De Ceglie orchestrated a massive shake-up of senior personnel, including the departure of long-time on-air personalities, centralised Seven’s news team and oversaw mass redundancies.
With De Ceglie now taking on the role of running the new Perth-based NRL club, the Bears, the crystal ball at Seven News most likely didn’t signal to Stokes his decision to bow to another king – the bloke who rules the NRL – Peter V’landys.
Seven West Media chairman “King” Kerry Stokes.Credit: Trevor Collens
The messaging from the Seven camp on Thursday was that while Stokes was disappointed at De Ceglie’s departure, the whole affair has been cordial enough.
The sharemarket had a different spin on the issue – taking a more bullish position on De Ceglie’s exit from the fold at Seven News. The price of Seven West Media shares rose 6.5 per cent against an otherwise flat broader market. (De Ceglie won’t be too disheartened by the investor response, given Seven West shares have been trading at 16¢ a piece.)
And regardless of what investors or media watchers think of De Ceglie’s tenure at Seven, V’landys clearly thinks of him as a promising hire.
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“To succeed in Perth, you need a well-connected local who knows how to get things done and has a can-do attitude,” he said in a media release on Thursday.
“Anthony is a brilliant operator with a proven track record and a genuine West Australian, and I am excited about what he can do for us as we grow rugby league in the WA market.”
But if De Ceglie thought cleaning up Seven’s news and current affairs departments was a tough job, this may just be a curtain-raiser for the challenge ahead.
Introducing rugby league to a state made up of dyed-in-the-wool AFL supporters will test every single connection De Ceglie has, along with as many innovations as he can muster.
Maybe a tarot card reading is in order, which could be broadcast in conjunction with sports betting advertisements. Or perhaps a satirical segment on the knock-ons, ball fumbles and missed kicks.
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