Jeff Kennett is ending his time as Hawthorn president in the one approach he is aware of – with all weapons blazing.
The former premier of Victoria has by no means ducked a political brawl and his newest tweets have raised the temperature additional in the battle for who succeeds him on the AFL membership.
On the one facet is present board member Peter Nankivell, who’s aligned with Kennett.
His challenger is 1991 Hawks premiership participant and former board member Andy Gowers, who has criticised the president in the lead-up to the December 13 election.
Adding additional spice, former Labor deputy premier James Merlino can also be operating for a spot on the membership board.
The Hawks model is ‘family club’ however for now, their home is split.
“Unemployed James Merlino, having jumped the Andrews disastrous government, now wants to join the Hawthorn board on a platform of governance,” Kennett has tweeted.
“Give me a break, if he was involved about governance why did he not apply that when in Cabinet.
“Now he wants to infect a great club. No way!”.
Similarly Kennett fired a shot at Gowers’ ticket for the membership election.
“Grab this James Merino, recently retired Andrews (government) minister and Andrew Gowers are part of a political push to gain election to the board … part of a ginger (sic) group that seeks diversity on the board,” he posted.
“But their group have never nor now seen fit, or found one woman to nominate for the board even though half our members are women.
“We have two women’s teams. Diversity! They want to turn the clock to HFC being a men’s club only.
“The board is supporting 3 women for the (election), 2 who are already serving.”
Kennett has served two phrases as Hawks president, from 2006-11 and once more since 2018.
During his tenure, Kennett has been a continuing critic of the AFL.
He additionally has been disparaged the Labor state authorities, one thing Gowers says has value the Hawks financially as they purpose to construct a brand new $100 million headquarters at suburban Dingley.
“Late-night tweets from our outgoing president Jeff Kennett criticising government officials does not help our cause when we look to the state government for funding,” Gowers stated.
“In addition, I personally know of several prominent Hawthorn people who simply won’t be giving us money for Dingley until the outgoing president and his proxies are out of the club.”
In a separate media interview, Gowers stated these withheld funds totalled $25 million.
The election comes at a fraught time for Hawthorn, with an ongoing impartial investigation into bombshell claims of racism on the membership from 2008-16.
© AAP
