FOOTY’S TOP IMPACT PLAYERS
The eight most influential people of 2023 face a raft of challenges to achieve their individual goals
1 GILLON McLACHLAN Departing AFL CEO
FOR AFL chief executives, just like Canberra politicians, the legacy moments often come from photo opportunities and sound bites.
Gillon McLachlan will depart the AFL this year after half a lifetime at AFL House, having been involved in the good, bad and ugly of those public set pieces.
As a CEO-in-waiting, we remember the eye-popping mustard jacket from the Warrnambool races.
As the league-saving AFL boss, we will never forget him announcing the Gabba grand final from his Queensland Covid hub.
The less said about that AFLX set-piece photo – with the circus performers and inflatable Sherrin – the better.
But what McLachlan will hope is by the May budget, he can add a photo alongside PM Anthony Albanese at the Macquarie Point site in Hobart that will herald the eventual introduction of the Tasmanian licence.
The price will be $240m in federal funding – a small price to pay for Albanese to take credit for a truly national game and historic Tasmanian expansion.
McLachlan will add that to the vision of him outside Ikon Park apologising to fans for the Carlton-Collingwood AFLW sellout that made clear his vision of something glorious would be realised.
There are failures under his watch, no bigger than the Adam Goodes debacle as he was hounded from the game.
But if McLachlan’s legacy is finally delivering a Tasmanian team and sparking an AFLW competition roaring to life it will be truly worthy.
2 ROSS LYON St Kilda coach
ACROSS the AFL landscape Ross Lyon is truly unique.
One minute an unapologetic ball-breaking hard-arse, the other a songand-dance man preaching his gospel like ‘The Reverend’ Neale Daniher in his days as Melbourne coach.
When he fled St Kilda in a hail of claims and counterclaims about loyalty, double-crossing and failure to communicate, he was literally a million to one to return a dozen years later as the prodigal son.
Lyon is not without his flaws.
But in a competition with so many coaches who rarely stray far from the clicheridden “process”, he will once again be a breath of fresh air … whether explaining St Kilda’s remarkable rise up the ladder in a Collingwood 2022-esque surge, or more likely their growing pains as they realise their flag aspirations remain some way into the future.
Lyon has promised to open up his formerly defence-based game plan, pledged to delegate to his assistants like never before, to develop the youth who must be the nucleus of the next flag tilt.
Yet at his core
Lyon is a street fighter from the streets of Reservoir – fiercely protective of his own. Quick to flare when cornered in the “fifth quarter” – the post-match press conferences that are sure to provide a string of quotable quotes once more.
As he said in one of only six tweets on his account @realrosslyon: “Strap yourselves in”.
3 ALASTAIR CLARKSON North Melbourne coach
NORTH Melbourne officials were riled by the question of whether the club was strong enough to control Alastair Clarkson amid the aftermath of his apology to a young Channel 9 reporter doorstopping Tarryn Thomas.
They felt it was an affront to first-time chief executive Jen Watt, only in her first months in the chair.
The point was this: Clarkson is a football genius when allowed to channel his better instincts but supported by an elite football department who minimises his worst excesses, fiery temper and tooleft-of-field ideas.
At Hawthorn he had a president who went on to become an AFL commissioner, a CEO who went on to run the MCC, one footy boss who is now coaching Brisbane and another who runs Gold Coast.
And still at many times he got away from them.
Clarkson admits he is a firebrand, telling Channel 7 last week that as much as he
apologised for the Nine verbal he couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t happen again.
So it will be up to Watt and Clarkson’s footy boss Todd Viney and the entire club to help him be the best Alastair Clarkson he can be.
All the while aware that his first move as the new coach was to force the old chief executive in Ben Amarfio out of the club.
4 PETER GORDON Legal powerhouse
IF PETER Gordon thought winning a drought-breaking flag for the Western Bulldogs was hard …
The former Dogs president and Gordon Legal senior partner is not only assisting the AFL’s Hawthorn investigation into racism allegations, he is attempting to find a solution for the league’s concussion woes.
