New Cycling Australia CEO Nick Green has confirmed he was "chatted to" by headhunters about the AFL's chief executive post but, similar to the interview he attended for a vacancy at Carlton, never thought he was a legitimate contender.

In a wide-ranging interview with Fairfax four months into leading cycling's financially troubled national federation that accepted a $2 million loan last September, the former elite rower described his passage to his first CEO's position. Confirming he attended interviews with recruiter Egon Zehnder regarding both the AFL and Carlton CEO jobs that were subsequently filled by Gill McLachlan and Steven Trigg respectively, Green said of his discussion over the AFL's top job: "I was chatted to, but I used the opportunity with Egon Zehnder.

"I think when I went in there my first recommendation to them was 'Gill is the right man for the job, you should appoint him, now let's talk about something else!'

"I wasn't there to win the job, I was there to possibly put myself forward, in the eyes of Egon Zehnder, to put myself forward for other opportunities. Everybody does that.

"There were 100 people, as I understand, who were chatted to," Green said.

Egon Zehnder was engaged by the AFL to help find a new CEO for the league. It was announced last March that Andrew Demetriou would depart mid-season. He left in June. Egon Zehnder recommended Demetriou's deputy, McLachlan, to the AFL Commission.

After deciding it wanted a new CEO, Carlton's board also engaged Egon Zehnder to find a candidate to replace Greg Swann, who has now moved to the Brisbane Lions.

Green said of his interview regarding that position at Carlton: "I don't think I was a genuine contender. I think I was of interest for whatever reason.

"Because of the context of the interview, after the interview … I knew I wasn't going to be considered as a candidate for various reasons. So I actually hadn't allowed myself to contemplate whether I would fit in that environment."

Asked if he was approached by other Olympic sports, Green said: "There was one other sport but I won't go into it. It's irrelevant."

A Hawthorn supporter, Green was chef de mission for the Australian team for just one summer Olympics -  the London Games in 2012 – after being handed the somewhat unenviable task of filling the shoes of Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates who was team chef for six summer Olympics before passing on the baton to a fellow retired elite rower. He left the Victorian Major Events Company after six years with the organisation to join CA.

Kitty Chiller, who was deputy chef de mission to Green in London two years ago, had a clear path to take over after Green opted not to nominate for the position again.

Green, who remains on the AOC executive, was reluctant to revisit that history, telling Fairfax: "At the end of the day there was only one application in for the chef de mission role, and that was Kitty Chiller.

"I didn't apply, so in essence I wasn't eligible for the role. I had some reasons why my application wasn't there, but at the end of the day it wasn't there and Kitty will do a great job.

"I actually feel quite proud of the way I handled it [the chef de mission job], and the team I had around me and how we handled it. I think we did a terrific job."