Hawthorn President Andrew Newbold Poised To Join Australian Football League Commission

Growing "misgivings regarding the lack of Victorian voices" at the Australian Football League's board table have "strengthened the push" to place AFL side Hawthorn President Andrew Newbold onto the AFL Commission, according to Caroline Watson of THE AGE. Newbold, who looks certain to replace the departing Chris Langford, comes as the "first of two expected changes" to the commission in '16, with the AFL's first woman board member Sam Mostyn "expected to step down after 11 years." With the AFL "virtually committed to replacing Mostyn with another woman, the mooted push for the game's first Indigenous commissioner is expected to be delayed for at least another year." The push for an Aboriginal commissioner "comes as the game continues to struggle to attract Indigenous Australians to senior positions at head office or at clubs and also to retain Indigenous players in the AFL industry" (THE AGE, 2/15).