COACH Paul Roos says Gillon McLachlan’s appointment as AFL chief executive is a great reward for serving an apprenticeship within an organisation – akin to that of AFL senior coaches John Longmire and Nathan Buckley at the Swans and Magpies respectively.

Although not formally stated as Andrew Demetriou’s successor in the same way Longmire and Buckley were, McLachlan had been strongly earmarked as the next AFL CEO, which was announced on Wednesday.

Roos said McLachlan’s elevation was an important step for the competition.

“Gill and I met a few times at Lamaro’s after ‘On the Couch’. We played basketball at MSAC and his team would wander down, so I got to know him a bit last year, so I chatted to him a bit with his team and Mike [Sheahan] and Gerard [Healy],” he said on Dee TV’s Roos’ Views.

“I shot him a text yesterday (Wednesday) just to congratulate him and he’s obviously done an amazing apprenticeship. They’re the things within the industry now that are really positive.

“I’ve seen it from a coaching point of view with Nathan Buckley and John Longmire and we often see CEOs and even recruiters going to list managers. I think it’s healthy for the industry that we’re training people and we’re getting people promoted.

“I think it’s something all football clubs will look at more seriously, as we move further into the future of the AFL.”