Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale has announced he is leaving his role, closing the book on the Tigers’ era of success, to take up the same post at the Tasmania Devils next year.
Gale is the last senior leader standing from their 2017, 2019 and 2020 premiership years after president Peggy O’Neal, coach Damien Hardwick and captain Trent Cotchin all departed in recent times.
Dustin Martin heads a list of several triple or dual premiership stars, including current captain Toby Nankervis, still at a club otherwise undergoing significant change.
Once in the running to succeed ex-AFL boss Gillon McLachlan, Gale has already locked in a return to his home state of Tasmania as the Devils’ first chief executive.
He will see out the 2024 season at Punt Road before moving south to start with Tasmania next year.
“I have spent half my life at this club as an administrator and player. It is time for me to embark on a new challenge, and for the club to write the next chapter,” Gale said in a Richmond statement.
“I’ll remain absolutely focused on the job at hand for the coming months. It is an exciting and challenging period for us on and off the field.
“The breadth and depth of our leadership is a real feature of our club, and we are all getting on with the job at hand and that is where my energies will be focused.”
Gale, 55, played 244 games for Richmond through the 1990s and early 2000s and became the club’s chief executive in 2009.
In 2010 he famously launched a plan that the Tigers could sign up 75,000 members and, more importantly, win three flags over the next decade.
Richmond looked set to fall short of that target when they lost in the first week of finals for three straight years then missed September action in 2016.
But they decided against wholesale changes and took the AFL by storm under Hardwick while cracking 100,000 members.
Gale oversaw the Tigers’ appointment of Adem Yze as their new senior coach late last year alongside new president John O’Rourke.
He has also helped finalise plans for Richmond’s Punt Road upgrade.
“This project will first and foremost ensure we stay here forever,” Gale told 7NEWS last month.
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