Casey's chief hope fails test
By Greg Denham and Patrick Smith
The Australian
June 05, 2004
RICHMOND's search for a chief executive was blown wide open yesterday when odds-on favourite Leighton Wood was removed from the running.
The Tigers will now concentrate on up to six remaining candidates after Wood failed to live up to expectations during a second interview in Melbourne this week.
It is believed Richmond's attractiveness to potential candidates has waned slightly because of threats of a boardroom challenge to president Clinton Casey.
Agents acting for the Tigers spoke last week to at least two AFL chief executives - Essendon's Peter Jackson and Geelong's Brian Cook - about moving to Punt Road.
Meanwhile, across town, the high-flying Demons are understood to have narrowed their short list of chief executive candidates to five.
Wood had been Casey's first choice as the Tigers' new CEO even before the departure of Ian Campbell last week.
Casey and football director Greg Miller interviewed Wood in Brisbane two days before Campbell was dismissed, just 12 months into his chief executive role.
Wood came highly recommended by the AFL executive, which was shocked yesterday after being told that he had fallen out of favour.
The 44-year-old Wood had previously worked in Melbourne as the 2006 Commonwealth Games bid chief.
Although Casey was believed to be keen to appoint Wood on the spot, pressure from other board members ensured further assessment and a meeting with the full board.
Another of Wood's stumbling blocks was his insistence last week on a long-term contract at the club, which employs its leading executives on a month-to-month basis, according to Casey.
"Like anyone, if you've got to move your family interstate, you look for evidence that you're going to be around for a while," Wood said.
But Casey said: "At the moment, the board's approach is that we don't offer contracts at all."
However, it is understood that Casey was considering offering Wood a two-year deal.
The Richmond football department, which had a rift with Campbell, was also critical of Wood's remarks that the club needed at least five years to get back on its feet.
Casey told The Australian this week that Wood was the club's new CEO in waiting, though no job offer had been made officially.
"The short list is pretty short and we're looking through a file of eight or nine candidates to be interviewed by board members this week," Casey said.
"It's not a one-horse race, but having said that, no-one denies that he (Wood) is a very good candidate.
"We want to canvass the landscape as quickly as we can to see who is out there."
Casey said the appointment of a new chief executive was his No.1 priority.
"With a $2million loss looming this year, we can't hide from the position we're in at the moment," he said.
"Campbell was the wrong appointment and we've got to get the best person this time."
Casey acted as interim chief executive from the end of 2002, when Mark Brayshaw departed, to May last year, when Campbell was appointed.
"Having spent seven months looking last time, and meeting Wood in the process, we don't want to be sitting on our hands if we think we've found the right person for the job," Casey said earlier this week.
Last week, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou described Wood as having "outstanding credentials" for the vacant Richmond job.
But he warned the Tigers they had no margin for error. "The Richmond Football Club would be acutely aware that they need to get this appointment right," Demetriou said. "I think they will do everything they can and leave no stone unturned to get this appointment right."
It has been a traumatic week for Richmond. After Casey said he was happy to work with a reduced board of seven, and was in no rush to fill the two vacancies, the club appointed a new director 48 hours later.
Alan Nicklos, managing director of Motorola, one of the club's major sponsors, was rushed on to the board.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9746572%255E2722,00.html
