ARLC chairman John Grant says good progress is being made in finding a new chief executive, but a new incumbent would not be in place before the end of the NRL season.
AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan, acting ARLC chief executive Shane Mattiske, and racing NSW chief Peter V’Landys are the front-runners for the role.
However, Grant gave the biggest hint yet that the new appointment would come from outside of the game when asked on Wednesday if he expected the role to be filled before the end of the NRL season.
“We haven’t set ourselves a deadline about when to make an appointment as it’s almost impossible,” Grant said.
“Any candidate who does accept the role would have to serve some sort of notice period and that would be outside of the season.”
Mattiske has filled the role since David Gallop’s shock departure in June and Grant said there he’s happy to wait for the right appointment and not a rushed one.
“We’re always getting closer,” he said.
“We’re not there. We’re down to a shortlist and before we get a conclusion there is still a bit of work to be done but we’re heading in the right direction.”
Gallop, who was named as the new chief of Football Federation Australia last Tuesday, resigned after falling out with Grant, who criticised his 10-year reign as too reactive.
Armed with a new billion dollar broadcast deal, the game is in its strongest positio and Grant said the new chief executive would be taking over at a perfect time.
“We’ve had a wonderful fortnight,” he said.
“We have two broadcast partners who want to do new things for the game.
“We have funding to grow the game, we’ve got funding that can contribute to various aspects for the game’s development.”