It's been a rough year for Gillon McLachlan.

An AFL chief executive is always going be a target for every football grievance — petty or profound — of those in, and on, the outer.

Outrage is oxygen on social media, and there's not a high bar for condemnation of McLachlan on any day of the week.

But this week he's been sucked into an affair that touches on trust in institutions other than the AFL, after a week where the behaviour of those in the public domain has been a topic of national discussion, and even disgust.

McLachlan did nothing illegal if he indeed asked his representatives to contact Mr Dutton's office to help the woman connected to his second cousin.

McLachlan's cousins are free to make sizeable donations to the Liberal party, and Mr Dutton says he wasn't aware of the donations when making the decision.

But in the same way that Mr Dutton has faced questions about whether there are favours for the rich and well-connected, especially in a divisive area like immigration, McLachlan will have to face the questions about his own role in the same scenario.

Mr Dutton is not the only one who faces questions over his role in approving a visa for a French au pair. ( ABC News: Matthew Abbott )

He has kept a low profile during the political firestorm but is scheduled to keep to a regular media appearance tomorrow.

Interest will be high in his explanation, because for general punters it's a bad look, leading to a perception that the AFL chief merely has to flick along an email to prompt a government minister to use discretionary powers. He's never really been seen as the 'everyman', but this really doesn't help.

The whole affair has hit a nerve with the AFL fans who are dismayed by its missteps in recent times, and strengthen a perception that the AFL is out of touch with the expectations of mainstream Australia, not to mention the average footy fan.

McLachlan's own tone-deaf remarks when defending a plan to shorten AFLW's regular season, comparing it, bizarrely, to the length of soccer's World Cup finals.

The public weariness over the AFL's rule changes and its nonchalant floating of the idea to trial them in the latter weeks of the season, as if there were no integrity issues involved.

The tortured handling of allegations that a Port Adelaide player inappropriately touched a woman in a nightclub. Further back, the inexplicable tardiness of a strong response to racist taunts against Adam Goodes. That's not to mention the expensive tangential obsession that is AFLX.

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For all the good that McLachlan has indeed done for the game — AFLW began on his watch, in particular, and consecutive seasons of record attendances — these blunders have added distance between the AFL and its own community, in stark contrast to the code's pride in being at the forefront of social issues, championing gender equality, same sex marriage, anti-bullying, fighting racism, and promoting a slew of progressive causes.

McLachlan sacked two senior lieutenants last year over propriety, namely their extra-marital affairs. The strong punitive attitude was noted, at the same time as questions were raised about why it took the AFL weeks to respond to complaints from whistle-blowers within the organisation.

Cloaking an organisation in worthy causes will never stop scrutiny

Regarding the visa issue, the attitude from AFL HQ has been to shrug: It wasn't his au pair. Nothing to answer. Ticketing snafus are a bigger issue.

A series of politicians on both sides of the House in recent years have been accused of various forms of misusing their positions. McLachlan isn't an elected official, and he hasn't done anything illegal.

But when other issues have conspired to see the AFL accused of being out of touch, it'd be wise of him to accept that perceptions are important in a country that's heartily sick of the misuse of power, and open up about his actions.

C'est la vie.