Could Simon Lloyd be the next elite football manager to enter the AFL club CEO ranks?
Lloyd has developed into an integral part of Geelong’s success in recent years after being appointed as the club’s GM of football for the 2018 season.
It followed a stint as the Cats’ director of coaching and as an assistant coach with Fremantle before that, playing a role in leading the Dockers to their first Grand Final.
Lloyd is renowned as a great operator across the industry and six-time All-Australian Brad Johnson suggested the Cats footy boss could be ready to step up further.
It comes as Collingwood became the third AFL club to begin its search for a new CEO ahead of next year with Mark Anderson’s resignation.
“The one for me, the one name I would go to chase (if I was a club looking for a CEO) is Simon Lloyd from Geelong Football Club,” Johnson told SEN’s Sportsday.
“Simon has got the experience across a number of different platforms over a period of time and what he’s been able to do in helping set up the stability at the Cats and the way they do things from a football point of view has been huge.
“Can he step up to be a CEO of a club? I’ve got no question (he can).”
The Magpies join the Bombers and North Melbourne in searching for a new boss, while the AFL is also looking for Gillon McLachlan’s successor.
The Age’s Pete Ryan shared a similar sentiment and revealed that just over a month after helping the Cats to a flag, Hocking is undertaking further personal development.
“Absolutely (clubs should ask the question of Lloyd). I think that’s an opportunity, he’s over with Patrick Dangerfield at Harvard at the moment in America, he’s actually starting to build his capacity to move into one of those roles,” Ryan stated.
“I know initially when he got into coaching was to go into the footy manager role, he’s now had premiership success in that role, probably learnt a lot off (Geelong CEO) Steve Hocking over the last 12 months about what it takes to be a CEO.
“These are the sorts of people that clubs really need to start thinking about taking a risk on, if you look at the CEO ranks at the moment, they’re all great CEOs… they’ve been around a while and they’ve obviously been around a while for a reason.
“But we really need to start – as an industry- fostering the talent that’s coming through and giving them an opportunity to flourish and learn on the job.”
Ryan also expressed his concern about the current market for club CEOs.
The Roos have been without a CEO since the start of November, while Xavier Campbell departed the Bombers late in August. With an apparent lack of clear ‘next-in-line’ choices, Ryan believes the league needs to get back to basics in enticing the right candidates for the job.
“It just has to be a focus for the industry, once Gil leaves and once these positions are filled, to actually ensuring there are pathways, not only for people to take but they actually want to be drawn back into the industry,” he added.
“It’s in danger of not being an attractive place to work as a CEO at a club unless you’ve got significant experience and you’ve almost been instituionalised into the industry.”