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he Melbourne Storm have announced former Essendon FC chief commercial and customer officer, Justin Rodski as the new CEO of the NRL club.

Rodski is set to replace outgoing CEO, Dave Donaghy, who was recently announced as the likely replacement for Brisbane Broncos CEO, Paul White, who is reportedly set to leave the Brisbane club in February ahead of the upcoming 2021 NRL season.

With Rodski officially replacing Donaghy at Storm, Donaghy will be forced to spend a month without a club before joining Brisbane.

In a statement, Rodski said: “It is a great honour and privilege to be appointed Melbourne Storm CEO.”

“Storm is one of the most respected, successful and prominent sporting organisations in the country.

“The challenge to build on this strong foundation and lead the club through its next period of growth and success is an incredibly exciting opportunity.

“The role comes with great responsibility.

“Storm has established a renowned and revered culture, both on and off the field, and I look forward to working closely with the board, staff, coaches, players, members and partners to continue developing that proud legacy into the future,” he said.

Storm chairman, Matt Tripp, said Rodski was a stand-out candidate due to his key leadership role at Essendon in delivering key commercial growth, strategic priorities and building a stronger member and fan base.

“We are thrilled to welcome Justin to the Storm family as our new CEO,” Tripp said.

“Justin has established credentials, is well respected in the industry and has a great understanding of what it takes to run a high performing club in a highly competitive market.

“We were also impressed with his values and approach to people which very much aligned with the Storm way.

“It was important for us to take our time to find the right person to lead this club into an exciting period.

“We have a playing list that we know are capable of establishing their own legacy in the years ahead and commercial staff who have lived through one of the toughest periods of our short history but have continued to grow our club off the field.

“We are excited to have Justin lead our club to even greater heights with new ideas and insights that will give us every opportunity to be successful on and off the field for many years ahead.

“I’d also like to thank Ash Tucker and all our staff for stepping up while we looked to fill the CEO position after an incredibly difficult but extremely rewarding 2020,” he said.

Rodski is set to begin his new role on February 15 after spending the last 10 years with Essendon.