AFL CHIEF Andrew Demetriou has indicated that the coach of the AFL’s 17th team on the Gold Coast, GC17, will be announced within weeks.
“In the coming weeks you’ll hear some really exciting announcements, particularly around the coaching of that team,” Demetriou said on Friday afternoon.
“I think now that the club has got the imprimatur to go out there and start signing up players, that will probably see the process of the coach being announced quickly."
The league boss said the GC17 bid team were going particularly well on meeting their targets and were probably a month or two ahead of where the AFL thought they’d be.
"They’ve still got a lot of work to do but over all we’re pleased with the way they’re going," Demetrious said.
"They’ve got until October the 14th when the (AFL) Commission will either issue them a licence or not, so there’s a lot of exciting things to look forward to and a lot of hard work for them too.”
Demetriou denied that former Brisbane Lions’ player Michael Voss had already been offered the coaching role.
“He hasn’t been offered the job. Michael Voss is obviously someone the bid team is considering. Michael is one of the most outstanding players that played the game and certainly one of the most outstanding people that I’ve met in the game," he said.
"He’s been offered jobs both at senior level coaching level back about a year or so ago and he’s been offered assistant coaching jobs. He’s a man in demand. I’ve got no doubt that he could coach.
"But there are others, I can tell you, who are interested in coaching that team. He’s been spoken to, amongst others, but if you’re asking me if he’s been offered the job - the answer is no.”
He revealed that the coach who takes over the initial squad in the two years, up to its entry into the AFL in 2011, will be likely to coach the team in the AFL, but that wasn't a certainty.
“I think the coach that coaches in the next couple of years would be in the driver’s seat to coach when they enter the AFL system.
"Having said that, I think it gives the coach and the board of GC17 a chance to look at each other.
"It may be in two years time the coach of GC17 might be in popular demand from other clubs or it might just be that some unbelievably good coach is out of contract and interested in coaching the Gold Coast, which would be a nice headache to have."
Demetriou revealed that the identity of the coach will be decided before the appointment of the CEO and, while he wouldn’t name a short list for the job, he said it could be an existing AFL club chief executive.
He ruled out the Power’s John James who resigned on Friday from the position at Port Adelaide.
“The CEO is the key appointment in my view for the bid team. Because from the CEO appointment all the other things flow.
"In our system we have half-a-dozen extraordinary capable CEOs, and that’s not being disrespectful to the others, but a lot of experienced CEOs who could do any job that they wanted to do.
"I don’t think John James is interested in the Gold Coast job. I know that John has accepted a job in the United States working in the area of funds management.
"It’s an area that he had experience in prior to joining Port Adelaide and I must pay tribute to John, he’s done a fantastic job at Port Adelaide.”
