Rebel board member Paul Williams says Brisbane chairman Angus Johnson has the power to hasten an end to the AFL club’s boardroom uncertainty by stepping down.
As the Lions confirmed on Friday they were confident of appointing a new head coach by the end of the month, more than 800 forms from full-voting members – requesting an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) – were lodged with the club.
Under the club’s constitution, the Lions have 21 days to call a meeting and up to a further 21 days to give notice of that meeting.
Williams believes the lengthy process can be circumvented, however, with Johnson’s resignation.
“In theory, if this drags out with nothing happening in between, it could be another seven (sic) weeks away before we have an EGM,” Williams told AAP on Friday.
“The much preferred course of action is for Angus to step down and let the changes run their course.
“We’ve started the process; that’s all we’ve done. Things may start to happen as a consequence of that.”
Williams says the club’s boardroom concerns are having an affect on the Lions’ football department, which is still hunting a replacement to axed coach Michael Voss as at least five young players consider leaving the club.
Former Lion Justin Leppitsch and ex-Adelaide coach Neil Craig have joined Adam Simpson and Leigh Tudor as reported candidates for the coach’s role, with Lions’ football manager Dean Warren confirming five people had been interviewed in the past week.
“We always said we’d run a really thorough process,” Warren told AAP.
“We’ve completed the first round of interviews and we’re very comfortable with how that’s going.
“There’s some very high-quality candidates that we’ve interviewed … we’d like to have that completed by the end of September.”
The Lions also held talks with out-of-contract utility Brent Staker on Friday after it was revealed he’d been offered a deal from Carlton.
Warren said discussions with the 29-year-old had been positive though nothing conclusive had been decided.
“From our perspective, there’s no issues,” Warren said.
“Brent has come back terrifically well from his knee issues … our understanding is Brent’s really happy here – it’s just a matter of getting through the nuts and bolts of the contract.”
The futures of veteran duo Simon Black and Jonathan Brown are also still up in the air as the pair recover from post-season surgery.
“We’ve left it to them,” Warren said.
“We’ve stated that we’d like Brownie to play on and there’s no pressure on Blackie at all. We’ll let him make his decision.”
