Laura Kane - Does Not Impress Me At All !!

[H Dolphin]

I disagree. Mclachlan chose Dillon as a "no threat" 2IC, as Demetriou chose Mclachlan.

Mclachlan has been better at covering up, if you can call Bombergate a cover up, but competence? The strong foundations laid by Oakley and Jackson set the league up, Demetriou didn't sink it

The current move to more games and more paywalled games is profitable short term but the rule mill and thin spread talent appears to diminish quality. We have several clubs stuck in a deep rut, while a handful keep bobbing to the top.

I recall Oakley as trying to engineer mergers. All that did was agitate supporters. What did Oakley and Jackson do to establish success going forward ?

 

[EBERT THE KING]

I disagree. Mclachlan chose Dillon as a "no threat" 2IC, as Demetriou chose Mclachlan.

Mclachlan has been better at covering up, if you can call Bombergate a cover up, but competence? The strong foundations laid by Oakley and Jackson set the league up, Demetriou didn't sink it

The current move to more games and more paywalled games is profitable short term but the rule mill and thin spread talent appears to diminish quality. We have several clubs stuck in a deep rut, while a handful keep bobbing to the top.

OAKLEY!!!!

Christ. A genuine disgrace of an administrator.

 

[Cyclops]

OAKLEY!!!!

Christ. A genuine disgrace of an administrator.

TBF I hated him too but results speak for themselves.

He made Sydney more stable, and while the Brisbane start up was botched it got there.

Mostly unpopular because he targeted Footscray, but the business case was correct: there were (and are) too many clubs in Victoria.

Got the Eagles and Crows in and broadened the Commission to include reps from WA and SA.

Eventually Fitzroy deleted themselves through incompetence (no coincidence they had a couple of lawyers in charge as they death spiralled), but Wayne Jackson managed to save some scraps.

Jackson really set the league up. Port and Freo, multi-channel TV rights with mostly FTA, coddled feelings by saving poor Vics (a bad business decision but Victorian feelings matter ).

The sale of Waverly wasnt botched but Docklands is a truly shit ground: that may be as much about Kennett as Jackson though.

The model of rational expansion and FTA led broadcast deals has been eroded under Demetriou and the Amateur Lawyers. Locking off Saturday games is I think a stupid move, and while GCS has a demographic base the Giants seem to be poorly located: both have suffered from Sydney levels of interference (the Lions show a pinch of assistance and a decent admin can make non Vics a success).

Oakley and especially Jackson set up the current successful model. They played professionally, saw the game from the club and admin side, as well as having business success themselves.

Demetriou also played and was head of the AFLPA, so he had sone real world experience (as a side note he allegedly had the biggest and most diverse porno collection of any player of his era...so I have heard).

The two carefully coiffed lawyers are making changes to a system they never played in: they bith come from the same tiny corner of the footy world, a place of smartarsery where a good haircut and skin product matters more than knowledge of business or administration, and going to the right law school trumps experience of professional football.

Same goes for Laura Kane. Picked because she was no threat to her boss, so she cant say no to their silly decisions.

From the narrow legal world, these lawyer types get in because you need legal counsel, but law degrees do not train anyone in administration, leadership or business.

Putting the lawyers in charge is like making your oest control guy CEO. You need them, but what they do is not what the CEO does.

 

[EBERT THE KING]

TBF I hated him too but results speak for themselves.

He made Sydney more stable, and while the Brisbane start up was botched it got there.

Mostly unpopular because he targeted Footscray, but the business case was correct: there were (and are) too many clubs in Victoria.

Got the Eagles and Crows in and broadened the Commission to include reps from WA and SA.

Eventually Fitzroy deleted themselves through incompetence (no coincidence they had a couple of lawyers in charge as they death spiralled), but Wayne Jackson managed to save some scraps.

Jackson really set the league up. Port and Freo, multi-channel TV rights with mostly FTA, coddled feelings by saving poor Vics (a bad business decision but Victorian feelings matter ).

The sale of Waverly wasnt botched but Docklands is a truly shit ground: that may be as much about Kennett as Jackson though.

The model of rational expansion and FTA led broadcast deals has been eroded under Demetriou and the Amateur Lawyers. Locking off Saturday games is I think a stupid move, and while GCS has a demographic base the Giants seem to be poorly located: both have suffered from Sydney levels of interference (the Lions show a pinch of assistance and a decent admin can make non Vics a success).

Oakley and especially Jackson set up the current successful model. They played professionally, saw the game from the club and admin side, as well as having business success themselves.

