Aylett is best known for his career as an administrator in the 1970s and 1980s. He was elected to the position of North Melbourne Football Club president in 1971, and his innovative off-field leadership in securing sponsorship and running corporate entertainment – including the rise of the North Melbourne Grand Final Breakfast as one of the Grand Final's most prominent events – followed by his aggressive recruitment of star players, particularly through the use of the short-lived "ten year rule" in 1973, turned North Melbourne from perennial also-rans to a professionally run powerhouse of the 1970s, and the club contested five consecutive Grand Finals between 1974 and 1978, winning two.