Also at the top table was Stokes’ son Ryan, the managing director at Seven, and the chairmen of the competing clubs, Andrew Pridham (Swans) and Andrew Wellington (Lions).
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen was also there, along with some of her counterparts in South Australia’s Peter Malinauskas and Tasmania’s Jeremy Rockliff, whose state will host the league’s 19th team.
Federal Trade Minister Don Farrell hosted United Arab Emirates counterpart Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, to celebrate the nations signing a mutual free trade agreement.
The lunch was a chance for catch-ups, as Gardner jumped up from her seat to chat to philanthropist and Sportsgirl owner Naomi Milgrom, who came as a guest of Collingwood president Jeff Browne, just as she did for the Brownlow Medal count.
Later, former AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan was seen balancing an enormous tray of beers as he shot the breeze with broadcaster Craig Hutchison, the latter in the news as he is expected to defect from Nine to Seven.
Singer Mark Seymour performed his anthem Throw Your Arms Around Me, listened on by First Nations rapper Briggs, who was there in the company of his dad, Paul Briggs, the co-chair of the AFL’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Advisory Council.
Guests enjoyed a gimlet gin on arrival and a poached prawn salad before a main course of roast beef tenderloin, supervised by chef Curtis Stone.
North Melbourne president Dr Sonja Hood (centre) takes to the stage at the club’s Grand Final Breakfast before delivering a few zingers.Credit: Simon Schluter
Not present: NSW Premier Chris Minns and Queensland Premier Steven Miles. Or Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto, who is in the middle of the defamation trial bought by exiled MP Moira Deeming. Pesutto once again gave his ticket to opposition sports spokesman Sam Groth after he was a late scratching from Monday’s Brownlow count.
Club presidents including Luke Sayers (Carlton) the former PwC boss, and Sonja Hood (North Melbourne) were in the room. Hood got grand final day off to a great start at Saturday’s traditional breakfast hosted by North Melbourne, which had 1400 guests including Albanese and federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
As Albanese said, the breakfast was the only way anyone could get the words “grand final” and “North Melbourne” in the same sentence. North finished 17th this season.
Hood welcomed both the prime minister and Dutton. “I didn’t think we had much in common – but when I was writing this speech I realised that actually all three of us are trying desperately hard to turn around an underperforming organisation,” she said.
“The leader of the opposition and I have both gone for a different approach, binding our respective futures to a powerful yet volatile energy source. For Mr Dutton, it’s nuclear fission; for me, it’s Alastair Clarkson. Let’s hope yours is less explosive than mine has been.”
Hood saved one of her best zingers for rival code rugby league. “Whether today’s game for you is South Melbourne versus Fitzroy, or Sydney versus Brisbane, or NSW versus Queensland – finally a state of origin clash I won’t fall asleep in.”
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Source Agencies
