New Tigers CEO sees similarities with F1
by STAFF REPORTERS
The new CEO of Richmond, Steven Wright, sees many similarities between his new role at the club and his former job as head of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation. Wright said the similarities would make it easy for him to make the transition to overseeing and AFL club.
“When you look at the sport of Formula One compared with the AFL, they are almost identical,” he told The Bladder. “You’ve got the big personalities, the huge amounts of corporate sponsorship, the temperamental team bosses and so forth.
“If you look at the make up of the AFL, it’s very similar to the teams of F1 racing. You’ve got Brisbane, who are like the Ferrari of the AFL. Powerful, unstoppable, and consistently winning the flag. Then you’ve got Port Adelaide who deliver so much promise every year, just like McLaren, but they never seem to be able to deliver when it really counts. Then there’s teams like the Bulldogs, who are just like Minardi, struggling away as a backmarker, never with the resources, talent or funds they need to make it into the top eight.”
Asked where Richmond fit in to his increasingly tenuous analogy, Wright said the Tigers were like the Jaguar team of the AFL. “Every year, people expect Jaguar is going to do well. The fans come back and get behind the team early in the season. And just like Richmond, by the time the first event is run and won, we all realise we were kidding ourselves.
“On top of this they’re both represented by big cats. With teeth, and claws, and stuff.”
Wright would not be drawn on how he planned to turn the Tigers’ fortunes around, but said he would be lobbying the government to allow the team to accept millions of dollars in tobacco company sponsorship.
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