Hawthorn need a fresh start without Kennett

By James Morrissey August 17, 2021 â€" 5.00am

I am a Hawthorn Football Club supporter, paid-up member, life member and past player.

For some time, key decisions at the club have been dominated by the personality and politics of our president Jeff Kennett and accepted by a seemingly compliant board. This outdated leadership arrangement could be palatable if everything went well, but that is now not the case.

Decisions have become increasingly damaging and polarising. They have overshadowed the successes of the current leadership, which include strong membership figures, a determined Dingley vision and, better late than never, an AFLW licence.

Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett, left, and outgoing coach Alastair Clarkson.Credit:AFL Photos

I would like the board to undergo an overhaul and for Kennett to step aside and allow space for renewal. I say this out of concern for my club, and not out of other motives, like aspiration to the board or as part of a challenging group.

Here are some of the decisions of main concern to me.

First is the ousting of our coach. I thank Alastair Clarkson for outstanding services to the club, more than flags. He is the modern coach and ‘true Hawthorn’. He wished to fight on and rebuild with youth towards a generation of new silverware, but the board said no. So, Clarkson is free to coach elsewhere.

Kennett, who has also given great service, never seemed to warm to the feisty ex-North Melbourne and Melbourne half-back. Aside from the noisy and painful transition, a succession plan that predictably fell apart, the takeaway here is that the board is, almost unanimously, removing the coach considered the best in the modern era - four premiership teams in 17 years.

I applaud the list rebuild and accept its on-field pain. I mean no disrespect to Sam Mitchell, already an excellent coach, but Clarkson is a ‘one in a generation’. That, in my view, should have been that.

Another decision, an ongoing one, is not to ratify the nomination of Don Scott as a club legend. Scott fought off a club merger with Melbourne in 1996. It took dedication from others, then and since, but it is widely accepted that foremost, with courage against odds, he saved us.

In 2019, Scott, who played 300 games, was fittingly nominated by a club awards committee for legend status. But the board were unwilling to bow to his enigmatic demands, to relocate the award ceremony away from the AGM. Almost as disappointing as the continuing stand-off is the general reaction by many: a smile, roll of the eyes and “that’s just Jeff being Jeff”.

Yes, that is trademark Kennett, but the board’s decision is not how the family, let alone Scott, should be treated. Scott won’t claim it a humiliation, but I call it one.

Third was the decision, earlier in 2021, not to rule out a wholesale club move to Tasmania.

This was dismissed by some as an ambiguous jest. With due respect to Tassie, the comment brought less than a smile to the faces of some, who warily remember the views of Kennett, among others, on a merger with Melbourne. Albeit 25 years ago, that mindset sends a warning that if things go downhill quickly, as they may well do with COVID-19, decisions about our fundamental existence as a club will again come to the fore.

In any case, Tasmania deserves nothing less than its own start-up licence and I hope our board would respect and ultimately support that.

A fourth decision was to use the forum of the 2020 Hawthorn AGM, to make a thinly veiled criticism of the Victoria Government. This politicising, I believe not the board’s first or last, was disrespectful to the club members and could be damaging, regarding maintaining a beneficial partnership with that government.

A fifth example is the decision to continue with the pokies hypocrisy at Hawthorn. I am referring to how our gambling revenue addiction sits in contrast to our important relationship with the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.

Well over a year since the club hinted at withdrawal from the pokies business, our machines keep on going ‘kerching’.

Collectively, these decisions and others have taken our club to a space that is far from where we should be.

I assume some board members would privately have concerns with much of this, but who would know?

I hope that, in the best interests of the club, Kennett and relevant board members behind the decision-making, will humbly call it a day and allow space for a fresh start.

James Morrissey is a three-time Hawthorn premiership player

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