Heat on Jeff Kennett again as discontent grows among Hawks members
Jeff Kennett has polarised opinion with his views on the pandemic. And he believes this is linked to a supporter group’s push for change at board level.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says a campaign for board upheaval at the club is linked to his outspoken views on the state government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Angst over the Hawks’ ownership of poker machines and the decision to end coach Alastair Clarkson’s 17-year reign was also behind the push, the former Victorian premier said.
A new group, Hawks for Change, launched a website on Thursday calling on members to back their cause just days after ex-Australian Super boss Ian Silk and Hawthorn premiership player Andy Gowers announced plans to challenge for board positions.
Kayo is your ticket to the best local and international sport streaming Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial >
“This is not so much an attack on the running of the club or the position of the club, this is a very cleverly targeted attack on me, which I accept,” Kennett said.
“I have broad shoulders and I think you’ll find there will be many within the organisation who understand that at times the right decisions have got to be made for the right reasons.”
Among the Hawks for Change backers are triple premiership player James Morrisey and Bill Shannon, the advertising man behind former premier Steve Bracks’ election campaign.
“Bill Shannon has been a Labor man for years and so much of this campaign is in response to my public comments about the performance of the current government,” Kennett said.
“What they are trying to do, many of them — not all — is to either silence me or to remove the platform that I have as a former premier and as an experienced individual in commerce, politics and not-for-profits.
“It’s interesting that I saw no need to make public comments against the Bracks or Brumby Labor governments because while I may have been on the other side of politics, I’m motivated by good government, regardless of which political party forms that government.
“I have been concerned and remain concerned about the standards that this government has applied and have spoken publicly about them.”
On Morrisey, Kennett said: “James Morrisey’s comments are not surprising. He has been opposed to the club having poker machines for some years and has at the last two AGMs asked for us to get rid of them and we have indicated to him that we will do so when there is an opportunity to do so.
“We certainly can’t do it now, because with the venues being closed for the best part of the last two years, their value has dropped considerably and will only be sold at a loss.
“It would be an act of lunacy to sell assets at a loss at this time.”
Kennett also scoffed at the group’s claims Hawthorn had lost its community touch.
“We have never been more community based in the history of the club,” he said.
“We now have our VFL team, an AFL team, a VFLW team, we’ve just been given our AFLW licence, we have a wheelchair team, a blind team and we have three netball teams.
“One of the sadnesses about these expressions of concern is that they are often made with very little knowledge of what is actually happening at the club.
“Much of the agitation is to do with the ending of Alastair Clarkson’s term, which we all understand, but of course, at times any organisation has got to make decisions that are in the best interests of the future of the club.
“And after what was going to be 18 years, 17 years is an extraordinary long period of time for anyone to be in a leadership position.
“So we understand some peoples’ concerns but if you have a look at our performance since 2015 it’s been seven years where in fact we haven’t performed as we would have wished and it was time for change.”
Kennett added: “I first took on this job in 2005 with a collegiate board, which rebuilt the club, which led to our first premiership in 2008 and laid a foundation for what followed under my successor, which was three premierships.
“We know what has to be done to perform on the field and importantly the club, as a result of the collective work of the current board, has ensured that we remain a non-assisted club, building Dingley with a strong membership and a very bright future.”
Kennett said the Hawks already had a “very complete board” full of “very independent, highly-qualified people who have kept this club in surplus for years”.
Former 1971 premiership player and former Hawthorn director Bruce Stevenson, and Lyn Sutton, president of the Thornbirds, are also behind the Hawks for Change group.
Silk and Gowers are expected to nominate for the board in the lead up to the club’s December 14 AGM.
Kennett is in his second stint as Hawthorn president, after returning in 2017. His term ends at the end of 2023.
CLARKO’S SHOCK NEW AFL ROLE
Tasmania has a new weapon in the battle for an AFL team.
Alastair Clarkson has joined the fight to provide specialist input and directly engage CEO boss Gill McLachlan and the AFL Commission.
Premier Peter Gutwein made the announcement in Parliament on Thursday that Clarkson had joined the state’s AFL Taskforce, albeit for six months.
“The services of Alastair Clarkson is a significant boost to our team and brings us another step closer to securing our own Tasmanian Football Club AFL licence,” Mr Gutwein said.
The AFL Commission and 18 AFL clubs will vote next year on whether or not to grant Tasmania a 19th AFL club license.
Clarkson will work on:
- Funding for a Tasmanian AFL team
- Stadium and Infrastructure development
- A statewide football pathway and structure, including talent identification and development pathways
- Helping generate membership and private equity considerations
“Alastair will use his existing knowledge, and his access to prime American sports teams, to provide a specification on what is required for a best-of-breed Training and High Performance Centre,” Mr Gutwein said.
“And he will also provide input on the best way to engage with ex-Tasmanian AFL players both here and interstate.
“The initial engagement for will be for six months – and will include specific interaction with Gillon McLachlan, the AFL Commission and the working party, as part of delivering this project.”
