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Stevo's Sting - People taking back the power at Richmond

The AFL boss summed it up as well as anyone.

"People need to do what people need to do," Gil McLachlan mused in the hours after the Richmond board challenge became official.

Put simply, it is "people power".

Sure, it is messy, disruptive, and you can hear the grumbling already from those who suggest unrest does no good for anyone. But in recent years across the AFL, boards have been hand-picked, challenges snuffed out behind the scenes and elections averted.

It has been a time of calm waters, and in many instances AFL-approved executive appointments and strategies. You could argue it has been too steady, too docile, too homogenised.

It was a rough 2016 at Tigerland. Source: Getty
It was a rough 2016 at Tigerland. Source: Getty

Footy is a democratic business, challenges and elections have always been part of the landscape.

And, it is refreshing to see people power re-surface.

Richmond's board has done a solid job. You can not criticise efforts off-field, and until this year on-field. But you can question the decision to extend Damien Hardwick's deal by two years.

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Surely one year, a la Collingwood would have sufficed.

Under old-fashioned people power, you have to be accountable for that. What's the point of having members and a constitution unless there is a trigger for an election, a mechanism to keep the board honest?

Richmond's board looks good on paper, solid credentials and all, but it deserves the blowtorch turned up to 10 after an abysmal 2016 season.

The seven-person ticket unveiled this morning falls short of blockbuster status on paper. Perhaps, a bit underwhelming despite the presence of premiership players Bruce Monteath and Bryan Wood. But the media onslaught was well organised, PR company and all, and Dr Martin Hiscock delivered a clear, believable message.

They will speak to Neil Balme for a new CEO of football role, but will back in the coach Damien Hardwick. They attacked past recruiting, but that is in for a shakeup anyway. It will change regardless of any board overhaul.

Will they win? Probably not, particularly given the decision to keep Hardwick will not appeal to disaffected members looking for blood.

And it is difficult to argue the board has done enough wrong to be tipped out. So much has been achieved in the past 10 years despite the recruiting inadequacies.

There is not enough point of difference in the Focus on Footy group to risk a change.

The board, surely, will survive. But those in the boardroom right now shouldn't moan about the instability. We should applaud the passion, and the re-emergence of the election era.

It is the peoples' game. The democracy is back.