Peter Casey joins Breakfast with Matt G and Ox to discuss his plans to challenge the Richmond board.
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'Nowhere to hide' for Hardwick: board challenger AFL.com.au
14 November 2016RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick will have "nowhere to hide" if the Tigers start poorly in 2017, Tigers board challenger Peter Casey says.
Casey has nominated for the board with two spots up for election. Premiership player Emmett Dunne and Kerry Ryan's positions will be contested.
The businessman told SEN on Monday the club needed to prioritise performing well on the field.
After making finals for three successive years but not advancing past the first week, the Tigers finished 13th this year.
"Change is needed. That's the bottom line. We need to get some focus back on the footy side of things," Casey said.
"The organisation's doing brilliantly commercially. We're in that survive mode. We can switch the lights on everyday and do really well, but we need to thrive. We need to get the on-field success and that's not happening at the moment."
Casey said he has no alignment with the Focus on Footy group that attempted to challenge the board earlier this year. He formerly worked at the Australian Tax Office and the International Monetary Fund before moving to the private sector.
Casey has met with Richmond president Peggy O'Neal.
"My focus is on pretty much three things," he said.
"Firstly is about success, getting the on-field success. We need to get to the thrive position rather than just survive, we need to do some good things on-field and I think that's going to come primarily from the second thing I'm focusing on, which is about accountability. Accountability right from the top through to the bottom.
"The third thing is we don't engage with our members very well. We've got one of the largest financial member bases, got one of the largest supporter groups with over 600,000 people, but we don't talk to them properly."
The decision to extend Hardwick's contract until the end of 2018 in March this year surprised Casey.
"Like most members, I turned my eyebrow up at that, and thought 'what?', especially given it was the start of the season," he said.
"Last year, I said Damien wasn't getting the support he needed as a coach. Whether he's a good coach or a bad coach was too hard to tell, because he wasn't getting the support. The club seems to have the same opinion – they've cleaned out a lot of the assistants.
"Now Damien's got nowhere to hide. The reality is, next year, 10 rounds in, if we're still travelling pretty poorly, a decision has to be made."
Casey did not rule out the possibility of more change on the board.
"The primary focus is to work with the board as it stands at the moment. I'll continue to push through change and reform. If it doesn't change, then we need to shake up a few more things," he said.
Lawyer Simon Wallace is also expected to nominate ahead of the 6pm deadline on Monday.
Casey said he was aware of at least one other person putting his hand up.
"The other person that I'm aware of has got very similar views to me. I'm happy to work with him as well if we get both positions," he said.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-11-14/nowhere-to-hide-for-hardwick-if-team-starts-poorly-says-richmond-board-challenger
