GREG Swann will be introducing a "common sense" approach when he officially begins as the AFL's executive general manager football performance after round 19.
And maybe that Swann approach has already been injected into AFL systems in the past fortnight, with Alex Pearce and Lloyd Meek both escaping sanctions despite subjecting opponents to the type of heavy hits that had, in recent seasons, resulted in big suspensions.
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It may be coincidence only, but those favourable outcomes for Pearce and Meek occurred in the exact timeframe it took for AFL CEO Andrew Dillon to convince Swann to leave the comfort of the CEO post at a club which has become a sporting and financial juggernaut, and to join his under-siege football operations team.
Swann's success and industry-wide respect after 26 years in charge of Collingwood, Carlton and particularly Brisbane made him the standout candidate when Dillon committed to bolster his executive team. Dillon had multiple options in mind, and would have committed to the change of splitting Laura Kane's responsibilities in the main football post regardless of Swann's decision, for he knew the 18 AFL clubs had rarely been as collectively aggrieved with headquarters in the AFL era.
But his grand plan had identified Swann, and the deal was effectively crunched in the period around Robert Walls' funeral last month.
It was the second time an AFL CEO had sounded out Swann to help the game at a higher level. The Brisbane Lions, residing in an AFL expansion state, were all but broken in 2014 when Gillon McLachlan, Dillon's predecessor, effectively begged him to head north and fix the club, just three years after the introduction of the Gold Coast Suns.
The Swann-led appointment of the then-55-year-old and untried Chris Fagan as coach will go down as one of the greatest decisions ever made in AFL systems. And now, with Swann set to exit, the club is debt-free, is forecast to have $10 million in the bank by the end of the year, has played in the past five men's and women's Grand Finals, boasts a brilliant and still-new facility, and will be the great beneficiary of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics when it gets to play at the new 60,000-seat stadium.
Upon agreeing to Dillon's terms, Swann rang three people: in order, Fagan, Lions chairman Andrew Wellington and Lions and AFL great Leigh Matthews.
Only last December, three months after the Lions had secured the 2024 premiership, Swann had aligned his Lions tenure with Fagan, the two men signing with the club until the end of 2027. "Fages just said, 'that's a great opportunity for you'," Swann said. "And then I got 30 minutes, actually it might have been 40, of what I needed to do the moment I started at the AFL."
Asked what his main focus would be in the new role, Swann said: "I need to get in there and find out what is going on, but my overarching thing is, and 'Dills' talked to me about this being one of the reasons it is me, my connections with clubs already existing. The overarching thing for me is to talk to the clubs, and listen to them."
When pressed on specific areas, Swann referenced the Match Review Office and umpiring, and also national draft rules, match day rules, player Academies, and the substitute rule. While he knows he is on the hook, and as of Monday's announcement of his new job, also on the clock, to make change, he said he needed to first understand every facet of the game's operations from a desk inside headquarters.
At 63, Swann, having survived 26 years of running elite-level football clubs, including being answerable to some of the most powerful Australian businessmen, including Dick Pratt at Carlton and Eddie McGuire at Collingwood, won't be blindsided by anyone or any issue.
His old-school ways combined with an astute awareness of the modern game will see him regularly be proactively visible, to the clubs and media.
He is expected to negotiate outcomes and punishments with clubs, and would almost certainly not have fined Ken Hinkley $20,000 for his verbal exchange with Jack Ginnivan after last year's semi-final at Adelaide Oval.
He is well aware the game needs to protect itself legally, that its players and administrators require rules and safeguards for both the actions of today and potential litigation in the future. But with one eye focusing on the legalities, the other one will be looking for common sense outcomes via an awareness of nuance in a game where accidents happen regularly.
"I just need to get in there and work out why things are the way they are, then we can make assessments on what needs to be done, and in what order," Swann said.
