Jeff Kennett says Hawthorn review alleging serious racism at club a ‘bump along the highway’

Outgoing Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says the leaking of racism allegations at the AFL club is “unfair” and he hopes the issue can be resolved by the end of the year.

Kennett said on Saturday night the club was not in crisis and he described the serious allegations as a “bump along the highway”. Kennett was speaking at the club’s best and fairest awards function.

He told the audience he was “somewhat flabbergasted - and worse” when he read the draft report of the club’s internal cultural review examining the experiences of Indigenous players and their partners while at Hawthorn.

That report was handed to the AFL which said it would establish a four-person panel to look at the allegations.

Four-time Hawks premiership coach Alastair Clarkson was named in the review detailing historic allegations from some Indigenous players between 2010 and 2016.

The report recommended the findings of alleged “negligence and human rights abuses” towards First Nations players committed by Clarkson, then-football manager Chris Fagan and development manager Jason Burt be reported to the AFL integrity unit.

Clarkson said on Wednesday the allegations were “false and deeply offensive” and those close to him knew “how important family is to me”. Fagan, now coaching Brisbane, has also categorically denied the allegations against him. Burt last week released a statement to “categorically deny the conduct attributed to me in the media”.

Clarkson’s friend and Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said at a function in Perth on Saturday that Clarkson was “not in a great place”.

The Age reported on Saturday that Clarkson was allegedly unsympathetic to Sam Mitchell – now Hawthorn’s senior coach – when he was a player dealing with family issues.

“I do not