TONY Cochrane will stand down as Gold Coast chairman following the club's season-opener against Sydney after almost seven years in charge.
The colourful Suns leader officially made the announcement on Wednesday morning after an "emotional" speech to the players and staff.
Cochrane said he had been weighing up the decision for six months, but believed the time was right to step aside.
"I think renewal is important and if you're going to have renewal you need to do it while there's great stability and our football club has tremendous stability," he said.
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"We’ve got a very strong board, our best ever financial result last year, some really big sponsorship announcements coming up … and a football department that is in really great shape.
"I just felt the timing was right."
Cochrane took over from John Witheriff in early 2016, and has overseen great change during his time.
He was there to open the club's $22 million training and administration facility at Carrara in 2017, welcomed CEO Mark Evans the same year and was on hand for the departure of Rodney Eade and acquisition of Stuart Dew as the Suns' third senior coach.
Cochrane has always been an outspoken leader to stand up for his club, happy to throw barbs at Brisbane ahead of QClash contests and also questioning the approval of a 19th license to Tasmania.
He has no regrets and is proud of the legacy he's left.
"I worked out really early in the piece … the main media story was how long are the Suns going to last? They'll be gone soon. There's nothing to the club. It's a waste of money," he said.
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"So, I worked out really early in the piece that I had to be a really strong voice to counter that, that I had to stand up for the club.
"I will not take a step back. If I think something is right or I think something in society is wrong, I will speak up about it and I won't hesitate to raise it as an issue and I won't step away easily.
"Perhaps that's what the club needed at that time, it doesn't continually need it now because we are so stable."
One thing that won't change despite stepping aside from an official role is Cochrane's love of supporting the Suns.
When asked what type of supporter he'd make, he was typically candid.
"A maniac, a lunatic, probably be arrested every third game," he laughed.
"One of the reasons I am stepping down is I'd just like to go back and enjoy the footy.
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"I'm a mad, passionate footy fan, have been since the age of four when my dear grandmother used to take me to the football in Adelaide.
"I'm going to just enjoy being part of the crowd and barracking like my life depends on it."
Cochrane joined Gold Coast's board in 2014 and will be succeeded by Bob East.
Tony Cochrane's most memorable quotes
"If I was allowed to say s***house on TV, I'd say I was feeling completely and utterly s***house." - on Gold Coast's 50-point defeat to Port Adelaide in 2021, the club's ninth loss from 13 games to start the season.
"Opinions are like a***holes. Everyone's got one." - on Leigh Matthews in 2016 after he suggested there was not enough demand to have two AFL teams in south-east Queensland.
"They've promised this bloke the world and they're going to hand him an atlas." - on Hawthorn's overtures to then-Suns midfielder Jaeger O'Meara in 2016.
"We're making this sound like it's really unusual that we're breaking away from tradition. That's quite frankly a load of BS." - on moving the 2020 Grand Final to a nighttime start.
"It's nothing against Tasmania – it could be in Toowoomba, it could be in Tennant Creek or Timbuktu – my concern is about a 19th franchise." - on Tasmania's push for an AFL licence. He has since thrown his support behind the state's bid.
"Money talks, huh ... it's sport all over the world now, somebody else with a bigger wallet comes along and makes it pretty hard." - on the big-money departure of Izak Rankine to Adelaide in 2022.
"Why anybody would even consider chopping that growth just proves they're not only a failed coach, but they don't know much about economics either." - on Ross Lyon after he suggested scrapping the Suns in 2020.
"We say we have equalisation in play when really you do not at all because free agency slaughters that and the draft system is slaughtered by it. Just be honest; do you want a free-for-all free agency or do you want equalisation? Because you have neither at the moment and it's a disaster." - on free agency in 2018.
