Hawthorn presidential candidate Andy Gowers has issued a scathing series of criticisms against outgoing president Jeff Kennett, claiming the latter has left a $25 million “black hole” at the club.
Gowers is vying for the presidency along with acting president Peter Nankivell, who has been endorsed by Kennett.
In an online ‘Hawks for Change’ rally, Gowers said Kennett’s social media criticisms of the Victorian government had played a part in a funding shortfall for the club’s proposed new Dingley headquarters.
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“Let‘s start with the facts, the concept of Dingley was committed to when I was still on the board, so five years ago in 2017. We fast-forward to now and there was a recent announcement of Dingley not being ready until 2025, so that is a further delay,” he said.
“We are unfortunately in an environment where inflation is running rampant, construction costs are rising rapidly, labour is hard to get to deliver projects, and we have a Kennett black hole in our Dingley plans in terms of the funding.
“So why is that the case? Every single person listening today would understand that late-night tweets from our outgoing president Jeff Kennett criticising government officials do not help our cause when we look to the state government for funding.”
The expected $15 million funding commitment is coupled with a further $10 million from club benefactors Gowers claims won’t be funnelled in “until the outgoing president and his proxies are out of the club.”
He added: “We should receive funding based on our funding, not on our late-night social media activity.”
Gowers played 89 games for Hawthorn and 140 AFL games overall.
A former football director at the Hawks, Gowers said he was dismayed to watch the messy exit of four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson at the end of 2021.
“Last year we all watched in shock as our modern-day champion coach, Alastair Clarkson, was sent packing from our club,” he said.
“We saw ‘Clarko’ being treated like a stranger, rather than the successful coach, who guided us out of an era in the footy doldrums, and onto four flags, the most of any coach in our history.
“We tuned in with despair seeing Clarko sitting on one side of a hastily convened, very awkward media conference, and listened to Jeff begin with the words, ‘The board has decided not to renew Alastair’s contract’ and it stirred up a hornets’ nest of emotions.”
“We watched on in disbelief, and the financial settlement (to Clarkson) has meant that we were unable to pay the full soft-cap in the football department this year, which hinders our football program.”
Gowers also weighed in on the AFL’s independent inquiry into historical allegations of racism at the club, which stem in part from a report he labelled “shocking”.
“At the same time, I’m deeply uncomfortable with the fact that those accused of the allegations have not had the opportunity to speak,” he said.
“So I support the AFL’s independent inquiry so that there can be healing for all involved. We can’t be content with being ‘culturally safe’, Hawthorn should be the benchmark, not the bare minimum.
“It’s a very low bar to aim to be culturally safe. Surely, that’s the minimum. We want to be leaders, not doing the minimum.”
