The Brisbane Lions paid tribute to AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou today as he announced he would stand down at the end of the 2014 season.

Brisbane Lions CEO Malcolm Holmes said Mr Demetriou had overseen the game during a time of incredible growth and development.

“Andrew has driven an incredible amount of change for good in his time in the game’s top job,” said Mr Holmes.

“He has been a champion of developing our game across the nation, especially in non-traditional AFL markets such as Queensland.

“The massive growth in the number of people playing the game across Queensland is testament to Andrew’s passion for spreading the AFL “word” across our state.

“Andrew’s incredible commitment places him in a special echelon of administrators to have made a real and enduring impact on our great game.”