No joy for club saviour Don Scott

THE man credited with saving Hawthorn from merging in 1996, when he emotionally rallied supporters, says the club's Grand Final win on Saturday means "nothing" to him.

THE man credited with saving Hawthorn from merging in 1996, when he emotionally rallied supporters, says the club's Grand Final win on Saturday means "nothing" to him.

Don Scott said while he was pleased for Hawthorn players and supporters, he attended the match as an AFL life member, not as a Hawks supporter.

"No, I am not (a Hawthorn supporter)," Scott said.

"I am a committee member of the Hawthorn past players. I sat with other AFL life members on Saturday.

" Not one of them sits there and carries on . . . It (the premiership) has nothing to do with me."

In 1996, Scott's actions in tearing a mock-up of a proposed Hawthorn-Melbourne guernsey galvanised Hawks supporters to fight plans for the clubs to merge.

Saturday's premiership was Hawthorn's 10th, its first since 1991.

At the club's official Grand Final dinner celebrations at Crown on Saturday night, Hawks president Jeff Kennett acknowledged Scott, who captained Hawthorn to two premierships as well as playing in another, as the man who "saved the club" and thus made the 10th premiership possible.

Scott played down his role during the merger saga, and also questioned Hawthorn's values.

"I have got my reservations in what the values at Hawthorn stand for," he said.

"I just think a lot of the values I learnt at Hawthorn when I played there, and with the administration that was in existence - well, unfortunately those values have modelled me and those experiences have modelled me. And a lot of people see that as a bad thing."

Scott teamed with Ian Dicker to fight the merger. The two fell out some years later, and Scott unsuccessfully challenged Dicker's board.