ANDREW Gowers will walk into the Ricoh Centre next year with big shoes to fill.
Sometime in the next few weeks, the 1991 premiership wingman will formally replace Jason Dunstall as the football director of the Hawthorn Football Club.
Those outside the Hawks know of Dunstall as the superstar full-forward, a four-time premiership player, four-time best and fairest and four-time All Australian. He also enjoys a high-profile media career with Fox Footy and Triple M.
But Hawthorn members and supporters understand that Dunstall's role within the contemporary Hawthorn has been almost as immense. As interim chief executive in 2004 he passed over premiership teammates – and friends – Rodney Eade, Gary Ayres and Terry Wallace for the then vacant coaching position, plumping instead for the untried Alastair Clarkson.
Together, they built an elite football operation that has delivered the club two premierships in nine years.
Clarkson and respective football and list managers Mark Evans and Chris Pelchen, and more recently Chris Fagan and Graeme Wright, were the front men of the operation, but Dunstall wielded significant influence behind the scenes and is a big reason why the Hawks have become so powerful.
That's what makes Gowers such a critical appointment at Hawthorn. It's not like he is walking in cold, given that he has been spotted at numerous Hawk events over the last six months and as one insider admitted, "He's pretty much had the run of the place."
He was appointed as football director as part of a meticulous succession plan crafted by Hawthorn president Andrew Newbold.
Recruited from Xavier College, Gowers played 89 games for the Hawks between 1988 and 1994, including the 1991 premiership team. He might have played in the all-conquering team that won the flag in his debut season if not for injury.
He was a tall and lean wingman particularly well suited to Waverley, which by 1990 was Hawthorn's new home ground, but a contractual dispute resulted in him leaving the Hawks for Brisbane and he played a further 51 games for the Bears and Lions between 1995 and 1999, including the historic first final in 1995.
He returned to Victoria after he finished with the Lions and immersed himself in the finance industry and in football. He commentated on AFL games for the National Indigenous Radio Network, where he was renowned for his drive and his dedication. Initially a specialist commentator, he soon added play-by-play to his repertoire.
And like so many of his ilk, he gravitated back to Old Xaverians and he played and coached at the club, arguably the most influential football club in Victoria outside the AFL, although perhaps unusually he is about the only coach in recent history not to have led the perennial amateur football powerhouse to a premiership.
Gowers is soft'y spoken, say friends and associates, but that doesn’t mean he can't pack a mean punch. "A velvet sledgehammer," said one former football associate.
He'll need those sorts of qualities at Hawthorn. His board position there is to oversee all the football operations, provide governance and oversight and to generally keep things in check.
That's where his relationship with Clarkson – a visionary and big picture man at all times – will be key. Dunstall was particularly renowned for his ability to read the play when it came to the coach and to temper his enthusiasm when the occasion demanded it.
"He's great at dealing with with people," said Michael Sholly, the former Old Xavs coach and now VAFA chief executive, who first met Gowers when he coached him in the under 10s at Kew Rovers.
"He understands and listens and has confidence that he makes the correct decisions. Everyone who meets him warms to him."
"He's a good communicator and good guy," added Gary Ayres, former Hawthorn champion and teammate of Gowers. "He is very much Hawthorn and will do a great job."
