Paul Guerra drove into the MCG’s underground car park at 7.30am on Tuesday. Everything about the day was normal – until it wasn’t.
He walked into a regularly scheduled meeting with Melbourne’s president Steven Smith that morning as the club’s CEO, and walked out shortly after as the former CEO.
After seven months he had lost his job, but gained a place as a trivia question: which CEO of an AFL club lasted longest? A) Andrew Thorburn B) Paul McNamee C) Tracey Gaudry or D) Paul Guerra? (It was Guerra.)
Across the railway tracks, Dees coach Steven King held a press conference at 9.15am. The first question was about Kozzy Pickett, as it should have been. There was no hint of how the day was about to suddenly change and that what happens on the field would once more become secondary at Melbourne to what happens off it.
Guerra was appointed a year ago, in April 2025. It did not take long for Melbourne board members to have buyer’s remorse. Though lingering commitments prevented him starting in the job until September last year, the board was already uneasy about Guerra’s enthusiasm for talking about the club in the media before he’d even started in the job.
