Dicker and Casey ignore stop signs
By Caroline Wilson
realfooty.theage.com.au
September 12, 2004
Rarely has an AFL finals series been forced to struggle quite so hard to compete with the off-field politics of the competition's cellar-dwellers.
And rarely has the solution seemed quite so clear-cut. In recent seasons, we have witnessed both Joseph Gutnick (2001) and John Elliott (2002) fight to remain at the helm of their respective football clubs when it was clear to most that they were finished as AFL club presidents.
The scenario in 2004 is that both Richmond and Hawthorn face remarkably similar circumstances and yet neither Clinton Casey at Tigerland nor Ian Dicker at Glenferrie Oval will accept the writing staring at them from the wall.
Clearly, both must go. Whatever their reasons for hanging on - and both probably believe they are better than any other potential candidate for the job - they are deluded. The truth is that while the vast majority of AFL coaches only leave when sacked or offered better positions elsewhere, club presidents become first intoxicated by and then addicted to their positions of power.
Michael Smith, who left West Coast at the end of 2002, and Graeme McMahon, who resigned as chairman of Essendon last year, are rare examples of leaders who publicly determined their own fate. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the football clubs over which they presided are among the most solid outfits in the competition.
Everyone knows that club presidents are not paid for their efforts and anyone versed at all in football politics knows that Dicker and Casey have spent countless hours beyond the call of duty trying to turn Hawthorn and Richmond into powerful and successful organisations.
...
Meanwhile, Casey, who is out of the country for a month, also appears deluded. Unlike Dicker, he never had a succession plan - Dicker's failed when Martin Jolly from the International Management Group was unable to take the presidency mantle - and Casey continues to say he will not walk away until the right replacement appears.
Now that a seemingly credible ticket has emerged, Casey will not consider it. Groups he claims are supporting him have publicly ridiculed him. His club will lose a reported $2.4 million this season and was dreadful on the field. Casey's five years at the helm have reaped one finals performance and a series of poor decisions. His board is more divided than Dicker's, although at least he appears to have put in place the Tigers' first choice as coach and a credible chief executive.
To that end, Casey, too, can still leave with his head relatively high.
Casey would never admit it but, like Dicker, he seems to have become, in his own mind, bigger than his club.
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