Hawthorn President Jeff Kennett says the AFL's want to push the game into international waters is a complete waste of time and money.
After ventures into New Zealand and China in recent seasons, talks surfaced last week over clubs looking to dive further into the Asian market, with India at the top of the list, however the former Victorian Premier believes there's still too much work to do locally before even considering the push.
"Why do we have a general manager for China and India?" he told SEN Breakfast.
โWhy are we trying to push the game into those areas?
โFor goodness sake, surely we should be concentrating on making the game here self-supporting."
Now in his second stint at the club, Kennett added he has told his players in no uncertain terms that the Hawks won't be taking games overseas while he is in charge.
โWe are a professional team. Iโm not going to put at risk four points to have you flying in a plane from here to China or here to India, for a four-point game," he continued.
โThatโs not what we are paid to do.
โI donโt even like them going overseas for exhibition games, Iโve said no to that as well.
โDonโt go and put yourselves at risk. This is a serious business.
โI donโt like the idea of when we are paid to try and win a premiership, you therefore put your players in planes to travel miles into a foreign environment to play a game of football.
โHow can you properly prepare a team for a match when they spent 24 hours in a plane?
โWe are serious about what we do, we have obligations to our members, and that is to do whatever we can to win a premiership.
โThat is not playing in China, that is not playing in India.
โOur job is to play the game seriously in the environment in which it lives.
โIt will never live in India. It will never live in China.
โIt is an absolute waste of time and money.โ
Kennett went on to question the AFL's constant want to change the rules of the games, both on and off the field, particularly taking exception with a mid-season trade proposal.
โWhy are we now talking about changing the rules mid-season and having another draft?โ he said.
โI saw Gill (AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan) say he doesnโt like the predictability of the game through a year, but how could last year be described as predictable with Richmond?
โOr the year before with the Bulldogs. Thatโs not predictable.
โWhatโs wrong with the game that we have to keep changing the rules all the time?โ
