Luke Darcy joins Bulldogs’ Board

[bornadog]

Link (https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/585018/luke-darcy-joins-bulldogs-board?fbclid=IwAR0AztvVoxFv4G3KAZ9zAm-S_9_VDVAfvkfm4vSqe5Kh8oNRadfEc_L_6D4)

https://resources.westernbulldogs.com.au/photo-resources/2020/04/14/16ace2bd-fd68-4b7a-ad3a-ec87367ee5ab/HERO_LukeDarcy.jpg?width=952&height=592

Former Western Bulldogs captain and best and fairest winner Luke Darcy has been added to the Club’s Board of Directors.

Darcy fills the remaining spot on the Bulldogs’ Board after the retirement of Football Director Matthew Croft late last year and will have responsibility for overseeing governance of the Club’s Football programs.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Luke as a Bulldogs Director, and look forward to his valuable insights,” said Club President Peter Gordon.

“Luke will bring a range of important attributes as a Board member - his extensive experience as a player, his credentials as a media performer over a long period of time, and his passion for the Club.

“We are fortunate to have a strong and diverse range of skills represented through our current Directors, which will help us navigate through this difficult period and forge ahead into the future.

“Luke’s experience and insight will be particularly important as we confront the inevitable changes our football operations will face in these uncertain and complex times.

Darcy put together a brilliant playing career in the red, white and blue, amassing 226 games and kicking 183 goals over 14 seasons from 1994 until 2007.

He won the Charles Sutton Medal in 2001, in 2002 he was named All-Australian and tied for the Leigh Matthews Trophy, and he captained the Club in 2005 and 2006.

Since his retirement, Darcy has become a talented and highly-respected media performer across TV and radio mediums.

He first began at Network 10 as a member of its football and netball coverage, switching to the Seven Network when it won the rights to broadcast AFL, where he has excelled as a commentator and program host.

Darcy has also been a mainstay on Triple M radio on its match coverage, and he is currently a co-host of the Hot Breakfast morning show alongside Eddie McGuire.

“I’m extremely honoured and humbled to officially join the Western Bulldogs’ Board of Directors,” Darcy said.

“This is a great opportunity for me to give back to a Club which has provided so much to me over the years, and to contribute wherever I can in what are extremely difficult times for everyone.

“Watching from afar, I’ve been proud to observe the Club’s ability to build a strong financial base and give back so selflessly to the community it represents, and I’m excited to be part of a Board which can build on that solid foundation.”

The Western Bulldogs have made several changes to its board over the last 12 months, welcoming Lisa Fitzpatrick, Belinda Duarte and Simon Garlick (who later relinquished his position after accepting the role as CEO of the Fremantle Football Club).

[Axe Man]

Rightly or wrongly some have accused the club of not sufficiently turning over the coaching staff, the same can't be said of the board at least.

[jazzadogs]

Is there a degree of business acumen required to sit on the board? Is anyone concerned that Darce, as much as he seems to be a wonderful person, doesn't have that experience? What qualifies him to be responsible for 'governance of our football programs'?

(genuine questions, not a dig)

[Twodogs]

Is there a degree of business acumen required to sit on the board? Is anyone concerned that Darce, as much as he seems to be a wonderful person, doesn't have that experience? What qualifies him to be responsible for 'governance of our football programs'?

(genuine questions, not a dig)

Not sure why you don't think he has any business acumen? He has run a very successful hotel business with his dad for years. He's a very rich and successful businessman.


They owned and ran the Anglers Tavern on the boundary of Footscray and Essendon on the Maribyrnong river for years. they only diversified out of it a couple of years ago.

[FrediKanoute]

Is there a degree of business acumen required to sit on the board? Is anyone concerned that Darce, as much as he seems to be a wonderful person, doesn't have that experience? What qualifies him to be responsible for 'governance of our football programs'?

(genuine questions, not a dig)

It depends on his role. No point having a commercial/business brain if the role is football operations focused. The key with board's is not about having all of the one type, what you really need are differing perspectives. If the commercial/finance side is strong, then maybe it is the football operations side that needs greater input.

I don't have a problem with Darcy joining the board. He is a football person and his role as a commentator means he will have spoken to many different people at many different clubs so he will have a good idea about generally what other clubs are doing. He's replacing Matty Croft, so to me its almost a like for like replacement.

[jazzadogs]

He has run a very successful hotel business with his dad for years. He's a very rich and successful businessman.

Nice, I didn't know that. I just found it strange that there was no mention of any skills other than his football and media presence in the article.

[Twodogs]

Nice, I didn't know that. I just found it strange that there was no mention of any skills other than his football and media presence in the article.

Fair enough. Darce is a very canny guy. Not even his devotion to the doggies would get between him and a dollar!

He likes his dollars does Luke...

[bulldogtragic]

Good news for that little man behind him in the photo. Now nearly 200cm, playing/listed at Oakleigh Chargers and another father/son candidate.

[Twodogs]

Good news for that little man behind him in the photo. Now nearly 200cm, playing/listed at Oakleigh Chargers and another father/son candidate.

You mean Aker? He has had a growth spurt.

