Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has slammed the AFL’s match review changes, criticising the League’s newly implemented control over all decisions made.
AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking yesterday announced a host of changes to the often-controversial system, which sees the three-man Match Review Panel reduced down to only one adjudicator, Collingwood premiership player Michael Christian, in a bid to add greater consistency to decisions.
However the old MRP’s independent status away from the League is now over, with all of Christian’s decisions needing to be ticked off by Hocking before being made public.
Kennett says that the MRP’s independent nature did not need altering whatsoever.
“I don’t like that at all. The whole point of this is that it should be independent of the AFL,” he told SEN Drive.
“The person who sits there, they should have the independent authority. The AFL is the governing body. It should be sitting there looking at the governance issues. It shouldn’t have its hands in the till.
“I think there is a risk here that you’re going to get some matters challenged because the AFL doesn’t like what Michael has come up with.
“If you’re going to reform something or change something, you want to change it for the better. You want to have clear lines of responsibility. This has now got blurred lines of responsibility.”
While acknowledging the likelihood of greater consistency by only having one adjudicator, Kennett is worried for the large amount of responsibility that now falls on Christian’s shoulders.
The Hawks president believes reducing the panel down to two members would have benefitted from greater consistency, higher collective knowledge and split the responsibility of every decision made in half.
“Wisdom often comes from collective minds,” said Kennett.
“I think I would have preferred to see two people there at least given the responsibility for the whole season.
“It just puts a lot of responsibility on that person, so that if the public or the commentators differ and they start bitching and moaning, it can put a fair bit of pressure on one person.
“You can not only have the wisdom of two people’s experience but you’re splitting the responsibility slightly.”
Finally, Kennett opened up on his expectations for the Hawks and coach Alastair Clarkson next season.
He says that the four-time premiership coach is fully committed to Hawthorn, and says that he has high hopes for his side in the near future.
“I think he’s absolutely on board,” said Kennett.
“I said to Clarko that I’m only here for three years… My objective is next year, top eight, and anything is possible after that.
“He looked me in the eyes, as you know Clarko can, and he said, mate, my objective is to win next year. He is so focused.
“The boys have all just come back from a very good training session in New Zealand. They’re all fired up, they’ve recruited well and there’s a bounce in everyone’s step. We’re in a good place right now.”
Listen to Jeff Kennett chatting to the boys on SEN Drive in the player below: