Kennett said he respected that neither Silk nor Gowers had spoken about their candidacies,but expressed disappointment in the fact that the board contest had become a public issue,via the “Hawks for Change” group,which has launched an online campaign and GoFundMe page and is backing the challengers in part to loosen Kennett’s grip on the board and hasten his exit.
“I don’t like the public debate,” said the Hawk president. “We are not Collingwood. We are Hawthorn ... this is not the Hawthorn way.”
The Hawks for Change group has raised more than $17,000 as of late Friday night on their GoFundMe page,their groupincluding triple premiership Hawk James Morrissey and 1971 premiership player Bruce Stevenson,who served on the club board from 2012 until 2017. It is also backed by Comedy Festival chairman Bill Shannon,who is prominent in advertising,and they have engaged the services of an ex-ALP state political campaign operative Stephen Donnelly.
Kennett criticised the fundraising for the group’s campaign,in which further board challenges are envisaged next year. “The very fact that they’re raising money from the public I find extraordinary and don’t know who’s managing that,I don’t know who’s accounting for it.”
Andy Gowers,in his playing days.Credit:Archives
Asked if he intended to complete his term as president,which runs until the end of 2023,Kennett said:“Absolutely.” He added:“The club has never been in a better position.”
The Hawks for Change say that their supporters include Liberal Party members and supporters,too,in a counter to Kennett’s suggestions that there is a political party element to their group’s opposition to the former Victorian premier.
Gowers’ nomination was seconded by Laurie Anderson,vice-president of Hawthorn’s oldest coterie group,the Confreres.
If elected,Gowers would join football director and ex-skipper Richie Vandenberg as the second player on a board that Kennett took over late in 2017.
Kennett has enjoyed strong majority support from the board and,as he pointed out,has not been opposed directly in any of his terms as president,from 2005 to 2011 or since 2017. But he and the board have been subjected to criticism for the handling of senior coach Alastair Clarkson’s forced exit and payout of $900,000 for his 2022 contract in the handover to Sam Mitchell.
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Re-elected unopposed at the end of last year,Kennett has a further two years to run on his second term in his second stint as president.
But any move to unseat Kennett from the presidency is complicated by the fact that,under the club constitution,the president is elected directly by the members,rather than by a board majority.
“I respect the club,I respect the members,” said Kennett. “I hope that we can continue to talk to the candidates,where that might lead God knows. But I don’t want there to be Hawthorn on the front or back pages of the paper between now and Christmas.”
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