Demetriou also played and was head of the AFLPA, so he had sone real world experience (as a side note he allegedly had the biggest and most diverse porno collection of any player of his era...so I have heard).

The two carefully coiffed lawyers are making changes to a system they never played in: they bith come from the same tiny corner of the footy world, a place of smartarsery where a good haircut and skin product matters more than knowledge of business or administration, and going to the right law school trumps experience of professional football.

Same goes for Laura Kane. Picked because she was no threat to her boss, so she cant say no to their silly decisions.

From the narrow legal world, these lawyer types get in because you need legal counsel, but law degrees do not train anyone in administration, leadership or business.

Putting the lawyers in charge is like making your oest control guy CEO. You need them, but what they do is not what the CEO does.

Fitzroy didnt delete themselves. Their debt was miniscule and it was used as a way to shift them out of the competition. He handled all attempted mergers really poorly. There was just as much reason to boot out Richmond when they needed to run their save our skins campaign, but Fitzroy just had a smaller fan base.

It made sense to bring in the WA and SA teams when they did, thats for sure, but anyone who was in charge could have done that. They were both lay-ups.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Gill was the best CEO the AFL have had and by a long way imo. You've gotta remember he had to go it alone with little help working alongside the most useless chairman in Australian sport Goyder. Something that has become even more evident watching Dillon stumble through his reign with no help.

Wayne Jackson was far better imo.

Much smarter.

 

[western royboy]

Eventually Fitzroy deleted themselves through incompetence (no coincidence they had a couple of lawyers in charge as they death spiralled), but Wayne Jackson managed to save some

Possibly one of the most ignorant statements ever posted on this site Roylion

 

[Tandy]

What’s the latest on Laura Kane? Is she well liked with the afl circles. I read somewhere whoever took most of her jobs Greg swan? Doesnt like her. She could be better served back at club level. In particular aflw but it would be bad PR for the AFL. Not a big fan of hers. She came in like a bull in a china shop imo and put a lot of fans of the game off side. I don’t think she has a feel for the game like others would in her role. No doubt shes intelligent but then again she never read the room well from a public standpoint.

 

[Cyclops]

Possibly one of the most ignorant statements ever posted on this site Roylion

No don't sic Roylion on me!

I bow to his superior knowledge, but I believe Hore Lacy and the other lawyer were a big part of Fitzroys decline.

They tried to emulate Brian Bourke's partial success at South (they made finals in 1970 so they achieved something before they went broke) but ended up selling the licence.

Victoria is overcrowded and the remaining clubs are i think more viable with the Roys gone.

I'd rather have a businessman or a media figure in charge than a lawyer.

 

[Heardy_101]

the remaining clubs are i think more viable with the Roys gone.

Are they, though?

Most of them have done sweet f**k all since the 1980s and 1990s.

Only Geelong, Collingwood and Hawthorn have really been anywhere that can be classed as consistent.

 

[Cyclops]

Wayne Jackson was far better imo.

Much smarter.

Spoken like a true South Aussie, but you have a point, he really set the league up to succeed.

The previous bloke Jack Hamilton did his best, but couldn't save South, and the draft he tried to impose fell over for various reasons.

Jackson passes the test of being effective and having his decisions stand the test of time.

The current mob keep changing things so you don't know whether it was their decision this year or three years ago that stuffing things up. "Ah no we addressed that with rule change #3194 in 2022, so it can't be our fault".

 

[Cyclops]

Are they, though?

Most of them have done sweet f**k all since the 1980s and 1990s.

Only Geelong, Collingwood and Hawthorn have really been anywhere that can be classed as consistent.

Fair enough, "survivable" then.

We had Collingwood, Richmond, Footscray and North shaking cans in the 1980's, but since Sydney and Fitzroy both exited the Victorian scene I think only North has gone close.

 

[FlyHigh18]

If the role was too big (which it obviously was given there's now two extra people to do the same thing) why was it setup like that in first place?

Alternatively, why didn't she hire her own senior managers to split and take on the work load.

Or did she try and was denied? There's much we do don't know.

 

[western royboy]

No don't sic Roylion on me!

I bow to his superior knowledge, but I believe Hore Lacy and the other lawyer were a big part of Fitzroys decline.

They tried to emulate Brian Bourke's partial success at South (they made finals in 1970 so they achieved something before they went broke) but ended up selling the licence.

Victoria is overcrowded and the remaining clubs are i think more viable with the Roys gone.

I'd rather have a businessman or a media figure in charge than a lawyer.

Fitzroy got completely ****ed over - in every sense of the word - there was one objective and one only and that was to eradicate them. Saying Fitzroy deleted itself is just plainly wrong and offensive.

