In a significant restructure at National Rugby League side South Sydney, Shane Richardson "will take over from head coach Michael Maguire as the man with final accountability at the Rabbitohs," according to Michael Chammas of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Richardson, who has quit his post at the NRL after 10 months in the job, "will now sit above Maguire atop the club's rugby league operations as general manager of football."
The role "is similar to Phil Gould's position at the Panthers, leaving Richardson in charge of recruitment, retention, pathways, junior representatives and the operational components of the football department."
While Maguire will remain a key part of the decision-making process at the club, the final say "now lands with Richardson, who spent a decade at the club as CEO." It is a similar model to those used in U.S. sports and has also become common among Australian Football League clubs, "with Wests Tigers now on the search for a general manager" of its own (SMH, 1/21).
NRL REMAINS COMMITTED: In Sydney, Brent Read wrote the NRL said that "it remains committed" to Richardson’s blueprint for rugby league. Despite the resistance of some clubs, "he put forward a proposal that had the potential to re-shape the game." The role of implementing that strategy will now fall to Head of Football Todd Greenberg, "who has emerged as the favourite" to take over as NRL CEO next year. ARL Commission Chair John Grant said that Richardson’s contribution "had been critical in defining the future of the game’s elite pathways." He said, "He has completed the strategy and has been offered a long-term role at Souths so this is the logical time to make the change" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/22).
CEOS DECLINE INVITATION: In a separate piece, Chammas wrote two leading AFL club CEOs "knocked back approaches from the NRL to join a shortlist of candidates for the job vacated by former rugby league boss Dave Smith."
Highly-regarded Geelong Cats CEO Brian Cook and Richmond Tigers CEO Brendon Gale "received separate approaches before Christmas from recruitment agency Crown & Marks, which is acting on behalf of the NRL."
Both Cook and Gale, widely considered the top two CEOs at AFL club level, "had a number of conversations with the recruitment agency, but declined the NRL's invitation to a formal interview for the job" (SMH, 1/21).
