Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge has stood down from his All-Australian and Rising Star selector duties and opted to hold onto his "longstanding relationship" with betting company TAB to ensure his integrity isn't questioned.
Hodge made the decision following fellow Agenda Setters panelist, All-Australian and Rising Star selector Kane Cornes, who chose to retain his roles at Sportsbet, passing on his AFL duties.
The Hawks premiership hero only joined the All-Australian panel — which also votes on the Rising Star award — this year.
"I was a bit shocked last week with the move that Kane did, because I didn't know there was a conflict. I've since done the same as what Kane has done and I've stood down from the committee just because you don't want the integrity questioned of anything like that," he said on the Agenda Setters.
"I've had a longstanding relationship with TAB, I haven't even joined a meeting yet with the All-Australian committee so I thought it was the best thing after speaking to the AFL today that I'll stand down and let the panel go ahead just so the integrity of the side when it gets picked, there's no questions over it.
"I didn't realise there was a conflict, I didn't realise you could bet off it, but I spoke to [the AFL] and went through my concerns and when it comes down to the integrity of something as serious as the All-Australian team, they accepted it and said 'no problems at all'."
Cornes' call was made after Sportsbet implemented a new policy that no officials could be across multiple codes, which was prompted by Nick Foot's involvement in the Zak Butters Tribunal saga.
Foot said Butters questioned his integrity, saying the Power star allegedly said: "How much are they paying you?" after he awarded a free kick to St Kilda in Port's 14-point loss during Round 5.
Butters eventually got the charge, which was a fine, dismissed at the Appeals Board.