 

[Roylion]

No don't sic Roylion on me!

I bow to his superior knowledge, but I believe Hore Lacy and the other lawyer were a big part of Fitzroys decline.

Dyson Hore-Lacy was Chairman of Fitzroy from 1992 onwards. He wasn't even on the board until 1990.

Fitzroy last made the finals in 1986.

Fitzroy made an annual profit from 1993-1995.

They'd finally got a social club that was making money through the Fitzroy Club Hotel (purchased in March 1992) and were making plans to return to the Brunswick Street Oval (just up the road from the Fitzroy Club Hotel) as a training and administration base. The club had actually gained approval from the Council in 1992 to do just that, but just couldn't find the spare $250,000 to renovate the old heritage grandstand and build a modern gymnasium over the existing community rooms.

Unfortunately every attempt to generate that revenue by Fitzroy was stymied by the AFL who wanted to keep financial pressure on Fitzroy, so that Port Adelaide's AFL entry in 1997 would still only keep the league at 16 teams.

It became clear the AFL was actively working against Fitzroy when they threatened to sue the club for $250,000 that had been paid to Fitzroy by CUB as part of a club sponsorship, which included selling CUB's product in the Fitzroy Club Hotel. CUB was the AFL's sponsor and the AFL thought they should have received the money instead of Fitzroy. This was despite the fact that CUB had been a minor sponsor of Fitzroy for over ten years previously. The AFL even threatened to reduce the dividend to other clubs by the amount Fitzroy received.

Dyson Hore-Lacy said if they could have found another million dollars ($500,000 to be used to improve facilities in a move back to the Brunswick St Oval [which had been approved by the local council] as their training and administrative base and $500,000 to pay players to improve their playing list), Fitzroy would not have sought a merger with North Melbourne.

The total debt of Fitzroy in 1996 was $2.7 million (of which $1.25 million was owed to one secured creditor.) They were meeting their repayments to that secured creditor. (wasn't due to be repaid in full until 2001)

They tried to emulate Brian Bourke's partial success at South (they made finals in 1970 so they achieved something before they went broke) but ended up selling the licence.

Victoria is overcrowded and the remaining clubs are i think more viable with the Roys gone.

Current Brisbane Lions CEO Greg Swann was one of the people working for Fitzroy's administrator Michael Brennan in 1996 on discharging Fitzroy's $2.7 million debt and publicly stated in August 2014 that Fitzroy could have 'easily been retained' in the AFL competition had there been the will by the AFL to do so.

The AFL had $12 million to spare in 1996 to give to clubs that merged, yet couldn't find $1 million to help Fitzroy.

Had they done so then Fitzroy would have very likely survived the era of AFL rationalisation where it was official AFL policy to remove a small Melbourne club to make room for Port Adelaide and keep the competition at 16 teams.

I'd rather have a businessman or a media figure in charge than a lawyer.

Clubs are run by boards of directors, not just by the Chairman alone

The Fitzroy board in 1996 consisted of the following people:

Dyson Hore-Lacy (director since 1990, chairman in 1991) - Barrister, QC
Elaine Findlay (director since 1985)
Colin Hobbs (director since 1994) - football director - businessman
David McMahon (director since 1988) football director
Greg Basto (director since 1996) - Member elected supporter
John Stewart (director since 1993) - Chartered Accountant. Partner in Frank Jones and Associate accountancy firm
John Petinella (director since 1993) - businessman
Robert Eales (director since 1994)
Kevin Ryan (director since 1991) - Accountant

So apart from Elaine Finlay and former player David McMahon, no Fitzroy director had been on the board for more than six years at the time of the merger. It's difficult to see how they could be responsible for the plight of the club in the 1990's when the seeds had been sown many years before. All many of them could do is attempt to pick up the pieces, or salvage something from the situation. Unlike Richard Pratt at Carlton, none were in a position to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into the club, although some did mortgage their houses in an attempt to keep the club afloat. To cite one example (and not the only one either) in March 1992, the directors put in $70,000 of their own finances to get the Fitzroy Club Hotel in Northcote up and running.

 

[HairyO]

What’s the latest on Laura Kane?

She is the $1m a year diversity hire who the angry man mob can hate while her boss is far more useless and ****s up way more often.

So now they pay her $1m a year and she does half a job, with a couple of other YES Men filling in for her obvious flaws.

Simply put she is not more shit but not less shit than those who preceded her. Just another useless overpaid cog in the machine. Ruining the game. But feathering their nest.

