Long-time Sydney Swans administrator Andrew Ireland and former Giants and Fremantle midfielder Matt de Boer have been named the AFL's two newest commissioners.
Ireland was the the CEO of the Brisbane Lions for the club's first premiership in 2001, before joining the Swans, where he was one of the masterminds behind bringing Lance Franklin to the club at the end of 2013.
De Boer was renowned as a brilliant leader during much of his 223-game career, and served as an AFL Players Association player delegate before his retirement at the end of 2022.
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AFL chairman Richard Goyder made the appointments official on Monday afternoon.
"Andrew and Matt bring a great mix of club and football playing and administration experience across four states that gives them an insight into both how we play the game and also how we support the growth of the game and engage communities who currently are not connected to our game," Goyder said in a league statement.
"They are also leaders with strong values and strong views who are passionate about our game and what it needs to do to continue to be the game of choice for Australia's best athletes."
Ireland and de Boer beat out the likes of Port president David Koch, Swans president Andrew Pridham and Bulldogs president Kylie Watson-Wheeler for the roles.
"I am very honoured to join the commission and my view is the commission plays such an important role as the independent body guiding the code and providing oversight," Ireland said.
"The experience I have had over the journey playing firstly for a big club in Victoria and then being involved as CEO at Brisbane and Sydney will be beneficial in helping the game to grow."
"I am excited and also humbled by becoming a member of the commission and bring a contemporary lens of football and specifically the ups and downs of an AFL footy career over 14 years at two clubs and two states," said de Boer.
"Hopefully I can bring an insight into playing in both an established market with Freo and an emerging market with the Giants."
The appointment of the new commissioners comes a month after the AFL appointed Laura Kane as the league's first female head of football operations.
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