He walked away from footy 11 years ago, but this key figure has Andrew Dillon's ear

The Age

13-06-2025

Andrew Demetriou virtually disappeared from the AFL landscape for close to a decade following his 2014 exit from the game's top job, not even showing up to receive his prestigious life membership at the 2015 season launch.
Demetriou's attitude was that once he was out he was out. He left a clear path for his nominated and obvious successor Gillon McLachlan who had already begun to make changes and key appointments during Demetriou's final months, and when he did attend footy games he sat in the stands with his family.
The former AFL CEO finally returned to a major football function at the 2022 Geelong-Sydney grand final in deference to McLachlan's departure – the latter in fact remained for an extra season – and it was clear to those who spoke to him that day that, although Demetriou had been physically absent from footy, he remained as finely attuned as ever to the sport's politics ranging from clubs to head office.
At the end of the 2023 season he flew to Sydney to attend the Giants' last home game, where he was awarded life membership of the AFL's youngest club, but in between those two ceremonies it was Demetriou's work behind the scenes which had a more significant impact upon the game.
Andrew Dillon was already the favourite to replace McLachlan and would probably have won the appointment without the support of his former AFL boss and mentor, but there is no doubt that once Demetriou realised Brendon Gale would struggle to win the support from Richard Goyder's commission, he threw his considerable assistance and behind-the-scenes advice Dillon's way.
Demetriou and his long-time friend and AFL commissioner Bill Kelty have been something of a kitchen cabinet over the past year, and specifically in recent months, for Dillon, who took some time to act but has, over the past four weeks, demonstrated considerable fortitude in the face of a looming clubs revolt against the game's headquarters.
When Dillon was spotted lunching in East Melbourne two weeks ago with Demetriou, Kelty and his immediate predecessor McLachlan he had already moved a significant way towards the transformative staff restructure that rocked the game's Docklands headquarters. Six days earlier, after Robert Walls' funeral, Dillon met Greg Swann and began what proved a significantly speedy process to install Swann as his key football lieutenant.
But in the days that followed the Il Duca lunch came a renewed attempt to poach Stuart Fox from the MCC. Swans boss Tom Harley had been a preferred candidate among a small group to become the AFL's chief operating officer, but Dillon and his chairman Goyder had first approached Fox six months earlier and decided to try him one more time before making their final choice. Demetriou, too, contacted Fox, who reconsidered but finally declined the offer on June 3.