 

[Borussia Teeth]

Demetriou also played and was head of the AFLPA, so he had sone real world experience (as a side note he allegedly had the biggest and most diverse porno collection of any player of his era...so I have heard).

sorry, what’s all this about?

 

[Cyclops]

Fitzroy got completely ****ed over - in every sense of the word - there was one objective and one only and that was to eradicate them. Saying Fitzroy deleted itself is just plainly wrong and offensive.

The VFL tried to get Footscray, and did get South, at least enough to move.

Its all well and good to blame others, but frankly more has been done to limt my clkub that yours.

Dyson Hore-Lacy was Chairman of Fitzroy from 1992 onwards. He wasn't even on the board until 1990.

Fitzroy last made the finals in 1986.

Fitzroy made an annual profit from 1993-1995.

They'd finally got a social club that was making money through the Fitzroy Club Hotel (purchased in March 1992) and were making plans to return to the Brunswick Street Oval (just up the road from the Fitzroy Club Hotel) as a training and administration base. The club had actually gained approval from the Council in 1992 to do just that, but just couldn't find the spare $250,000 to renovate the old heritage grandstand and build a modern gymnasium over the existing community rooms.

Unfortunately every attempt to generate that revenue by Fitzroy was stymied by the AFL who wanted to keep financial pressure on Fitzroy, so that Port Adelaide's AFL entry in 1997 would still only keep the league at 16 teams.

It became clear the AFL was actively working against Fitzroy when they threatened to sue the club for $250,000 that had been paid to Fitzroy by CUB as part of a club sponsorship, which included selling CUB's product in the Fitzroy Club Hotel. CUB was the AFL's sponsor and the AFL thought they should have received the money instead of Fitzroy. This was despite the fact that CUB had been a minor sponsor of Fitzroy for over ten years previously. The AFL even threatened to reduce the dividend to other clubs by the amount Fitzroy received.

Dyson Hore-Lacy said if they could have found another million dollars ($500,000 to be used to improve facilities in a move back to the Brunswick St Oval [which had been approved by the local council] as their training and administrative base and $500,000 to pay players to improve their playing list), Fitzroy would not have sought a merger with North Melbourne.

The total debt of Fitzroy in 1996 was $2.7 million (of which $1.25 million was owed to one secured creditor.) They were meeting their repayments to that secured creditor. (wasn't due to be repaid in full until 2001)




Current Brisbane Lions CEO Greg Swann was one of the people working for Fitzroy's administrator Michael Brennan in 1996 on discharging Fitzroy's $2.7 million debt and publicly stated in August 2014 that Fitzroy could have 'easily been retained' in the AFL competition had there been the will by the AFL to do so.

The AFL had $12 million to spare in 1996 to give to clubs that merged, yet couldn't find $1 million to help Fitzroy.

Had they done so then Fitzroy would have very likely survived the era of AFL rationalisation where it was official AFL policy to remove a small Melbourne club to make room for Port Adelaide and keep the competition at 16 teams.


Clubs are run by boards of directors, not just by the Chairman alone

The Fitzroy board in 1996 consisted of the following people:

Dyson Hore-Lacy (director since 1990, chairman in 1991) - Barrister, QC
Elaine Findlay (director since 1985)
Colin Hobbs (director since 1994) - football director - businessman
David McMahon (director since 1988) football director
Greg Basto (director since 1996) - Member elected supporter
John Stewart (director since 1993) - Chartered Accountant. Partner in Frank Jones and Associate accountancy firm
John Petinella (director since 1993) - businessman
Robert Eales (director since 1994)
Kevin Ryan (director since 1991) - Accountant

So apart from Elaine Finlay and former player David McMahon, no Fitzroy director had been on the board for more than six years at the time of the merger. It's difficult to see how they could be responsible for the plight of the club in the 1990's when the seeds had been sown many years before. All many of them could do is attempt to pick up the pieces, or salvage something from the situation. Unlike Richard Pratt at Carlton, none were in a position to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into the club, although some did mortgage their houses in an attempt to keep the club afloat. To cite one example (and not the only one either) in March 1992, the directors put in $70,000 of their own finances to get the Fitzroy Club Hotel in Northcote up and running.

Thanks for the correction and I was wrong to blame Hore Lacy.

Im still no fan of Kane.

 

[western royboy]

The VFL tried to get Footscray, and did get South, at least enough to move.

Its all well and good to blame others, but frankly more has been done to limt my clkub that yours.

Thanks for the correction and I was wrong to blame Hore Lacy.

Im still no fan of Kane.

Can you not read what was posted above by Roylion ? Our club was forced out of existence and you claim more has been done to limit your club?

