New AFL footy boss told to get unpopular Mark Evans walks into a minefield of tough problems as the AFL's new football operations manager, but an early task should be the easiest. "I've told Mark if he's unpopular after six weeks, he's doing well - he's got six weeks to get unpopular," said his new boss, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou. Evans' portfolio will include the tribunal, laws of the game - including the controversial cap on interchange rotations - the "three strikes" illicit drugs policy and the anti-doping policy. All are regular back or even front-page news items, rarely painting the AFL's footy ops boss in a positive light. But the long-time Hawthorn football manager cannot wait to start, even if it means he might miss out on the Hawks making amends for last year's heartbreaking grand final loss to Sydney. "It would have been easier if we'd picked up two goals at the end of last year," Evans said. But I'm not sure if you can time your exit as well as you'd like ... unless it's right at the end of the season. Evans also disagreed this was a bad time to be taking on one of the league's highest-profile positions, given the many challenges facing the game. "This is a fantastic time to join Andrew's executive team," he said. I couldn't be more delighted to have a crack at it. Evans' appointment marks a notable change from his predecessor Adrian Anderson, who resigned in December. Anderson started as an AFL outsider, a lawyer who overhauled the league's tribunal system. Evans is a respected figure from "club land" and no matter how unpopular he becomes, his appointment should soothe some of the angst between the league and the 18 teams. There is a prevailing sense among the clubs that the league just does not listen to them enough. Evans worked at Melbourne from 1999 before joining the Hawks in 2004. "Without a doubt, I'm going to have some pretty strong inside knowledge of how clubs think and how clubs prepare for the game," Evans said. Demetriou said the league did not set out to recruit a club official, but admitted it would help them. "I've always believed it would be a huge advantage if we had someone with club experience, particularly as the restructure involved the role being focused purely more on football," he said. The Hawks said in a statement they "regretfully accepted" Evans' resignation. It is not yet clear when he will leave Hawthorn to start at the AFL, but it should be before the end of his four-week notice period. Evans learnt of his appointment on Tuesday night. He will head a restructured football operations department, with the AFL's integrity unit now a separate section. Demetriou's No.2 Gil McLachlan had been temporary football operations manager while the league sorted through more than 100 applications for the role.