{"id":291947,"date":"2023-05-01T20:58:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T20:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=291947"},"modified":"2023-05-01T23:00:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T23:00:20","slug":"big-issue-incoming-afl-boss-must-confront","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=291947","title":{"rendered":"'Big issue' incoming AFL boss must confront"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the \ufeffmarathon pursuit to find Gillon McLachlan<\/a>'s successor reached its conclusion on Monday, attention has turned to what Andrew Dillon must tackle when he takes the reins as chief executive of the AFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Snapping up a head of football, completing the Hawthorn investigation and locking in a start date for Tasmania\ufeff are among a long list of jobs the league's next leader is awaiting.<\/p>\n

As Nine's Footy Classified<\/em><\/a> panel crunched the game's biggest issues on Monday night, leading footy journalist Caroline Wilson \ufeffflagged the AFL's challenge to strengthen its foothold in New South Wales.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Eddie reveals first thing new CEO has to change\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Blood everywhere': NRL slugger sees light side of dust-up\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Hollow' Bennett fumes as NRL admits costly error\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Wilson's view is the AFL is floundering in its bid to grow the game in the NRL-dominated state.<\/p>\n

"The game in New South Wales is just such a big issue and it will only become more important now that Tasmania has got a team\ufeff," Wilson said.<\/p>\n

"The game has significant challenges in Sydney\ufeff.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"The AFL has dropped the ball there\ufeff and the clubs in Sydney are frustrated and the broadcasters are angry.<\/p>\n

"The state that has one third of the Australian population is providing one or two per cent of the footy talent."<\/p>\n

Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd quizzed Wilson on how to fix the problem.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"You've got to promote the game better, for a start," she replied.<\/p>\n

"I mean, there was no real promotion of Sydney versus Greater Western Sydney at the SCG (at the weekend).<\/p>\n

"The AFL is thinking of moving both derbies to the SCG.<\/p>\n

"You start the season in Sydney earlier so it has a chance to take on rugby."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While this year's NRL season began on March 2, as the Eels met the Storm at Parramatta's CommBank Stadium<\/a>, this year's AFL season didn't start until March 16.<\/p>\n

The season's first AFL game in NSW wasn't played until March 19, when Greater Western Sydney faced Adelaide at Sydney Olympic Park.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThe (AFL) season starts too late, (by) two weeks," said Footy Classified<\/em> host Craig Hutchison.<\/p>\n

"You've got to bring one of those (clubs), the Giants or the Swans, forward a week.<\/p>\n

"The game is lacking social relevance Monday to Friday in New South Wales.<\/p>\n

Footy Classified is now available as a podcast! Subscribe\/follow via<\/strong> Apple<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Spotify<\/strong><\/a> or<\/strong> Google Podcasts<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

"I think the Giants are a drive-in, drive-out team. It's a real problem. They don't live in the community they serve.<\/p>\n

"The NRL have got their act together, they're good. No one wants to hear it, but they are."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wilson also called on the AFL to hand more power over to NSW.<\/p>\n

"I think the other thing is when I was covering footy back in the early 2000s, the job of the AFL NSW boss was an executive role. It's not anymore," Wilson said.<\/p>\n

"I mean, they need a much bigger team \ufeffwith a heavier seat at the table."<\/p>\n

Hutchison agreed with Wilson.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"You need senior figures from the AFL, not the clubs, in that market, who live there and act for the AFL's interests, not just the clubs," Hutchison said.<\/p>\n

Dillon will take over from McLachlan when the AFL season ends.<\/p>\n

The 52-year-old will move from his role as AFL general counsel to one of the most significant positions in Australian sport.\ufeff<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the \ufeffmarathon pursuit to find Gillon McLachlan's successor reached its conclusion on Monday, attention has turned to what Andrew Dillon must tackle when he […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":291949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291947"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=291947"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291953,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291947\/revisions\/291953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/291949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=291947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=291947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=291947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}