 

[Bjo187]

Can we not do the whole Fitzroy thing again. Whilst I respect all that happened, it's been done a million times on bigfooty in threads not relating to the topic and with the same posters telling the same story every time.

 

[WillHayward]

TBF I hated him too but results speak for themselves.

He made Sydney more stable, and while the Brisbane start up was botched it got there.

Mostly unpopular because he targeted Footscray, but the business case was correct: there were (and are) too many clubs in Victoria.

Got the Eagles and Crows in and broadened the Commission to include reps from WA and SA.

Eventually Fitzroy deleted themselves through incompetence (no coincidence they had a couple of lawyers in charge as they death spiralled), but Wayne Jackson managed to save some scraps.

Jackson really set the league up. Port and Freo, multi-channel TV rights with mostly FTA, coddled feelings by saving poor Vics (a bad business decision but Victorian feelings matter ).

The sale of Waverly wasnt botched but Docklands is a truly shit ground: that may be as much about Kennett as Jackson though.

The model of rational expansion and FTA led broadcast deals has been eroded under Demetriou and the Amateur Lawyers. Locking off Saturday games is I think a stupid move, and while GCS has a demographic base the Giants seem to be poorly located: both have suffered from Sydney levels of interference (the Lions show a pinch of assistance and a decent admin can make non Vics a success).

Oakley and especially Jackson set up the current successful model. They played professionally, saw the game from the club and admin side, as well as having business success themselves.

Demetriou also played and was head of the AFLPA, so he had sone real world experience (as a side note he allegedly had the biggest and most diverse porno collection of any player of his era...so I have heard).

The two carefully coiffed lawyers are making changes to a system they never played in: they bith come from the same tiny corner of the footy world, a place of smartarsery where a good haircut and skin product matters more than knowledge of business or administration, and going to the right law school trumps experience of professional football.

Same goes for Laura Kane. Picked because she was no threat to her boss, so she cant say no to their silly decisions.

From the narrow legal world, these lawyer types get in because you need legal counsel, but law degrees do not train anyone in administration, leadership or business.

Putting the lawyers in charge is like making your oest control guy CEO. You need them, but what they do is not what the CEO does.

We need to hear way more about Demetriou's pr0n collection and way less about Laura Kane.

 

[Heardy_101]

Lol, did I read that correctly? The AFL are trying to limit Collingwood?

Jesus Christ there must be some good meth going around.

 

[Cyclops]

Can you not read what was posted above by Roylion ? Our club was forced out of existence and you claim more has been done to limit your club?

Fitzroy was run into the ground in the last decade.

We've had the entire recruitment system twisted to take flags from us and give them to Carlton and Hawthorn for decades. Father son recruiting was invented to take Ron Barrassi off us.

The salary cap was brought in because Collingwood's bidding war with Richmond nearly sent the league broke.

Decades of rules made to hold us back.

 

[Roylion]

Fitzroy was run into the ground in the last decade.

Largely by the AFL. That's been discussed ad nauseam elsewhere. Details are outlined here. Some of the reasons were longer term.

 

[Registered User]

This is from a Twitter thread. I guess it could be dismissed has rumour bollocks, however:

"The Laura Kane-Greg Swann war is one that could cost Andrew Dillon his own career. Dillon is a lawyer. Kane, also a lawyer, spoke his language. He loved that, so he promoted her.

A mistake lawyers often make is they assume everyone else appreciates litigation-speak. Dillon misread Kane’s legal work as footy intelligence. She’s sharp, yes, but football departments are wildly different; they require flexibility and nuance. Swann came in and within 5 minutes it was clear he was the boss. He just started calling plays. 'My way or the highway.'

Kane then tried to do the same, insisting -- as Dillon had told her -- that her power hadn’t been diminished, except it had. Clubs and staffers began going to Swann to get decisions. Kane's decisions were ignored or overturned. Swann was not there to help, he was there to take over.

Dillon froze. He was sure he could separate their duties as he intended. The problem was the hierarchy: neither reported to neither, so neither communicated to each other. Kane was Dillon's hand-picked call. He couldn’t betray her. But Swann didn’t care. He charged into the vacuum.

Kane has been phased out. She’s become progressively less relevant in the AFL decision making. This was never Dillon’s goal, but he now has no choice. She either has to report to Swann, become AFLW-only, or leaves.

As for Swann, he’s accumulated power like wildfire. He's taken Kane, but it may not be his last scalp. By the end of 2026, you’ll start to hear about whether Swann himself should be AFL CEO. It’s already the talk of club land. Dillon’s failure to lead is coming home to roost.