Footy’s definitive power list is back with a new twist in 2020.
Rather than conduct an industry-wide survey as he has in the past, AFL Record senior writer Ashley Browne has compiled the list and it features a host of new names representing the incredible depth and breadth of the game.
Between now and Thursday, we will be counting down from No.50 to No.1.
50. Michael Willson
AFL Media chief photographer
Last year: -
Think of some of the great footy photos you’ve seen in recent years and there’s every chance Willson was the snapper, as they say in the business. Through his camera lens, Willson has become one of the game’s great storytellers and clubs readily take him into their inner sanctum – and their confidence – to capture their key moments and sometimes the more mundane. His Tayla Harris image last year created a storm and sparked necessary conversations about attitudes to women and the meaning of AFLW. Earlier this month he won the Gold Quill Award for Excellence in Victorian Journalism, the first time in 25 years it was won by a photographer.
49. Emma Race
Writer, broadcaster, advocate
Last year: -
One of The Outer Sanctum crew, she has emerged as a powerful figure in women’s footy and the weekly ABC Radio show and associated podcasts have become the go-to destination for AFLW chat, both earnest and fun. Behinds the scenes she has worked with women seeking roles in the footy industry and advised AFLW players on matters such as wage equality. She is also the No. 1 ticket-holder at Hawthorn and, rest assured, she is pushing the case for that club’s inclusion in AFLW before too long. She is married to SEN broadcaster and The Front Bar host Andy Maher and, together, they are becoming the game’s power couple.
48. The number crunchers
Last year: -
Data is now king and the nerds are having a larger voice in the game with every passing season. Champion Data, through the likes of Dr Karl Jackson and Daniel Hoyne, is reimagining the way we look at the game, partially inspired by the Moneyball revolution that has taken over American sport. Glen Luff, a former lead analyst at Champion Data, is the list manager at North Melbourne. St Kilda’s head of football is David Rath, who headed innovation and strategy at Hawthorn for all four of Alastair Clarkson’s premierships before moving to the AFL. They can all make a spreadsheet sing.
47. Titus O’Reily
Sports satirist
Last year: -
With one clever tweet to his nearly 230,000 followers, or throwaway line on his podcast, O’Reily can lay waste to the most carefully crafted message from the AFL’s heavily-staffed communications team. A leading corporate communications specialist before turning full-time to comedy as a performer and writer, he has a deep knowledge and love of the game. “The AFL are a bit scared of him,” said one observer, although apparently not fearful enough to disinvite him from appearing every year at the most blue-chip event of them all, the League’s pre-game function on Grand Final day, where he cleverly works the room at which every politician of note and captain of industry are seated and in his sights.
46. Brian Taylor
Channel Seven/Triple M broadcaster
Last year: -
Nicely positioned alongside Bruce McAvaney on the No. 1 call team on Channel Seven, and with a few non-football projects now part of his portfolio, he is firmly entrenched at the network. But it is Roaming Brian, the live and unscripted 15 minutes or so of madness in the winning team’s room after every Friday night game, that has become a winner for ‘BT’ and lucrative for the network as it keeps viewers glued to their screens after the final siren. A handful of clubs have yet to fully embrace it, but the smart ones welcome the exposure it gives their sponsors, while player managers have urged their players to jump at the opportunity to be interviewed by Taylor and to hopefully have something clever to say. You never know who might be watching.
45. Kylie Rogers
AFL general manager of commercial operations
Last year: -
It’s a tough sponsorship market out there, but big brands want to remain part of the biggest sport in the country and Rogers deserves plenty of credit for that. Toyota, NAB, CUB and Coke are perennial major partners and if you have visited the Virgin Terminal at Melbourne Airport recently, you might have seen the AFL Kitchen & Bar. Rogers is notable as a woman on the AFL executive who has performed well in her job. There haven’t been too many before in what used to be branded as a ‘boys club’.
44. Mark Brayshaw
AFLCA chief executive
Last year: 32
It is an interesting time for AFL coaches. Increasingly their jobs encompass not just the performance of the team but the club as a whole, which makes the demands on their time and the pressure to perform more relentless than ever. Departing Adelaide coach Don Pyke made mention of this when he said of the AFL landscape that “a wide range of issues around contentment” are emerging. It is Brayshaw who is helping AFL coaches navigate an increasingly treacherous path while keeping their health and maintaining a modicum of work/life balance.
43. Tanya Hosch
AFL general manager of inclusion and social policy
Last year: -
She is coming off a busy 2019 in which she helped shape the AFL’s response to the two Adam Goodes documentaries, The Final Quarter and The Australian Dream. She also helped bring about the unveiling of the Nicky Winmar statue outside Perth’s Optus Stadium. The League has become more inclusive in outlook and practice since she came on board and she has worked behind the scenes to help the likes of Shelley Ware, Gilbert McAdam and Leila Gurruwiwi grow their media profiles.
42. Mark Robinson
Herald Sun chief football writer
Last year: 40
His exclusive story that Brad Scott was on the way out at North Melbourne was the first domino of a bizarre year on the coaching front that resulted in five coaches – three in-season and two at the end – losing their jobs. He won the AFL Media Association’s best news story last year for that one. Robinson is your old-style rumpled newspaperman (think the Odd Couple’s Oscar Madison), but when you combine his day job with his AFL 360 co-hosting role on Fox Footy, he commands a large daily audience. Also noteworthy is that he drives more digital subscriptions to the Herald Sun by any journalist other than Andrew Bolt. “He has a phenomenal common touch,” said one colleague, who admires his ability to strike up a conversation about footy with anyone. “People listen to him.”
41. Ray Chamberlain
AFL umpire
Last year: -
Might not be the best umpire going around – that would likely be Matt Stevic – but there is no more high-profile whistleblower in footy than ‘Razor Ray’. He was prolific on radio and TV last year and came across as knowledgeable and just self-deprecating enough. And he had a sense of humour to boot. But most importantly it didn’t affect his performance and he officiated in his first Grand Final since 2010. And it was a good move to add him to the AFLW umpiring roster as well. AFL people laud his leadership within the umpiring ranks.
Look out for more releases of Movers & Shapers on SEN.com.au today and across the week.
