Stand-in Hawthorn skipper Jaeger O’Meara is “saddened” to hear of former teammate Cyril Rioli’s experiences of racism at the club and hopes the Hawks can repair the fractured relationship.
But O’Meara declined to take a position on whether under-fire president Jeff Kennett should immediately stand down despite Rioli refusing to return until the outspoken chairman is gone.
Kennett is expected to move on quickly once his successor is found.
“That’s not up to me,” O’Meara said of Kennett’s tenure.
“I’m a player and I’m the captain of the footy club at the moment while Ben (McEvoy)’s out, but I’ll leave those decisions up to board level. That’s not for a player to decide.”
Coach Sam Mitchell and head of football Rob McCartney addressed O’Meara and the rest of the Hawthorn players on Saturday morning about Rioli’s racism claims and what they were doing to improve.
The Hawks have three Indigenous footballers on their current list – Jarman Impey, Chad Wingard axjmtzywnd Tyler Brockman – since all-time great Shaun Burgoyne joined Rioli in retirement last year.
Impey, Wingard and Brockman informed Mitchell and co. on Friday night that they felt “culturally safe” at Hawthorn and that was relayed to the wider playing group, O’Meara said.
“Unfortunately, I had only about 18 months with Cyril and I love the bloke,” O’Meara said.
“He’s a very, very loveable character. To see those comments (about racism) really saddens you, as a fellow player and someone who played alongside him.
“He’d walk into the club with a smile on his face all the time and brighten your day as well.
“There’s a bit of a torn relationship there at the moment with Cyril and Shannyn (Ah Sam-Rioli), so I’m really hopeful the football club can put some steps in place to rekindle that relationship.”
O’Meara also spoke privately to Wingard about the issue and was satisfied that he and his other two Indigenous clubmates felt “really safe”.
The star midfielder was confident Mitchell’s passion for change in this space and the work the club’s Indigenous liaison supervisor Brady Gray was doing would make a difference.
“We’re really trying to get better in the space and I think all clubs are, so we’ve got Brady, who’s doing a really good job,” he said.
“The main thing he’s doing is educating our playing group on this space and we really want to get better. We want to be inclusive and we’ve got three really good Indigenous players here.
“They’re like brothers to us and we really want to nurture that and they’re also doing a great job in educating us as well.”
