Hi there Happy Hawkers.

Well, the AFLW season is drawing to a close, and our team has had a great start to their inaugural season within the competition.

With one game to be played this weekend in Perth, and although not in the final eight, they have had a great start, against opposition teams that have been competing for years.

To Bec Goddard and her team of coaches, administrators and players, thank you for wearing the brown and gold with such distinction. We have also recorded 5,577 members who have signed up as AFLW members, which is among the top clubs in the competition. This is fantastic and bodes well for our AFLW team in the future.

As we come to the end of the calendar year, the club has recorded some wonderful achievements, and is in good shape as we look to the future.

Sam Mitchell and his team have settled in well and the trade period has built on Sam’s vision to build our next premiership team.

The board has sold our gaming venues at the market’s best price, to provide so much of the finance required to build the Kennedy Community Centre. It may have taken longer than some wished, but selling when we did, meant a huge upturn in the financial return. 

The board is involved in long and considered deliberations, particularly given the circumstances facing the construction industry, to build our new facility at Dingley for our men’s and women’s team.

When it is up and running, we will be the only team in the AFL to own its own facilities and land. Quite an achievement, which is a clear indication of the strength of the Hawthorn Football Club and its good governance.

We were deeply saddened by the findings of the survey among our First Nations players, past and present. While that survey re-enforced that the club is a culturally safe workplace for our current players, it did highlight some serious issues with some past players and their families. Their stories, anonymously told, were provided to the AFL integrity unit as we were required to do and as was recommended in the survey report. The AFL is now conducting its investigations.  

That said we have already been working with the families concerned to better understand their concerns and assist them where possible and reasonable.

We, like you, await the results of the AFL’s investigation.

That said, as we work hard to provide a safe and enjoyable workplace for all our employees, no workplace should ever be afraid, as we have at Hawthorn, to survey employees, to get their honest reaction to their experiences. If and where fault is found, it can then be addressed. Without that knowledge, more faults may continue. 

Asking the questions of our past players was the right thing to do. The survey results were made public before we could address the allegations through a proper process.

On a personal note, I today have entered hospital for another back operation. A result of years of gardening, running from home to Parliament House in the 90’s, and, while I hate to say it, part of the process through life.

As I will be out of action for some weeks, I again will be handing the responsibility of leading the club to my Vice President Peter Nankivell.

Peter has stood in for me before, and we are lucky to have Peter’s experience, knowledge and personal values, that the delegation will again be seamless.

I will return in a couple of weeks, hopefully more upright, and fitter to complete my term as President at the AGM on December 13.

Before then we will go through the election process for your next board.

Peter is offering himself as President, with the unanimous support of the board. He has a deep knowledge of the club and the relationships that make it tick. Peter has his own exciting ideas for club’s future.

The board is also unanimously supporting the return of Dr Anne-Marie Pellizzer and Katie Hudson.

Anne-Marie is our medical representative on the board, and ever since I was first elected President, I have insisted we have a highly qualified medical person on the board, not only to advise us on issues facing our players but our broader staff and past players.

From a point of view of good governance, I think a senior medical person on the board is essential for a contact sport, but also for the issues we all face as employees and families.
 
Further, Anne-Marie was with Ian Dicker and Don Scott when they fought off the merger with Melbourne in 1996, and it was Anne-Marie that came up with the slogan “Proud, Passionate and Paid Up.”

She has been working for the club ever since and joined the board in 2019. With her extensive history in brown and gold she is also responsible for Hawthorn history, tradition and past players at the club. 

Katie Hudson also joined the board in 2019. We asked her to join because we wanted a person on the board who had proven financial skills to ensure the club remained financially sound and in surplus.

Katie is co-owner of Yarra Capital, a very successful Australian Fund Manager. Her contribution on the board and to the club over the last few years has been invaluable, as it will in the future as we navigate our way to the development of the Kennedy Community Centre. 

The board, on your behalf, wants to ensure the club remains one of the most financially successful in the AFL.

Katie is also the chair of the club’s the Finance and Audit Committee and the AFLW Football Committee.

Katie, also by way of interest, is the daughter of one of our 1961 premiership players the late Reg Poole. 

Because I hope you will support the board’s recommendation that Peter Nankivell will succeed me as President, it means there is a vacancy on the board. After a careful process the board has nominated Maria Lui, who has agreed to offer herself. 

Maria has been working on our Hawthorn Football Club’s Foundation Board and is the Chair of the Hawks Community Foundation. She has been working for the club for years. She has been and is a great contributor.

Maria is also a lawyer and if elected will assume the legal and governance portfolio that Peter currently holds.

This is just part of the club’s prudent succession planning. Stability at a board level is critical to deliver the success we all want. 

The board asks for your support in voting for each of these candidates to ensure strong, continuous leadership. A senior medical, financial and legal professional. The ingredients of a highly competent board.

There are three other candidates offering, as is their right. Ed Sill who is the President of our Box Hill Hawks, a senior businessperson, and a long-term Hawthorn person. 

The other two candidates are Andy Gowers and James Merlino who are both long term members of the club. 

Both honourable men, but Hawthorn operates as a portfolio driven board and our focus in ensuring we have the right mix of skills, which is why we are endorsing the people we are. 

Everyone bringing a specific skill to the table. It is why we have achieved the success we have over the last 14 years. Four premierships, and with Sam Mitchell as our Senior Coach the future looks great as well. 

So, as I leave you for a few weeks, hopefully to emerge stronger and fitter, but just in case I do not, I wanted you, our members, to know my strong views to ensure your club, our club, my club remains strong, and continues to grow in the future.

Please do not give in to those who seek to weaken our strengths. A strong united professional board, a strong administration, and a strong football department. 

We have seen recently with some other clubs where division has led to great difficulties. Please when the time comes to vote from the 18th November, vote for those who are experienced, have given hundreds of hours of their time voluntarily to build our club to where it is today.

I leave you in Peter’s strong and safe hands, as I go to commit myself to the skills of Victoria’s medical teams.

Stay well. Have fun and most of all Go Hawks.

Jeff Kennett

President
Hawthorn Football Club