On the eve of Adelaide’s season-opener against Essendon, Chairman and acting-CEO Rob Chapman updates members and supporters on the big issues facing the Club.

In part one of the two-part Q&A, Chapman discusses the Club’s response to the events of late-last year, and provides the latest on the Crows’ push for a reserves team and an independent licence.

Q. You’re almost halfway into the interim role as acting-CEO. How have the past few months been?

A. “This is my seventh year involved with the Club as a board member or Chairman, so I’ve got a good feel for what the agenda has been and is, but when you’re on the Management team the level of detail goes to another level.

“I always knew the Club was well run and had a good operating rhythm, and that’s been reinforced over the past few months. But like all good organisations, you constantly review it with the view to continuous improvement.  Since January 1, we’ve looked at the whole Executive team and the structure. We’ve created the role of Chief Operating Officer and appointed Nigel Smart, who will look after all the revenue-generating businesses. Nigel will have a real strategic focus, which is important not only for this year, but beyond as we move to Adelaide Oval. We’re now in the market for a General Manager of People to continue to evolve our strategy around staff development, culture, policy and procedures. In the past, we’ve had people trying to do that whilst also filling other roles, but we’re at a size now where we need a dedicated resource in that area.

“We’ve also elevated David Noble to a General Manager role focusing specifically on list management, recruiting and contracting of players because the role of GM Football Operations is just too big for one person now. So, from a people point of view, we’ve invested a lot.

“At a Board level, we’ve got a whole new agenda. We’ve got new committees and new chair people of those committees. There is a much greater oversight on the new charters of each committee whether it’s Membership, Marketing, Sponsorship or the Compliance and Integrity committee, Finance and Audit committee or List Management – we’ve stepped it up a notch.

“From a Board and Management perspective, we’ve reviewed ourselves but we’ve also had KPMG – an external, accounting and business advisory organisation – in to conduct a review. Together, we’ve arrived at a position where we’ve invested heavily in our football club and are in a much better position today than where we were when the season finished last year. There has been enormous change. The changes have been for the better and the investments have strengthened our footy club enormously.”

What impact have the events of late last year had on the players, the coaches and football department as a whole?

“None, or at least very little. From day one, I’ve said to the players and the coaching staff, ‘this is about management, not you’. The guidance I gave Brenton and the team was to go away and focus on what they had to do – and what they do well.

“I’m very proud of our players and the football department. I had a one-on-one with Brenton during the week. I asked him to go back to the football department and tell everyone, ‘well done’, because they’ve completed an exceptional pre-season. In an environment where they could’ve easily been distracted, they stayed focused. The biggest difference for me in this role has been seeing firsthand just how hard they work. We’ve arrived at our first game with only a couple of players on the injury list. We’re in as good a shape as we possibly could’ve been.”

What were your main priorities coming into the interim-CEO role?

“My first priority was to ensure that Brenton and the entire football department have every resource they need to get the job done on the field. We are a football club first and foremost. I hear other people refer to us as a brand, an organisation or a business, but we are a football club and we exist to win games of football and specifically finals football.

“The second agenda item was to respond to the Corporate Governance Review, which I initiated. It was critical for me and this Club that we started with a clean slate. Deloitte came in with the AFL and forensically analysed every single file. Put the Kurt Tippett situation aside and our files are 100 per cent clean, accurate and compliant. Furthermore, we have instigated all of the Governance Review recommendations over and above good business practice.

“Off field the Club is in good shape, and that’s supported by an increase in membership and sponsorship. I’m pretty happy with the last two-and-a-half months of work. Everyone here is working pretty darned hard to make all of this happen.”

How close is the Club to owning its AFL licence?

“It’s been a personal goal to deliver to the Adelaide Football Club its independence.

“Over the years, it’s been difficult for the Club because we’ve had to line-up to both a local and national AFL agenda. We have a ‘parent’ in the SANFL, and I say that with the greatest respect because if it wasn’t for the SANFL we wouldn’t exist. They were the ones who took the risk and had the foresight, but it’s time for us to move on. It’s time for us to have our own voice and line-up to the national agenda. It’s hard to serve two masters.

“The average supporter probably won’t notice too much change when we take control of our licence, but a key difference will be our members being involved in electing board members. We want our members to feel more engaged and to have a say in the direction in which their football club heads.

“Once we get the licence back, our relationship with the SANFL will change. What won’t change is our respect for the SANFL competition, our heritage and where we came from. We want to work with the SANFL to ensure it’s a strong competition. The money we pay back to the SANFL for the licence will be directed into the development of the local game. I’ve been speaking to John Olsen about this issue for two years. We’ve had very respectful and healthy discussions. I appreciate the way in which we’ve gone about negotiating this.

“It’s a good move. We become independent. Our members own the football club and after 23 years of a very happy marriage with the SANFL, we’re rapidly approaching the time when we’ll stand on our own two feet. There are lots of numbers being bandied around, but it’s not the right time for me to comment on that until we officially make the announcement – and we’re hopeful that’s not too far away.”

An extension of that is having our own reserves team. Where does that sit currently?

“The reserves team was another key item on our agenda this year. Phil Harper has resumed discussions with Chris Davies (Football General Manager) from the SANFL, and they are very fruitful. We’re quite optimistic we’ll have a solution that works for everybody by the middle of this year.

“It’s too early to say how it will look but it will meet our requirements, which are having our players who miss out on AFL selection working as a unit in one team, for one Club, in the same jumper, with one set of resources looking at one game instead of multiple games.

“It has to work for the SANFL too. I’d like to think it will help them generate extra revenue. I’m very optimistic it will be set up to commence in season 2014.”

Log onto afc.com.au on Friday for part two, where Rob Chapman discusses Adelaide Oval dividends and Equalisation