The definitive footy power list has returned for 2022.
Ash Browne's Movers and Shapers outlines the top 50 powerful people in the AFL landscape.
The AFL Record's senior writer has gathered information from all around the industry to bring together this list of influential people.
We will be counting down from 50 to 1 in the lead up to the new season.
See Movers and Shapers 50-41 HERE
See Movers and Shapers 40-31 HERE
30. Simon Goodwin
Melbourne coach
Last year: –
Goodwin started to feel good about Melbourne’s 2021 premiership hopes late in 2020 and confided in his friends that he was bullish of what lay ahead. And he was right. The Demons broke their 57-year premiership drought in grand style, with a dominant second half against the Western Bulldogs in the Grand Final, winning by 74 points. Goodwin, who spent the entire season coaching from the boundary line, was widely lauded for his connectivity with his players and support staff and the ease with which he has established genuine and deep relationships with those at the club. His willingness to accept and institute major change after the disappointing 2019 and 2020 campaigns is also noteworthy. A Herald Sun report in February suggested Goodwin alleged that he needed counselling and a censure before last season for behavourial issues, including bullying, but the club rallied around him strongly thereafter with a strong statement of support. And why not? He is the Demons’ only living premiership coach.
29. Gerard Whateley
Broadcaster, compere and commentator
Last year: 30
Be it in the mornings on SEN or the evenings on AFL 360, the heavyweights invariably find their way on to one of his shows and invariably he sets the agenda for the stories and the issues that truly matter. There is a gravitas to whatever production he is part of. Whateley carried a heavy load on 360 last year with co-host Mark Robinson missing the last part of the season because of illness and, truth be told, he and the show didn’t skip a beat, although Robinson will make a welcome return this year. Whateley remains one of the best callers in the game and was named the AFMA’s best radio caller last year. Away from the microphone, his counsel is sought by various senior figures across the game. They all take his calls – on and off the air.
28. Damien Hardwick
Richmond coach
Last year: 12
With his great mate Alastair Clarkson taking a sabbatical, Hardwick is now the most successful and longest-serving coach in the AFL, when it comes to premierships won. Sporting coaches around the country will be watching and studying how he goes about his business with the Tigers this year. Does he ride his squad hard in a bid to squeeze one last flag from the group before they become too old and too slow? Or does he hand the reins to his veterans and let them drive the group? In a candid pre-season interview with the Herald Sun, he admitted to some failings last year and everyone in football will watch to see what he has corrected in 2022.
27. John Longmire
Sydney coach
Last year: –
Longmire tends to focus on his own backyard and his effort to lift a young Sydney squad into the 2021 finals was one of the great coaching achievements of the year, as the game-plan changed almost overnight to one that emphasised fast, direct and attacking football. When it comes to matters beyond the Swans, Longmire chooses his counsel, but when he speaks, it is with clarity and logic that is hard to fault. He goes into bat for the clubs outside the Victorian bubble, especially those north of the Murray River, and rest assured, the key figures at the AFL will always listen. Longmire drove the practice game against the Giants at Albury last month and made it a genuine community spectacle, not just a ‘fly-in, fly-out’ affair for the clubs.
26. Walter Lee
AFL Executive General Manager, Strategy
Last year: –
A consideration the past few years when compiling this list, Lee easily makes the cut this time around. The AFL’s operating mantra in these past two COVID-afflicted seasons has been to be ‘nimble and agile’, but the ability to do that has been driven by Lee and his team, whose financial and logistical modelling has allowed the League to safely navigate its way through an uncertain operating environment, including border closures and restricted crowd numbers. Much of the game’s planning around vaccine mandates has been driven by data produced by the League’s strategy team. The same with Tasmania. Much of the financial information the club presidents will need later this year when the vote is taken will be generated by the AFL’s strategy team.
25. Caroline Wilson
Writer, commentator
Last year: –
Even while supposedly ‘semi-retired’, Wilson is still one of the game’s most powerful media performers through her various platforms. Indeed, she has every base covered – TV (Footy Classified), radio (3AW), print/digital (The Age) and a podcast (Don’t Shoot The Messenger). She saw right through the ham-fisted Hawthorn succession plan from the start and doggedly reported that Clarkson would be stepping away at the end of 2021, not 2022 as announced. And she was right.
24. Bailey Smith
Western Bulldogs midfielder
Last year: –
In his third season, Smith emerged as one of the primary weapons of the second-best team in the competition. He can play as an outside or inside midfielder, or an attacking half-forward. But it is off the field where his brand is growing. With more than 355,000 followers, he is the most popular AFL player on Instagram (@bazlenka), including a huge array of fans well beyond just those who support the Bulldogs. He is what they call an influencer and among the brands he will work with this year are Cotton On, Kayo and Monster Energy. Smith is also forthcoming with some of his mental health issues and in so many ways has become the archetypal Gen Z footballer.
23. Daisy Pearce
Melbourne AFLW captain, Channel Seven commentator
Last year: 20
Her playing days are almost over, but it is worth remembering that she was a superstar of the women’s game well before AFLW was formed. She is spending her final season with the Demons as a crafty forward after making her name as a defender. But more to the point here is her commentary on the men’s game. Her command of the game and ability to impart key information is off the charts and she is not as prone to hyperbole as some of her colleagues. She’s as good as there is in the TV booth and this year she has earned a well-deserved promotion to Channel Seven’s Friday night call team as a special commentator.
22. Craig Hutchison
SEN Managing director, TV host
Last year: 19
The SEN radio empire continues to grow, to far-flung parts of Australia and now to New Zealand as well. But it is the AFL that sustains the business for much of the year, with footy-heavy discussion and talkback throughout the week and broadcasts of just about every game across the country on weekends. Hutchison has opened his chequebook this year to bring former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley into the network. A wildly successful innovation last season was SEN Stadium at selected venues, allowing footy fans to listen to match commentary in real time through the SEN app without the usual streaming lag. SEN has reconfigured the AFL Record to make it less dependent on match-day sales. Hutchison still fronts Footy Classified once a week and his weekly Sounding Board podcast with Damian Barrett is nearly mandatory listening.
21. Brian Walsh
AFL Executive General Manager – Corporate Affairs, Government & Communications
Last year: –
The AFL had some PR nightmares a few years back, with the Adam Goodes affair and venue security issues front and centre, but its messaging has been much sharper since Walsh returned to the AFL late in 2019 for his second stint as its communications chief. The League is seen to have charted a steady course through difficult waters the past couple of years, compliant with health and safety regulations and seemingly respectful to the needs of the nation. It was at Walsh’s behest that the League all but ignored Michael Warner’s book The Boys’ Club, which lifted the bonnet on some of the machinations and individuals who have driven the AFL and some of its key decisions the past few years. The former police rounds journalist at the old Sun News-Pictorial can still deliver a verbal clip around the ear when needed, but is one of the best corporate trouble-shooters and brand protectors in the business.