AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan will announce on Tuesday he is stepping down from the job at the end of the season, according to a report in the Herald Sun.
McLachlan took the job in April 2014 and will announce his decision at a press conference later Tuesday, the paper said.
He told the Herald Sun earlier this year he would know when it was time to move on.
“One day I will wake up and feel it’s time and who knows when that is?’’
“Our finances are going to be fine, we’ve got no debt, and we’ll make a good profit this year, so we’ve got through the financial element. Now it’s investment decisions to make around players, clubs, game development, infrastructure, and they will be made.
“And it’s just getting the confidence back in the game. We’ve got to get people going again and we’ve got to get people playing again. We’ll have a good indication next week. We have to get out of our 5km bubbles and get back to the things that make this city, this country, our game great.’’
Ryder ban decided
St Kilda ruckman Paddy Ryder has been offered a two-match AFL suspension over the bump that concussed Hawthorn youngster Will Day.
Day kicked the ball through the middle during Sunday’s match at the MCG and was crashed into late by Ryder.
The 20-year-old was helped from the field and substituted out of the match at half-time.
Ryder was on Monday charged with rough conduct, with his actions assessed by the match review officer as careless conduct, high impact and high contact.
St Kilda coach Brett Ratten said post-match the bump looked “pretty fair” after watching replays of the incident.
But captain Jack Steele said the incident was a reminder to all players that opting to bump an opponent can lead to trouble.
“At the end of the day, I suppose, it’s a player’s choice whether they bump or not,” Steele said.
“You just can’t get them high, can’t get them in the head.
“Paddy went for the bump and it was a bit unlucky.”
St Kilda will decide on Tuesday whether they challenge the ruling.
If suspended, Ryder will miss games against Gold Coast and GWS, with mature-age recruit Jack Hayes in line to return as his replacement.
“What we love from Paddy is obviously his tap work but his follow-up as a ruckman as well is so crucial,” Steele said.
“Being a physical player in the contest is something that he’s really good at and he makes us all walk taller when he does it.”
Day will miss Hawthorn’s Easter Monday clash with Geelong under concussion protocols.
Hawks players remonstrated with Ryder after the collision, which coach Sam Mitchell said left Day “a bit battered … a bit sore and sorry for himself”.
Melbourne forward Ben Brown will spend more time out of AFL action after he was hit with a suspension for striking Williamstown’s Max Philpot in the VFL.
Brown missed round three through COVID-19 protocols and returned via the Demons’ state league affiliate Casey.
He kicked two goals but was found guilty of striking Philpot in an incident assessed as intentional conduct with low impact and high contact.
The two-match suspension can be reduced to one match with an early guilty plea.
Sam Weideman is likely to retain his AFL spot in Brown’s absence.
Adelaide young gun Josh Rachele was hit with a $2000 fine for striking Essendon’s Devon Smith in the same match that he earned a Rising Star nomination.
Gold Coast’s Ben Ainsworth and Carlton’s Nic Newman copped $1000 fines for wrestling each other, while Blues forward Harry McKay received a $1000 fine for staging.
Essendon midfielder Darcy Parish was fined $2000 for tripping Adelaide’s Braydon Cook.
Essendon great Tim Watson defended Ryder’s character on SEN radio.
“I wasn’t surprised that he got cited and I wasn’t surprised that he got penalised because my understanding… is if you make contact with somebody in the head in the act of bumping then you will pay the price, which is exactly what he did,” Watson said.
“He didn’t do anything untoward, there was nothing malicious, it wasn’t vicious, I think he actually tried – at that last second – to avoid the contact.
“Day’s momentum kept coming forward, and he collected him, but the game is asking him to make a decision before that and approach it in a different way.”
Garry Lyon agreed, stating: “He had alternatives.”
“He didn’t need to do it, (but) I thought a week (suspension) would have been fine.”
The pair were upset with comparisons between punishment meted out to Ben Brown in the VFL compared to Ryder.
The Melbourne forward was suspended for two weeks for an elbow.
With Brown able to enter a guilty plea and accept a one-match ban, Lyon believes the AFL would be angered.
“But then you see Ben Brown in the VFL, he whacks the elbow up, which is a deliberate and dangerous act, and he gets two weeks, down to one (with an early plea),” Lyon continued.
“That came in late last night, and I looked at the other two (on Fox Footy’s program) On The Couch (Jonathan Brown and Nick Riewoldt) and they just started shaking their head and that would be the reaction from most people.
“That would be the reaction from most people, Paddy Ryder got two, Ben Brown hangs out an elbow and gets one.”
Hands in back rule ’embarrassing’
Gerard Healy has called the interpretation of the hands in the back rule a “major embarrassment”.
The rule is in the spotlight again after a contentious decision in Friday night’s game between Geelong and Brisbane, where in the dying stages of the game defender Harris Andrews wasn’t paid a free kick despite a clear push from Tom Hawkins.
Former AFL football boss Steve Hocking tightened the interpretation several years ago in an attempt to provide clarity on the rule, banning any form of hand being placed on the back of an opponent.
Healy it has now become a “major blight” on the sport.
“The ugly (from Round 4) is the continuing support I’ve heard over the weekend for the hands in the back rule,” he said on Sportsday.
“Ever since Steve Hocking changed it, it has become a major blight on the game and a major embarrassment, umpires can’t decipher what is and isn’t a push in the back and it’s the very reason the rules were changed some years ago banning any hands in the back.
“It’s more than ugly, it’s embarrassing and the rule should again be changed back to ban hands in the back.”