From Copy Kid to Controlling the Narrative: Brian Walsh on the Career You Don't Plan For

Brian Walsh has spent more than four decades working across journalism, sport, government, banking and communications, and his career is still going. We speak to one of Foxtel Group's newest Executive Directors about the winding road that brought him here, what excites him about the role, and the advice he'd give to anyone just starting out. 

Q: Could you tell us about yourself, and your role here at Foxtel Group?

My official title is Executive Director at Foxtel Group. What does that entail? Well, Communications, PR and Corporate Affairs sit under my remit, and I provide an Executive presence in Melbourne. Foxtel Group CEO, Patrick Delany, has also challenged me to get more involved in the wider business, taking a broader view and getting more involved in projects that can help grow our business in this new era under DAZN. 

I've been in the communications and media industry for more than four decades and I've worked across a lot of different industries along the way - journalism, sport with the AFL, banking with NAB, the Victorian Government, and setting up and running my own company within the Bastion Collective focused on reputation and corporate affairs.

Much of my career has been in the heavier end of dealing with issues and reputations. It's been a winding road, but every stop has shaped how I think about communications and the role it plays in any organisation.  

Q: Can you walk us through your career journey? 

I started as a 'copy kid' at the old Sun News Pictorial (later the Herald Sun) in Victoria, where I spent about seven and a half years covering general news, sport and police rounds. I covered a whole range of Melbourne crime stories through a period that included Hoddle St and Queen St massacres, Walsh Street shootings of two police officers and the Mr. Cruel kidnappings.  

I was a baby to be honest, and I had to grow up pretty quickly and learn how to talk myself in and out of some tricky situations. 

I moved into tourism with what is now Visit Victoria, spending a couple of years in marketing and media which was a lot of fun, and I got to know a lot more about the state and the marketing of it. 

I went back to the Herald Sun as Chief Police Reporter, then moved to the news desk as Deputy Chief of Staff and then National Editor, working across national news, features and the weekend section. That gave me real exposure to entertainment, music, film and TV, not just hard news and I finished there as the Managing Editor of Sport.  

I joined a start-up called Our Community, a resource for community groups, where I looked after marketing and comms. I loved being in a start-up; one minute you would be doing radio interviews or writing a newspaper column, the next licking envelopes or cleaning toilets.  It was exciting and humbling in equal measures.  

After that, I joined the AFL for the first time as their inaugural Corporate Affairs Manager and stayed for just under six years before going to NAB as General Manager of Communications, looking after global communications, before founding Bastion Reputation within the Bastion Collective, which I grew from just me to a team of 15 over about four and a half years. 

I returned to the AFL as Executive General Manager of Corporate Affairs, then moved into consulting - and that's when Patrick Delany, CEO of Foxtel Group, called.  So, here we are.  

Q: What drew you to Foxtel Group, and how do you see both sides of the business - sport and entertainment?  

When Patrick first called, I assumed we were talking about consulting work - it took me about 10 minutes to realise he had something else in mind entirely. My partner was the one who pointed out that every time I got off the phone after talking with him I was genuinely excited about the challenge and opportunity, and she was right. 

There was a real buzz about working for Australia’s biggest media company – and one that invests $1billion a year in sports rights and production and $130m in drama, news and entertainment that I couldn’t let go.  

It was also the people. Beyond the opportunity to work with Patrick, it's all the Foxtel people around him, like Steve Crawley who is a bit of a hero of mine and Mick Neill, Leigh Carlson, Vida Scott and Asha Burns; people I've known and greatly admired over a long time. At the AFL I was a fan of the way Patrick leads – and found him honest, straightforward, with real charisma, and a genuine belief in partnerships. I think you see that reflected in the way Foxtel Group operates. I've had a connection to Foxtel since around 2000, and have always regarded Foxtel people as good and talented people who just get stuff done. Across the industry they are universally regarded as good partners and good people. 

Both as a reporter and on the news desk at the Herald Sun, entertainment was a massive part of what we covered - TV, movies, music, major cultural events - and sport and entertainment really drove the paper and the audience. 

I've been on the other side of the fence, driving coverage of what was happening in entertainment, film, sport and Australian culture, so while things have changed a lot, the cultural importance and the impact on Australians has not. Sport and entertainment are some of the few things that connect us – no matter where we live, what we do, who we are. And yes, I'm a pretty heavy consumer myself of drama, reality TV and lifestyle and a massive fan of Colin from Accounts. I'm really excited by both the sport and entertainment offerings here, and the challenge of driving subscriptions, attracting more viewers, and retaining them. There's a great story to be told, and being part of a team that's doing that is something I'm genuinely looking forward to. 

For me, it's a challenge, but an exciting one - how we make sure to leverage and amplify everything we've got across both the sport and entertainment offerings to make sure they sign up, stay with us, and understand that we are both the home of sport and a great home for entertainment as well. Stay tuned! 

Q: Looking ahead, what are you most looking forward to in 2026? 

Everything. Learning more about the group and the global power and scale and innovation of DAZN.  And really driving home the impact Foxtel Group has - through the investment of a billion dollars in sports rights and production, and how that trickles down from the elite game to the grassroots. But also, the $130 million a year investment in drama, news and entertainment, which has enabled so many great Australian programmes - shows like Colin from Accounts, Wentworth, High Country. And I grew up watching Prisoner, so the Wentworth comeback is fantastic. 

I think there's an opportunity, as Australia's biggest media company, to reinforce that position – along with us being the biggest broadcaster of women’s sport in Australia - not only telling people what we offer, but the impact we have on the community as a whole. That's probably under-represented, and it's something I want to spend a lot of time in this role making sure people understand. 

Q: What would you say are your career highlights? 

Being part of the creation of the Gold Coast Suns and the Greater Western Sydney Giants - both were challenging and complex pieces of work, but genuinely rewarding and then supporting a third start-up club to get off the ground in Tasmania has been very exciting! 

Those early days of police reporting were really formative too - you're dealing with people in pretty tense, sometimes ugly situations. It gave me an insight into the need to  engage with people from a lot of different backgrounds. 

You see people at their best, and in my former roles, you often have to try and help people to be the best they can be on their worst days. It does teach you humility and empathy, to stay calm, to operate when nothing is quite black and white and that it is okay to take strong action but that doesn’t mean you can’t be kind in your views or show empathy for people. And that the key priority always is the physical, mental and emotional health, welfare and safety of people, not the comms. It always comes back to the people I've met along the way. Great people in journalism, sport and broadcasting – and life - and the lessons I've learned from people far smarter and more experienced than me have been a real privilege. 

Q: Finally, what career advice would you offer someone just starting out? 

Find a way. Always find a way. I have it tattooed on me so I never forget. Don't get stopped by the first hurdle, or the second, or the third - you always have to find a way through. 

And sometimes the fight or the journey to get somewhere is the point of the whole thing, not the destination itself.  

No matter how similar two events are, there is always something different about them and you need to consider the people, the context, the facts and the environment in that moment, at that time and adapt accordingly.  Everyone reacts differently and so should we. 

 And finally, listen more than you talk. I have always learned more than I have taught and still find it a privilege to be able to learn from all the people I meet.