AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.Credit:AFL Photos
The panel will investigate separately to the league’s integrity department into allegations raised by anonymous Indigenous Hawks playerswhich were published by the ABC on Wednesday morning.
McLachlan said he had not considered whether he would remain CEO longer than planned if the AFL panel’s investigation was still underwaywhen he expects to step down some time after the end of the season.
He said the investigation will take months and added “there is certainly an issue about whether it would be appropriate for me to leave” while it was ongoing.
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“The allegations are that serious and people’s livelihoods are at stake,” McLachlan said.
“And there are people who have suffered great trauma who need to be worked through this,and I feel that the responsibility for all this does sit in the remit of this office,ultimately. So,there’s certainly fair questions and I don’t have an answer.”
The ABC reported that in an external consultants report – commissioned afterallegations made by former premiership star Cyril Rioli and his partner Shannyn inThe Age –former First Nations players alleged that during their playing days at Hawthorn they were told to live separately from their families,and,in some cases,forced to cut ties. One player and his partner were allegedly pressured to terminate a pregnancy.