Brayshaw wants another Roos term

James Brayshaw hopes to lead the Kangaroos until the end of the 2016 season. Picture: Paul Loughnan Source: Herald Sun

JAMES Brayshaw has pledged his commitment to North Melbourne for the next four seasons, saying if the members will have him, he plans to stay on until the end of 2016.

By that time, he wants the club to have paid off its once-crippling debt, boosted its supporter base in new markets and to be on the cusp of on-field success.

As Brayshaw heads into his sixth season as chairman of the Kangaroos, he has revealed his plans to run for re-election when his current term expires before the start of next season, saying he has never felt more confident about the club's long-term future.

"We have a three-term maximum here and I am up for re-election next year," Brayshaw said.

"If by the grace of the members, I am elected, that will be my final set of three years, which is entirely appropriate.

"I want to stay around and deliver on what I spoke about that night at Dallas Brooks Hall (in December 2007), and that is a sustainable club that is debt-free, that continues to grow in new markets, and that is able to hold its own against any club on its day.

"We are not there yet. We have come a long way over the past five years, but we still have a long way to go."

Brayshaw has never before put a time frame on his position since he and his team stopped the club from moving to the Gold Coast in late 2007.

Now he insists he wants to push on until the end of 2016, which is the same length of time that the board has just given coach Brad Scott on his new deal.

"We couldn't be happier that the head of our football club in Brad Scott has committed long-term to driving the strategy," Brayshaw said.

"The ripple effect has been that 'Wellsy' (Daniel Wells), 'Ziebs' (Jack Ziebell) and a few of the other boys have bought into the journey we are on.

"There are times when we get criticised as a club and my instant reaction to that is 'do me a favour, get in your car and drive down to Arden St and have a look at where the club is now'.

"You only need to have a look at the facility we have here now and the new $2 million rebuild of the ground to show you where we have come from."

In a wide-ranging interview with the Herald Sun, the 45-year-old media commentator and Footy Show co-host also:

* Defended the club's five-month search for a chief executive before appointing board member Carl Dilena before Christmas;

* Forecast the club could write another $1 million off its overall debt this season, with the aim to be debt-free before 2016;

* Warned the club would fight to defend its commitment to Ballarat, with the Western Bulldogs reportedly keen to become involved in the Goldfields area.

Brayshaw said the club was committed to a strategy of playing a handful of games in Hobart each year, saying it would assist in securing new supporters as well as impact on the club's financial bottom line. But he said the club had no intention of relocating to Tasmania.

"We need to grow, we need to find new supporters, we need to have more people watching us at games and on television and we need more people to buy our merchandise," Brayshaw said of the club's bottom line.

"The latest AFL figures that were released show that we have been in this competition for almost 100 years, and we have got about 130,000 to 150,000 supporters. And the only way to increase your size is to attack new markets.

"With 200,000 people in the south of Tasmania, it is an unbelievable opportunity to add to our supporter base in a new market.

"That is also why Ballarat and the Goldfields is a huge opportunity for us. You have a place that is, like Tasmania, absolutely passionate about our game and you say to them 'would you like to consider us if you are wondering which club you might like to support'.

"The difference between going from 130,000-150,000 supporters to say 230,000 makes the ongoing running of the club so much easier."

Brayshaw admitted the slow process of gaining a long-term replacement for Eugene Arocca had been frustrating, especially since targetted candidates Brian Cook and Ben Buckley eventually decided not to pursue the role.

"The dogs were barking at some stage, they were like 'what the hell is going on'," Brayshaw said.

"But we knew the next CEO had to be elite and that's why we went after Ben Buckley and Brian Cook as hard as we did.

"Both were exceptional people and they would have been exceptional CEO's, but they didn't do it for their own reasons.

"And in the time it took for us to fully explore those options, it enabled Carl to totally independently come to a decision that he wanted a change in his own career. At that point the moons aligned and to be able to have someone of Carl's calibre is great for this football club."

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