THE SURPRISE announcement of Mark Evans as Gold Coast's new chief executive means there are two plum jobs now up for grabs in football.

The first is to replace Evans as the AFL's general manager of football operations. The other is the still vacant chief executive position at Hawthorn, officially vacated by Stuart Fox last week as he prepares to take over at the Melbourne Cricket Club.

When Evans was named to replace Adrian Anderson as the League's football czar in March 2013, it was widely hailed as a smart and strategic move. There was a strong belief in football circles at the time that the AFL lacked senior management with experience at club level and Evans, coming from innovative and powerful Hawthorn addressed that.

He has been a hugely successful in the role and widely praised for his transparency and willingness to consult. When was the last time you heard clubs loudly complaining about important football-related decisions from AFL House?

But for all Evans' success in his four years at the AFL, the League won't be taking the same approach when seeking his successor, with the strong likelihood that Simon Lethlean will simply pack his desk and move it a few metres down the corridor from Game Development to the Football Operations department.

Lethlean has been general manager of game development at the AFL for only two years after several years in charge of broadcasting and fixturing before that. But his star has risen dramatically on the back of the successful launch of AFLW, originally slated for 2020 but fast-tracked to this year at AFL boss Gillion McLachlan's behest.

In little more than a year, Lethlean has built a booming competition from scratch. The natural growth of AFLW will demand that it shortly gets its own general manager, leaving Lethlean, a former Hawthorn reserves player and stalwart of the powerful Old Xaverians Football Club, free to move into what is the second most important job at the AFL.

It was widely assumed that Evans, who served as Hawthorn's head of football between 2005 and 2013 before joining the AFL, was the standout candidate to replace Fox at the Hawks. It was an open secret at the AFL that Evans saw his next job as a return to club land, this time at the helm of an entire club (not just a department). He also has a close relationship with coach Alastair Clarkson so a return to Hawthorn seemed logical.

Mark Evans attempts to calm Alastair Clarkson during a heated clash in 2009. Picture: AFL Photos


But by far the most important agenda item at Hawthorn is Dingley. The Hawks have already forked out $8 million for the 28 hectares of land. But now they have to determine what to build and how to pay for the training and administrative facility they hope will see the club out for the next 100 years.

As impressive as Evans is and despite his strong Hawthorn pedigree, that hard-core project management experience might have counted against him. So if you're handicapping the field to be the next Hawthorn chief executive, why not start with Steve Rosich?

This year marks Rosich's 10th year as Fremantle's chief executive and in that time, about all he hasn't delivered is a premiership. He has helped build that club into a financial powerhouse that is now nearly the equal of West Coast and he oversaw the clinical stealth operation that brought Ross Lyon across from Fremantle as coach in late 2011.

Former Freo president Steve Harris, Ross Lyon and Steve Rosich in 2011. Picture: AFL Photos


In the last six months alone, Rosich has introduced an AFLW team and completed the move to the $110 million training and administrative facility at Cockburn, now considered to be the best in the AFL.

As Hawthorn president Richard Garvey outlined to AFL.com.au last week, his club has huge aspirations in both those areas and there are some of Rosich's associates who believe that moving to Victoria and running a large and powerful club in the football heartland is an itch that the 47-year-old is ready to scratch. Arguably, Hawthorn is now the biggest club in the AFL and to become its chief executive is a step up, even from Fremantle.

Of course such a move would then leave the Fremantle job up for grabs. That would also be a juicy assignment for any aspiring club chief executive in this time of senior football management musical chairs.