Hawthorn racism saga: Jeff Kenett speaks after First Nations families open letter

Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has accused the AFL of trying to cover up its own failings by shifting the blame onto Hawthorn.

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Former Hawks president Jeff Kennett has accused the AFL of trying to cover up its own failings by threatening to apply sanctions to Hawthorn over the nine-month footy racism storm.

A day after the families at the centre of the saga revealed themselves for the first time, including triple premiership hero Cyril Rioli and his wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli, Kennett said he was deeply saddened by the impasse.

He said he hoped that an adequate resolution could be reached as soon as possible for the sake of all parties.

But he was insistent on Saturday that shouldn’t include any financial or draft penalties applied to Hawthorn, which the AFL said on Tuesday night remained a possibility.

Jeff Kennett. Picture: Getty Images

“The reality is that the AFL has totally washed their hands of it, having totally fouled up the process and they have been accusing Hawthorn all the way through to divert attention away from their own failings,” Kennett told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“The process we put in place (with the review into cultural safety) was absolutely appropriate. I think the AFL’s pursuit of Hawthorn is just the continuation of blame shifting.

“The reality is that any employer, regardless of whether it is footy, or commercial, or media … If you get told of an incident that causes concern - and that’s the Rioli story in April (last year) - you are bound to ask questions of others in the organisation to see whether the claim of one is more widespread or not. That’s what we did.”

Rioli went public with the fractured relationship between Hawthorn and some of its First Nations players 14 months ago.

He also suggested at the time he would not return to the club while Kennett remained as president.

Rioli and his wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli, Carl Peterson, Jermaine Miller-Lewis and his Montanah, and former Hawks staffer Leon Egan released a statement on Friday, saying they had been gutted by the “sh–show” of the past nine months.

Kennett said: “I have read Cyril and Shannyn’s statement of claim ... I think the whole thing is very, very sad and those of us who were there for some of the time when these accusations were made knew nothing about them.”

Asked about his relationship with Rioli, Kennett added: “I had a wonderful relationship with Cyril until Shannyn decided that they wanted to return to Darwin.”

Cyril Rioli. Picture: Michael Klein

“I had (a good relationship) with all of those boys … Carl (Peterson) is a wonderful individual, he would always have a grin on his face, a bit like Isaac Smith. I have actually got a painting of (Carl’s) that he did for me.

“The whole thing is very sad.”

Hawthorn’s current president Andrew Gowers said on 3AW on Saturday that the club was still in constant communication with the AFL, but stressed the Hawks believed there should be no scope for any penalties.

The AFL did not wish to comment on Kennett’s claims on Saturday when contacted by the Sunday Herald Sun.

But in the media release that followed Gillon McLachlan’s announcement that the league’s independent investigation into the affair had been shut down and an “imperfect” resolution reached with the families, the AFL addressed the matter of possible Hawthorn sanctions for breaching AFL rules in terms of commissioning and oversight in the initial report.

“The AFL is only able to impose sanctions for breaches of AFL Rules on persons subject to the AFL Rules and respects the right of the various parties to the Investigation (and those who decided not to participate) to pursue claims in other legal forums,” the statement said. “(These) outcomes do not interfere with those rights.”

Kennett was always highly critical of the AFL independent investigation, saying it had been “an unmitigated failure” with what he believes are collective legal fees totalling around $2 million.

“They (the AFL) are threatening to hold us (Hawthorn) to account and they have a range of options to do that,” he said. “But … I would imagine the (Hawthorn) board would not take that lightly.”

MITCHELL’S SADNESS FOR CYRIL

- Jason Phelan

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell expressed his sympathy for Cyril Rioli, and all involved in the racism ordeal that has engulfed the club, following his premiership teammate’s decision to issue a damning public statement on the matter on Friday.

Speaking after the Hawks’ 55-point loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday, Mitchell was asked for his personal reaction to the news that Rioli’s family was one of the four at the centre of the alleged racist incidents that sparked the eight-month long AFL investigation that ended without making any findings last week.

“The whole ordeal, for everyone involved, you just have to feel for everyone involved with the way that it’s played out,” Mitchell said.

“It’s impossible to know what people think and feel and all the different aspects.

“Cyril was a fantastic teammate, I loved playing footy with Cyril, with Junior Rioli playing today, he kicked four unfortunately, but there’s connections all over the place with Cyril and you can’t help but feel for everyone involved.

Sam Mitchell feels for Cyril Rioli and those involved in the Hawthorn racism saga.

“Cyril has been a friend and a teammate of mine for a long period of time and one day I’m sure we’ll get in touch and chat it out.”

The Hawks trailed by as much as 96 points at Adelaide Oval after a first-half blitz by the barnstorming Power, but in a stunning turnaround, the visitors kicked eight of the last 10 goals of the match.

Mitchell admitted the situation was grim at half-time and praised the resilience of his players.

“I chatted with them and said, ‘What do you want to do here boys because it’s going to go one of two ways?’ he said.

“The players are the ones who got us back into it.

“It wasn’t like the coaching group tactically got us back into it … it was the players who said, ‘Nah, we’re better than this and we’re going to play in a better way’.

“I was really proud of their energy, spirit and effort because it would have been easy to (got the other way).

“From our oldest player to our youngest I think we produced enough spirit to be confident in the direction that we’re going but we need a lot of work on the basics of the game against the best sides.”

Triple premiership champion Luke Breust was among his side’s best players with a five-goal haul taking him past the 500-goal milestone.

“Knowing him when he first came into the club as a young rookie, he’s just grown into a brilliant young man really,” Mitchell said of his premiership teammate.

“I think him kicking his 500th goal is the outside world getting a look at what we see on a daily basis, which I’m glad everyone gets to see because he’s a fantastic person around our club.

“The next generation of Hawks will be significantly better off for the influence that he’s had over his journey.”

Originally published as Hawthorn racism saga: Jeff Kenett speaks after First Nations families open letter