The appointment of the former AFL player and life member of Hawthorn FC to one of the top jobs in Australian football raised eyebrows among local fans.

But far from being stung by the reaction, the 38-year-old lawyer said handing over the controls to a football player in the future would signal the fulfilment of a key objective.

Holland is less than three weeks into the job after stepping into the shoes of long-time PFA leader Brendan Schwab, a former AFL man who led the players’ union for nearly two decades.

“The A-League itself is quite young but I think there are  many worthy candidates from the executive that may well be sitting in my position down the track,” Holland told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“People who have played in the A-League, perhaps internationally, and hopefully transitioned through the use of the career pathways we can provide for them through the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.

“I’ve only met two sides (Victory and Heart) but the quality of player and their awareness of the importance of education and their knowledge of the CBA are second to none.

“This is an organisation created by the players for the players so I think it would be ideal if down the track I was handing it to a Simon Colosimo-type player.”

Heart defender, Colosimo, is the PFA president and an outspoken advocate of player rights.

“It would be ideal to see a player running their organisation,” Holland said.

The one-time AFL Players’ Association delegate admits he has a lot to learn about the game but if nothing else, he has hit the ground running.

With a broadcast rights deal pending and a new CBA to be nutted out there’s hardly time to draw breath.

Having met with players from both Melbourne clubs, he flies into Mascot today to catch up with the squad from Sydney FC and hopes to touch base with all 10 A-League clubs before the month’s end.

Later in the week he has his first and possibly last meeting with Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley before former NRL boss David Gallop steps into the hot seat.

Holland has identified the development of career pathways as a cornerstone of his fledgling reign and is certain to make it a feature of the CBA negotiations.

Speaking about the pending talks he said: “There are obviously things that we feel are very important.

“Obviously the players’ contract security is a key issue, their injury protection and the investment in player development is another thing that I’m particularly keen on.

“I understand there is a short period of your life when you’re at this elite level and then you need something else once you’ve finished.”

Holland said he wanted to look at ways of smoothing the transition from playing to retirement and also from domestic to overseas leagues.

He also hopes to take a look at the AFL Next Goal program to see how it might be adapted to promote post football career options for players.

There is a lot to nail down in a short period of time.

With new contract negotiations opening on November 1 for 2013/14, Holland said players will want to know how much the broadcast rights are delivering the game.

While he hasn’t worked with Gallop before, he said two “fresh faces” at the negotiating table should pave the way for “open and candid” discussions.

“When the broadcast rights deal was initially signed, seven years ago now, obviously the broadcaster Foxtel got a good deal,” Holland said.

“The A-League has come on in leaps and bounds since then and so we’re hoping for a much better deal.

“The players aren’t going in there and saying, let’s carve it up, but if there’s more money coming into the game, well the players are the ones putting on the spectacle so they’re entitled to a fair and equitable share of that.”

With all that going on, there’s the small matter of familiarising himself with the world game. Although it wasn’t a prerequisite of getting the job, Holland said understanding football was key to connecting with players.

“That’s something I’m quite excited about,” he said. “I follow the game and respect their skills but as far as the tactics and some of the terminology of the game are concerned I’m going to have to get up to speed with that.

“I think you need to learn pretty quickly the landscape of football in Australia, understand the background and I’ve got a good support team around me to help with that.

“I’m looking forward to getting along to some of the A-League games first of all and obviously watching the Socceroos in the next 10 days or so and really gaining an appreciation of the technicalities of the game.”