‘We need strong leadership’: Merlino’s concerns over disconnect at Hawthorn

Hawthorn board candidate James Merlino wants the Hawks to conduct a deep dive into their culture after a series of red flags in 2022 signalled to him there was a disconnect between the administration and the club’s players and members.

Until recently Merlino was Victoria’s former deputy premier, education minister and minister for mental health.

Former deputy premier James Merlino is a candidate for the Hawthorn boardCredit: The Age

Now he has decided to run for a seat on the Hawthorn board at December’s annual general meeting amid growing concerns he has about its direction.

He said he first wondered what was happening at the club he supported when four-time premiership player Cyril Rioli revealed in April that he did not want to return to the club.

“We are not the family club if you’ve got past players and their families who want nothing to do with the Hawthorn Football Club,” Merlino said.

That initial concern became deeper when Merlino read the “harrowing” allegations made during the club commissioned review into cultural safety at the club that has led to the AFL establishing an independent process to investigate the allegations.

He wants that process to run its course but once it is complete and the findings are known he wants to ensure the Hawks deliver an “open, transparent, compassionate response to the independent AFL investigation.”

Merlino was then shocked when Peter Nankivell, chair of the six-person nominations committee convened to identify a potential successor to the president Jeff Kennett, became that potential successor. At about the same time Merlino was announcing his retirement from state politics.

As Merlino contemplated what he might do he says he met with Nankivell and was disappointed when the president-elect told him would be a transitional president, a position sources said Nankivell has also put to other stakeholders. Nankivell, who has made no secret of his view he would serve one three-year term, believes that it is important for an existing board member to help the club transition from one era to the next to ensure continuity and growth.

Merlino said: “My view is that is exactly not what the club needs. We need strong leadership [that is] in for the long haul. We are not going to be successful in either our men’s and women’s program until we get the off-field right.”

Sam Mitchell has a bold plan for the teamCredit: AFL Photos

Merlino decided to run as an independent and to back former Hawk Andrew Gowers in his bid against Nankivell to become president however he wants to be clear he supports the on-field direction Sam Mitchell and Bec Goddard are leading as coaches of the AFL and AFLW programs.

He believes strongly that the Kennedy Community Centre being planned for Dingley will set the club up for the next 50 to 100 years. He also wants to see a standalone Tasmanian team enter the competition, while hoping the Hawks can continue in the Apple Isle until that happens, and is cognisant of the need to find new revenue streams.

Merlino also says he can assist with expertise in strategy and governance while he will “engage with the government of the day and advocate for the Dingley project”.

“We are not the family club if you’ve got past players and their families who want nothing to do with the Hawthorn Football Club.”

James Merlino

But he says those charged with driving those initiatives need the right direction to be successful.

“There are great people in the club,” Merlino said.

“We’re not attacking the club. We want to actually make a positive difference. Under the current leadership of the club at the board level we have allowed some of these cultural issues to fester and I am concerned about that.”

His determination to represent members on the board was only strengthened when both he and Gowers had to scramble to get their nominations in before the deadline because of the lack of communication on the issue.

“[That] points to an off field administration who is fearful of its members,” Merlino said.

He is one of five candidates chasing three board vacancies, with Box Hill president Ed Sill and three board-backed candidates, existing board members Katie Hudson and Anne-Marie Pellizer and the nominee to replace Nankivell if he succeeds as president, Maria Lui, all putting their hands up.

Merlino is not part of the Hawks for Change group, but he is backing Gowers, pointing to his experience as a Hawthorn premiership player in 1991 and football director from 2013 to 2017, as well as five seasons at the Lions in the late ’90s when they were building towards their three-peat as strong credentials. That, combined with off-field success, makes Gowers, in Merlino’s view, the right candidate to succeed Jeff Kennett.

He says the fraying culture made it impossible for the club to meet the strategic objectives they set five years ago and believes fresh voices are needed at board level to restore pride in the club that he argues has lost the respect of the football community.

“We are not going to be successful in either our men’s and women’s program until we get the off field right,” Merlino said.

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