Gale, speaking to fellow former Tiger Matthew Richardson, addressed a range of issues from his own playing days to his roles as chief executive of the AFLPA and now Richmond boss.
BEING RICHMONDThe Tigers, certainly in recent seasons, have generated their fair share of media attention.
Gale acknowledged his club had to deal with more than many rivals, a product of once enjoying sustained success.
“There’s something uniquely Richmond about some of the coverage in the media, and I understand (that), I get it,” he said.
“It’s the fact that we’re a club that has defined success in terms of premierships. Success is about premierships at Richmond, and there’s been great historical success and our fans still have that expectation and they should always have that expectation.
“But it’s been nearly 40 years (since our last premiership), so the disappointment that comes with a loss turns into like, anger and vitriol, and obviously the media feeds off that as well.”
REVIEW A SUCCESS?Richmond has vaulted up the AFL ladder in 2017 and, before last week’s horror loss to St Kilda at least, is considered a genuine top-four chance.
The Tigers conducted a review of their football department following last year’s 13th-place finish, and Gale can already see the dividends.
“At end of the day, footy clubs are just reviewing every aspect of performance every day but sometimes it’s useful to do that at arm’s length, from a helicopter view
“I’ve often said it wasn’t a review of the football department, it was a review for the football department ... a review of how other aspects of the organisation impact our on-field performance.
“So by the time we sort of got through that, I think it was probably fair to say a lot of our views were aligned on what needed to be done.
“Those findings were all shared and processed and understood and we’ve set about making some changes ... and but for a couple of kicks we could be sitting equal top (of the ladder).
“It’s early days yet — this is a long brutal marathon — but I think we’re encouraged by the progress of the team so far.”
‘IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE SOMEONE DIES’Gale outlined his pride at successfully negotiating a new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) with the league during his time in charge of the AFLPA, but also the introduction of an illicit drugs policy.
“I’m really proud of the work we did in shaping the illicit drug policy,” Gale said.
“We thought the growing and probably irresponsible illicit drug use was a real concern and it was only a matter of time before someone dies, so we put in place a medically-backed illicit drugs policy which I was quite proud of.
“The AFL drove it, we (the AFLPA) supported it.
“We had to go to the Supreme Court twice in three years to almost defend that against media organisations who were seeking to (reveal player names).”
OOPS, I HELPED BRING IN FREE AGENCYThe Richmond boss was at the helm of the players union when the push for free agency came.
Gale, who having since crossed to the Tigers is now at risk of losing one of the game’s biggest stars to the mechanism, can see the irony as his club tries to convince Martin to stay.
“(We) set in place the framework, or certainly got the AFL to agree to a framework that led to the establishment of free agency,” he said.
“Now that I’ve come to club land I’ve got a slightly different view! But (back then) I worked for a different master.”
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/richmond/richmond-chief-brendon-gale-confident-dustin-martin-will-stay-a-tiger/news-story/9f247a6eaf7dd26562c28cce991f6932
