2022 board elections

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
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Thanks, this is useful perspective as I’ve never really worked out where i fall in regards to this. I think I don’t mind casual vacancies seeing out the full term if appointed in good will. What I don’t like is when casual vacancies are created and filled right before an election to give someone the benefit of incumbency.

In the case of Welsh it was originally said (i think) that he would fill Wellman’s role as football director, but he was appointed to Madden’s vacancy which meant having an ex-player run for re-election this year and limit the risk to the board of losing preferred candidates. If he were appointed to the vacancy created by Wellman, he’d be running next year instead and someone like Tim Roberts would be up for election now.

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I’m not 100% convinced about Welsh, but I’m also not sure if we lose him, whether we’ve got enough footy people on the board. I love Sheeds but let’s face it, the reason he got the sack in 2007 is because he never really caught up with how the game had professionalised and changed organisationally since the 90s, and he just wants to run the whole club on impulse and gut feel. Having Rioli on there is a good thing, but I got the impression that he’d be spending a lot of his time up north? I reckon we do need a solid football person on the board who’s going to be in Melbourne all the time where the action is.

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That’s not really the same as what @simmo41 is saying, because one (or maybe two) additional seats up for election because someone left isn’t anywhere near a board spill. I think any vacancy should be left empty until the next election when it is available for someone to ‘win’ to fill out the remainder of that seat’s term.

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That’s the other extreme. I don’t think that means what EFC do is right.

I understand why appointed directors need to exist. (Eg the org I work for has appointed a property lawyer to the board for a limited term, to assist in getting a big new building over the line).
I don’t think that means they should be treated as the default position, or able to shuffle from appointed to elected seats forever. And that seems to be what happens now.

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What is the minimum number of the maximum 10 Board members to allow the Board to function?
Does the Constitution provide for a maximum number of 2 elections in any specified time period?

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I don’t know what the minimum number is, but you could easily put in a provision for that. The circumstances where say half the board resigned in a single year are likely to be extraordinary enough to call an AGM. I don’t believe the constitution limits the number of elections in a year if special ones/special AGM was called.

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That was how they sold the adjustment to the constitution that allowed them an extra appointee. Although of course, there was no limited terms :blush:

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Moi aussi

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We need Welsh. There’s nobody else capable of being the Football Director. He has to be elected.

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I like how Alex Aeschlimann mentions bringing a rural perspective to the board. That probably means nothing to members from Melbourne but it is important for those of us that don’t get to games every week.

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I love the G and we have great seats, and the people around us have been the same ever since the Olympic stand was rebuilt in 2006, and have become good friends. Facilities there are great as well. Much harder to get to for us though and with limited parking most of the time, it can be a pain getting home. We also have great seats at Marvel, but those around us change every season and some are really feral. Facilities were bad this year with lots of construction going on, hope it is done for next season. Does have good atmosphere when there is a big crowd and it is much easier for us to get to by train and by car with parking underneath. Not so great when the crowd is small and we lose.

All I really care about is winning games, so they can play anywhere as along as I see victory.

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Why do we need a football director? Isn’t that Mahoney’s role? What would the board role bring that Mahoney’s role doesn’t?

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Anyway, why can’t Dean Rioli do that job ?

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Can’t see why not.

I mean, I’d question how any of them would do the “job”. As in, “job” like a full time job. They’re board members. How much time are they actually expected to put in?

The board roles are, I assume, mostly about oversight and checking, like a normal board. They would have lots of materials to read, a number of functions to attend each month, a board meeting. But I wouldn’t expect them to be doing the actual job.

Which is why yes, Riolio, Sheedy, and possibly others could do the “job” since it is most likely about review, not doing a real job.

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Lol, it’s hilarious isn’t it, but back when the Footy Director role was created we didn’t have ‘Mahoneys Minions’. I don’t mind that there is a Director overseeing the footy dept, might prevent Mahoney from doing a Xavier Campbell and pulling the wool firmly over everyone’s eyes… unless of course he’s done that already.

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All of the board should be reviewing the C-suite. But I don’t expect any of them to be ‘running’ it.

But it all depends on what the actual role of the DOF is. In EPL, the DOF is in some clubs more powerful than the coach. They’re the ones that determine the long-term playing style, the coach, and oversee the front and back functions (at a highish level).

I’d be fascinated if anyone on our board asked before the coaching assessment “Does EFC have a playing style and we’re selecting a coach to implement that, or are we just adopting whatever the playing style of the preferred candidate is?”.

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Yeah how long have we had a ‘football director’ for? And why would Welsh make a good football director?

He had an ok career, was a TV boundary rider for a while then went to property development (shudder).

If our board needs someone on there who says “this is how modern AFL clubs win premierships”, is Welsh really that guy?

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I can understand you being sceptical, our last ‘football director’ promised us a premiership and we all know how that ended.

But from what I’ve heard of Welsh thus far he’s astute, knowledgeable and committed so there may be hope.

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I have spoken to a person (who I trust) who knows Rioli very well and he speaks very highly of him.
I am happy with Rioli being our ex player on the board.

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Sorry Ants, this got me thinking last night after I had answered your post that there’s more to say on this. So now I’m in front of a PC and not a phone I can try to expand more.

After speaking to a former director at length about this I actually consider the Footy Director role to be vital to the overall success of an AFL club, but to be clear it isn’t an operational role.

My understanding is that it’s a role that should have extremely strong relationships from the top to the bottom of the club allowing them to be very aware of how the footy department is operating independently of anything they’re being told by the heads of the footy department or CEO (as I alluded to in a post above). That way you can prevent the kind of situation the club’s had a couple of times over recent years where the footy department isn’t functioning well but the board remain unaware of that until the whole thing falls in a heap, seemingly as a surprise to everyone.

They should be that conduit between the board and the coalface of the footy department to ensure the board is independently aware of how things are running but also independently aware of how those in charge of the footy department are performing.

If all the board does is trust what they’re being told by the GM of Footy and/or CEO they can (and have IMO over the last 5 years) be fed a false narrative to suit the agendas of those painting that picture.

Our last footy director was a complete failure, the footy department entirely collapsed not once but twice under his watch while the board were blissfully unaware both times until it had already happened. Let’s hope Welsh is better, but in my view this role doesn’t need to be and possibly shouldn’t be filled by an ex player. From where I sit, the ongoing failure of the role comes from a fundamental lack of understanding of what the role should be. Just sticking a former player into it because they’re a former player is typical optical rubbish from our club.

And before anyone mentions it, no, Kevin Sheedy does absolutely not have those relationships around the club to successfully perform the footy director role. From what I hear most people in the footy department who haven’t been there 30 years don’t know Kevin from Adam, he’s an events attender. The same could’ve been said about Simon Madden before he left, and the same could be said for Dean Rioli now though of course Dean and Welsh are both just getting back to the club so it remains to be seen which way they’ll go.

Being a former player doesn’t mean someone has any clue on how to be a great footy director and can be a hinderance IMO, it’s about forming strong relationships as much as it’s about understanding footy and one without the other can lead to disaster.

Anyway, I hope that explains my position with a little more clarity. We are, after all, a football club, we have a finance director, we now have an indigenous director, it makes absolute sense that we have a football director.

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