‘Not if that chairman was you’: The brutal exchange that sparked the AFL’s quiet revolution

August 1, 2026 — 5:00am

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The mismanagement and hostility that characterised last year’s search for a new AFL Commission chairman can be best summed up by the exchange between Richard Goyder and David Koch on the eve of the 2025 finals.

Port Adelaide chairman Koch was a commission candidate who had told other presidents he did not expect to win the nomination but wanted to play a part in ensuring the process was sound given chairman Goyder’s unwillingness to step away from the role.

Goyder was part of a group of commissioners and presidents interviewing candidates with the understanding that whoever won the job would become chairman. No women were among the final candidates. He asked the 14-year club president Koch whether he would be prepared to serve on the commission under another chair.

“Yes, Richard,” Koch responded. “But not if that chairman was you.”

Almost one year after that clumsy search for a new chairman, and close to a season since Goyder’s protracted departure, the prevailing view among the clubs is that the end has justified the means given Craig Drummond’s promising start as Goyder’s replacement.

It has also been an astute beginning by Drummond, the former Geelong president, who has worked closely with the club presidents to restructure the process leading to the appointment of commissioners and handing the clubs practical power that they felt they lost under Goyder. All agree the commission requires dynamic new blood.

Drummond has spent his first few months engaging heavily with every key stakeholder in the game and notably clubs, supporters, umpires and media. But his first definitive move as chairman was to announce a governance overhaul to ensure that a repeat of the........

© The Age