[Axe Man]

Dogs better placed than ever, says Darcy (https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/dogs-better-placed-than-ever-says-darcy-20200415-p54k66.html)

The Western Bulldogs are stronger than ever off the field and a force on it with a once-in-a-generation coach, according to new board member Luke Darcy.

The Dogs are well placed to remain an on-field threat in the short to medium term because of canny list management and a coach that Darcy rates as one of the most influential and impressive figures in the game.

"They are really well placed. We are in such a competitive industry but some of the signs last year as a group, with the connection they had, the way they moved the ball and the cohesiveness of the game they played was impressive," Darcy said in an interview with The Age about his decision to join the board.

"They ran into a powerful GWS in the final and had a bad day, but they have recruited really well in the off-season so I think the list is in good shape and the coach has proven to be a once-in-a-generation person at the football club. He is a super-impressive person and with someone of his quality in charge they are well placed."

Darcy said the Western Bulldogs' ability to stand with the wealthiest clubs and not rely on AFL funding through the shutdown of the competition was a moment of pride for the club as he contrasted it to his arrival in the game.

He started at the Bulldogs at the time of the Fightback, when the club was tin-rattling to survive and it was testament to the work of club presidents Peter Gordon and David Smorgon through the past 20 years that the club has elevated itself off and on the field. Far from being bracketed with the weak and vulnerable clubs, the Bulldogs are instead bracketed with the richest clubs, able to turn down AFL assistance.

"That is an incredible position to be in from where we were when I started and Peter and David deserve enormous credit for that," he said.

The re-set that football will undertake as a consequence of the damage to the revenues in the game and the broad structural change the AFL will insist upon means Darcy arrives at the club at a moment when decisions of critical importance in football will be made.

"My broad view is there are certain things that have changed in the world and you cannot waste your time fighting those changes because they are outside your control," he said.

"We need to protect our people as best we can but also do the best thing for the Western Bulldogs."

Darcy is a 236-game player, former captain and All-Australian player whose dad, David, also played more than 100 games with the Dogs. Darcy has also run a successful pub business and hosts a breakfast radio show.

He has four children aged from nine to 16 and figured now was the time he needed to contribute to the club and has joined as the football director, replacing Matthew Croft.

Darcy said as an outsider he agreed with the wide range of decisions made by the club after they won the flag in 2016.

"Bob Murphy said that winning the flag for the Bulldogs was like landing on the moon, it was not like winning it at another club where they had won flags previously. And he was right.

"It profoundly changed so many things about the Bulldogs, it changed the dynamic, it changed the psyche.

"It was always going to take a serious amount of adjustment and there were a lot of tough decisions with players moving but from the outside a lot of those decisions made sense to me.

"And, like I have said, we have a once-in-a-generation person as coach and I stand by that comment, and I think when you get someone like that you do everything you can to make sure they are comfortable."

[The Pie Man]

Not related to the thread at all - but that photo....IIRC that's the final round of 07?

If I'm right, twas such a dirty day to see Darce off - and you knew Turtle would hang them up as well, but no fanfare was granted (pun not intended)

Was surprised 08 became a good year wins wise after that.

[Axe Man]

Not related to the thread at all - but that photo....IIRC that's the final round of 07?

If I'm right, twas such a dirty day to see Darce off - and you knew Turtle would hang them up as well, but no fanfare was granted (pun not intended)

Was surprised 08 became a good year wins wise after that.

Can't believe you didn't mention another club great in Andrew McDougall also played his last game that day. Shockingly he had 20 disposals - a career high!

[bornadog]

Can't believe you didn't mention another club great in Andrew McDougall also played his last game that day. Shockingly he had 20 disposals - a career high!

I knew he would come good :D

[Twodogs]

I knew he would come good :D

So long as her remembered to wear his glasses.

[The Pie Man]

Can't believe you didn't mention another club great in Andrew McDougall also played his last game that day. Shockingly he had 20 disposals - a career high!

I reckon his move to us was one of the original 'previously a high draft pick' media narratives around trades.

[Mofra]

Not sure why you don't think he has any business acumen? He has run a very successful hotel business with his dad for years. He's a very rich and successful businessman.


They owned and ran the Anglers Tavern on the boundary of Footscray and Essendon on the Maribyrnong river for years. they only diversified out of it a couple of years ago.
He ran The Precinct too for many years, not sure if he still has a financial interest.

[Twodogs]

He ran The Precinct too for many years, not sure if he still has a financial interest.

Did he have something to do with the Tunnel as well? Some bulldog player did-I used to mention his name and get a drink card but I just can't remember who it was now. Probably something to do with the cumulative effect of all those drink cards.

Might have been Nathan Brown maybe?

[Axe Man]

He ran The Precinct too for many years, not sure if he still has a financial interest.

This is from 2013 and these pubs may have since changed hands, but back then:

The Darcy Group is making a splash on the Melbourne pub scene with its chain of hotels: The Precinct in Richmond, Melbourne Public in South Wharf, The Motel in South Melbourne and its most recent addition, The Bridge Hotel, also at South Wharf.

From 2017:

Luke Darcy’s The Darcy Group is still in control of The Precinct Hotel, Melbourne Public and The Citizen in Melbourne

Pretty sure he is at least still involved with Melbourne Public, tends to give it plug on Triple M at times.