REVEALED: DETAILS OF CLARKO’S US TRIP
Clarkson will spend the next four months in the United States as he looks to further his sport and business development base before almost certainly returning to AFL coaching in 2023.
Clarkson, 53, jetted out of Melbourne late last week where he has a busy schedule planned with some of the US’s leading sporting franchises.
Clarkson’s manager James Henderson confirmed details of the trip to News Corp.
“Clarko is now in the US for the next four months or so,” Henderson said.
“He has a full-on schedule in sport, business and further education.
“He’s thrown himself in the deep end as usual.”
Having knocked back an offer to coach Carlton next year, as well as an early approach from Collingwood, Clarkson always planned to travel overseas during his time away from the game to look at leading international sports franchises.
The four-time Hawthorn premiership coach, who was sensationally not offered a new contract after 17 seasons with the Hawks, stepped away from coaching at the end of this season.
He chose not to coach out the final year of the final deal in 2022, saying he believed it was better to clear the pathway for Sam Mitchell to take over as coach.
Clarkson said on Fox Footy in the week leading up to Melbourne’s Grand Final win that it was “a significant lure” to coach another big Victorian team in the future.
He said as tempting as the approach was from Carlton and Collingwood, that it “wasn’t strong enough to overpower my thinking in terms of what my family and I need right now, and that’s a 12-month spell.”
“Now, in that 12 months, I’m quite serious when I’ve said this throughout the course of the year, I might find out that I can’t recharge the batteries and I don’t want to go again, or I think probably it’s in my DNA to want to coach again at the end of next year or the year after.
“But I want to use the next 12 months to try and find that out … I think it’s more likely I (will) get to the end of July or August next year and I can’t wait to get back into it again.”
Clarkson, 53, has often spent time abroad in the footy off-season in furthering his sporting and educational knowledge base.
It played a significant role in his success as a coach who looked at other sports across the world in order to adapt some of those thoughts and philosophies back to AFL football.
But this break from coaching has provided an opportunity to spend more time abroad without having to be back for the start of pre-season training was too good an opportunity to pass up.
UNDER-FIRE KENNETT STEELS FOR HAWKS BOARD CHALLENGE
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett is backing the club’s nominated candidates to withstand a potential board challenge.
It emerged on Monday, retired Australian Super boss Ian Silk and ex-player Andy Gowers are considering running for the Hawks board.
The club’s nominated pair for the December election are current director Tim Shearer and former Hawk Simon Taylor, in place of outgoing board member Radek Sali.
“We live in a democracy,” Kennett said.
“They (Silk and Gowers) have both spoken to me and I have the highest regard for both men, but I and the board will be supporting Tim Shearer, who is the director in charge of our foundation … and Simon Taylor.
“Simon represents the next generation and has been consistently involved in the club since he stopped playing.”
Kennett said Shearer was playing a “terribly valuable” role in helping raise funds for the club’s new Dingley headquarters.
Regarding criticism the club was yet to anoint his successor, Kennett said: “That will come. That’s obvious. (But) it’s two years away, we’re not getting excited.”
FLAG HERO TO CHALLENGE JEFF’S GRIP ON BOARD
Hawthorn is set for a shake-up, with a plan to challenge Jeff Kennett’s picks for vacant board seats.
Ian Silk, the outgoing boss of Australian Super, and Andrew Gowers, a 1991 Hawks’ premiership player and football director during the club’s recent flag years, are set to bid for board roles.
A source confirmed that both Mr Silk and Mr Gowers would put their hands up at the December 14 annual general meeting.
The move has the potential to shift the power balance on the board away from president Jeff Kennett.
Sources claim that the background push, which has been building for six months, took flight after the way Alastair Clarkson’s departure was handled.
It was understood that a high profile Hawthorn playing legend had backed Mr Silk and Mr Gowers’ move.
Former Suisse Vitamins executive Radek Sali is stepping down at the December meeting and Jeff Kennett has hand-picked former Hawthorn ruckman Simon Taylor to fill that vacancy.
Incumbent director Tim Shearer, a Kennett ally, is up for re-election.
Mr Kennett flagged Mr Sali’s board vacancy in a letter to members on Thursday October 7.
“Sadly, Radek Sali has informed us of his intention to move with his family to spend the majority of his time in northern NSW. For that reason, he has decided not to stand for re-election at the forthcoming AGM in December,” he wrote.
“We will miss Radek, as he brought to the table entrepreneurship, as well as his passion for the club. Radek always has us thinking outside the square, which ensures we do not become complacent.”
- additional reporting by James Bresnehan, Glenn McFarlane
More Coverage
Originally published as Heat on Jeff Kennett again as discontent grows among Hawks members
AFL Finals: Swans put Power to the sword as tensions rise
The Swans have hit the front early in this crunch preliminary final, what can the Power do to get back in the game, before it’s too late? Follow live.
Bruce! Footy fans all say the same thing
There was a beloved footy figure back on TV screens on Friday night and it left fans all making the same comments.