Adrian Anderson has resigned as the AFL’s general manager of football operations after serving a nine-year term.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou paid tribute to Anderson on Wednesday, saying his right-hand man had played a major role in many reforms including in the fields of the anti-doping code, the tribunal and free agency.
Anderson has been linked with the vacant chief executive’s role at AFL club North Melbourne.
Anderson said it was time for him to seek a new working challenge.
“I feel I’ve done most of the key things I wanted to do in this role and it’s time to do something different,” he said.
“(But) I haven’t had any discussions with North and haven’t made any decisions about what I’m going to do next.”
Anderson acknowledged that the nature of the AFL football operations job meant he had been required to make unpopular decisions at times.
“It’s been an incredible privilege for me to work in this role for our great game,” he said.
Demetriou said he had not yet given much thought as to who would replace Anderson at league headquarters.