Along with the league’s legal boss Stephen Meade, the AFL is attempting to navigate the lethal thicket of multiple potential class actions to find a workable solution for the AFL, players and clubs.
It is likely to take the form of a $10m plus concussion fund that compensates past players for lives ruined through repeat concussions.
A vastly improved insurance scheme would also safeguard players in coming years.
Get it right and those class actions could melt into the background.
Get it wrong by excluding too many past players – or offering them insignificant amounts – and the doomsday scenario of live class actions is still a possibility.
5 CHARLIE CURNOW Carlton star forward
NO ONE at Carlton encapsulates the greatness that this list could realise if it can get its act together.
No one is more symbolic of the rise from the ashes of past failures than the 26-year-old, who finally overcame serious knee issues to win the 2022 Coleman Medal.
Yet as Carlton’s 8-2 start to the season went up in flames with the disastrous round 23 loss to Collingwood, Curnow also represented the club’s failure to seize the day.
His 2.5 in that crazy contest against Collingwood on the final day of the home-andaway season – as the Blues gave up the final five goals to miss the finals by 0.6 of a percentage point – was ultimately the difference.
This is a new year that will begin in front of 90,000 plus fans at the MCG against arch rival Richmond on Thursday, March 16. And Curnow was born for the big stage.
He will learn from past failings and grow from them, and so too must the Michael Voss-coached Carlton.
But Carlton’s capacity to cope with that white-hot expectation will be one of the defining narratives of 2023.
6 JASON HORNE-FRANCIS Port’s star recruit
AS ANY parent of a late-teens kid will know, Horne-Francis ticks all the boxes that will delight and frustrate in equal measures.
Impulsive, brilliant, talented, frustrating, bewildering and stubborn – all rolled up in the same package.
North Melbourne’s No.1 draft pick of November 2021 showed he was impatient too, when he pulled the trigger on a bombshell trade request to play with Port Adelaide.
For all his talent the Roos believed they simply had to trade him given his unwillingness to toe the line at a club hellbent on setting cultural standards.
The social media drive-by from teammate Cam Zurhaar on his way out the door only added to the hype that will accompany his first clash with North Melbourne in round 9.
Port Adelaide moved heaven and earth to acquire him and while he will one day set the AFL world alight, his early practice match outputs have been modest.
But when you jump ship 12 months into an AFL career you set outlandish expectations.
And that means there are no excuses and no alibis.
7 JORDAN DE GOEY Collingwood superstar
JORDAN De Goey represented Collingwood’s realised potential last year as well as its capacity to come together as a club under new coach Craig McRae.
Few predicted Collingwood would come with a rush – and no one was really certain if De Goey would jump ship for greater riches at St Kilda and a contract without the strict behaviour-based clauses.
But as the Pies excited footy fans with eight wins by single margins from round 11-23, De Goey was at his ravishing and captivating best.
He eventually signed a new five-year deal and at least appeared to be trying to take control of his career as he admitted an ADHD diagnosis in the wake of his mid-season Bali controversy.
As the new season dawns De Goey must become the reliable champion who closes the deal nearly every week, not the flash-in-the-pan player with a high performance ceiling but low floor.
8 BAILEY SMITH Western Bulldogs star
SMITH represents the TikTok generation of the AFL, a new breed of players navigating the difficult line between social media stardom and the pitfalls it can present.
As a player he is a barnstorming, line-breaking 22-year-old with the world at his feet and ambitious goals alongside his teammates at a Western Bulldogs side that should be in the top handful of premiership contenders.
As an off-field property he is one of a group of players that includes Dustin Martin, Christian Petracca and Jordan De Goey who can earn up to $500,000 off the field leveraging social media popularity with the youth demographic.
Smith is not the only player to be rightfully lauded for his openness around his mental health challenges in a move that does so much to destigmatise the conversation.
But the downside – as Smith and Jack Ginnivan and De Goey have found to their peril – is that the bright lights of fame can become blinding.
The social media age is particularly challenging, as players absorb disgraceful online sledging from fans irate about failed $10 multi-bets and racism moves into the online space where trolls desperate for attention can achieve that goal in a few keyboard strokes.