of the competition.Credit: Joe Armao
“I don’t think it’s the issue that people make it out to be. I’m not sure in my time that there’s been a team that missed out on the finals because of the fixture,” he said.
“There’s certainly not a team that’s missed out on finishing in the top four or making a grand final because of the fixture. There’s so many things that go into a season.
“Yes, the fixture is important and your double match-ups are part of it. But it’s who you play, when you play them, on how many days’ break, was your best player injured when you played, or was their best player injured or suspended or whatever?
“To focus on one thing, as important as it is, I don’t think that would ultimately end up making the difference.
“Over the last 10 years, we’ve had eight clubs win the flag. Since 1995 we’ve had 14 of the 18 teams win a flag, and the four that haven’t, three of them have made a grand final. So in a generation, everyone’s got an opportunity to win.
“What I would like to even out is during the seasons, where teams bottom out and might be uncompetitive … not naming clubs. So I’d love to see that even up. And I think there’s a big chance next year that actually that will happen.”
The performance of Dillon and his team
Industry figures praised Dillon’s performance but were underwhelmed by the executive team around him.
The loss of senior executives, such as Travis Auld to the Australian Grand Prix Corporation and Kylie Rogers to the VRC, coupled with the relative inexperience of a range of replacements and senior staff meant Dillon did not have the support that his predecessor had, they said.
“I think he has had a very solid, consistent and hard-working year,” said former long-term AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou.
“From all reports from people I speak to, the consultation with clubs and level of inclusion and club visits is at an all-time high. We have had one of the best football seasons on record … the big challenges for the AFL going forward are getting Indigenous recruitment numbers back up, and more investment in New South Wales, which is under siege from [the] NRL.”
Carlton president Luke Sayers praised Dillon’s job: “Gillon did an excellent job and set a very high bar for Andrew Dillon, but he has come into the role and had an excellent 12 months.”
Brain drain at AFL House
Six other club bosses – presidents or chief executives – who spoke on condition of anonymity highlighted the loss of experienced people from the AFL.
“It wasn’t that he necessarily lost superstar talent, but they were people you had a long relationship with, so when an issue came up you could pick up the phone and talk to them direct. Now you don’t know who it is you need to talk to, and you are being pushed down a rung,” said one club chief.
Dillon acknowledged the loss of relationships had hurt.
“I’m new in the role as a CEO, I know I’m better than I was 12 months ago,” Dillon said. “And I think we’ve got an executive team that’s got three or four people that are not necessarily new to the industry, but new to their roles and lifting their responsibility up a notch. And I think they are certainly better now than what they were 12 months ago.
“I think the touchpoints with the clubs is a fair one – it’s a relationship-based industry. When you have a very senior executive like Travis [Auld] who was the main conduit to the clubs, and he leaves, well, then that does leave a [relationship] gap that we look to fill … it’s something that we’ll continue to work on.”
Several club heads questioned the support from Richard Goyder’s AFL Commission.
“As a CEO, he doesn’t have a strong executive around him nor a strong commission supporting, guiding and mentoring him,” an industry figure said.
Alarm over Indigenous numbers
This year four Indigenous players were drafted. There are 61 indigenous players on AFL lists, down from 71.
Dillon was unhappy with the decline and admitted this had challenged his team.
“I think the numbers speak for themselves,” he said.
“I think what we are seeing is a reversion to what the historical average has been over 10 or 12 years. But that’s not something we’re happy with. We want there to be as many players as possible from all backgrounds playing, but particularly our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players who’ve given, and who give, so much to the game.”
Indigenous players mark this year’s Sir Doug Nicholls round.Credit: Getty Images
The lag effect of COVID-19 and the interruption to the Flying Boomerangs (under-16 indigenous boys) and the Woomeras (under-15 girls) programs in 2020 and ’21 had an impact on the past two drafts, which Dillon identified as one of the reasons.
“[In] the under-16 national championships we had this year there was higher, I think 8 per cent of the players in that championship were from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background,” he said.
The AFL has changed rules related to next generation academies, leading to more Indigenous players being available to club academies.
“One of the biggest talent pools in the game has been neglected, and that has been because the focus has not been on identifying and developing indigenous talent,” said one club president, whose comments were echoed by three others.
Western Sydney
The AFL’s “build it and they will come” approach to growing the game in western Sydney has struggled to gain traction in the new market.
The AFL on Friday tacitly accepted this by significantly increasing investment in western Sydney – as opposed to the Giants – to supplement the efforts by GWS to grow the game.
“We know we need to do more,” Dillon said. “Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the AFL and AFL New South Wales to grow community participation, but the Giants are a great enabler for that.”
Midweek AFLW is a thing
Clubs overwhelmingly nominated fixing AFLW as a priority after the league expanded too quickly.
While the skill level has improved, players and clubs have expressed frustration with the fixture, (including this year’s condensed schedule), the length and timing of the season, and the league’s vision for the league.
Dillon said the game remained in a consolidation phase.A 12-match home-and-away season has been locked in for next year, with the grand final remaining at the end of November.
“I don’t I think it grew too quickly. It certainly grew quickly,” he said.
“I think every year that we’ve had has been different from the one before. It’s either been compression, or there’s been a new team coming in, or we’ve changed when the seasons were. What we are seeing is a consolidation.
“We won’t do the compression next year. We’ll play 12 home-and-away games over 12 weeks. But what compression did show us, is that midweek games attract high TV audiences. We learned that there is an audience for AFLW on a Tuesday night or a Wednesday night. And the crowds weren’t impacted materially from if that game had been played on a Friday or a Saturday.”
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