AFL boss Laura Kane discusses tribunal, MRO, rules, new appointments, coaches, clubs and umpires in exclusive interview

“It’s a change that can only be made in the off-season and something that we wouldn’t look to change midway through, but I’m really open to the discussion happening.”

It hadn’t placated aggrieved coach Alastair Clarkson, who criticised the AFL for not resolving it now, a path the league took when it agreed that a four-match suspension the VFL handed to St Kilda’s Alix Tauru would start this week, despite the Saints having a bye, to ensure Tauru wasn’t sidelined for six weeks.

“[It] doesn’t help us, we’re really disappointed with that,” Clarkson said. “Really strong leadership would say, ‘We understand it’s wrong and we’ll change it right now’.”

Kane said she understood Clarkson’s reaction, but the process for change needed to incorporate a range of views.

“I think there’s room to talk about this, but anywhere you apply discretion you also have people who disagree with you. It’s a big step, but it’s one that I think we should have a conversation about because I think we’re mature enough too.”

Should Balta have played against the Suns?

Kane did not back down on the decision to allow Balta to play against Gold Coast just days before he was convicted of assault after earlier pleading guilty. Balta had served a club-imposed suspension of four premiership matches and is unavailable to play several night and interstate matches due to a curfew imposed by a magistrate until July 22.

She said she found the footage of the incident – first seen at the AFL when he appeared in court in April – difficult to watch, and understood why people found it uncomfortable watching him play against the Suns. However, she stood by the decision to let him play.

“What Noah did we don’t want to see anyone do. We don’t want to see that happen in the community. We don’t want to see it happen in our industry by our players. It’s absolutely not good enough,” Kane said.

“We were really comfortable with the decision of the magistrate. Clearly, that’s a decision that they can make, and, and we were really supportive of that decision. We felt that Noah had missed and will miss a significant amount of football this year, and he’s got a really hard lesson to learn, and he’ll learn that as his punishment plays out.”

She said the AFL were cognisant of views about whether he should have played against the Suns, having already pleaded guilty.

“I can understand why people felt uncomfortable, I can, and I think that goes to how disappointed we were with the outcome, and frankly, how dangerous it was, and so we’re not surprised that people were really uncomfortable watching him play football,” Kane said.

Is the AFL fine-happy and prudish in fining Smith for giving the bird?

Last year the AFL collected $564,000 in fines from players via the match review officer, a massive jump from $284,000 in 2023. It is on record pace again, but it doesn’t appear a deterrent, as Port Adelaide’s Zak Butters has been fined for 20 offences in 123 matches.

Rather than suggesting the AFL had gone too far, Kane said repeat offenders were on thin ice.

“If we don’t see changes of behaviour at some point, we have available to us through our MRO the ability for players to miss games. We want unnecessary behaviour on the field that has nothing to do with the way that the game’s played stamped out. It’s a lot of money, and I’m sure it’s money the players don’t want to pay,” Kane said.

Cats coach Chris Scott said he doesn’t believe fines are a deterrent and accused the AFL of being prudish for fining Smith for giving the bird to spectators, as happened in consecutive weeks to Smith and also to West Coast’s Harley Reid.

“We don’t want to see [the bird],” Kane said.

“Adults might not think it’s a big deal. It’s just not behaviour we want to see.”

The need to support coaches is clear

Kane said she had no problem with Scott, Clarkson, Ross Lyon or other coaches airing their views publicly.

“It’s really hard to be a coach. Your time and your energy is trying to win games of footy, and it’s trying to do everything in your power to give your club an advantage, and that is their job, and it will be their job forever and a day,” Kane said.

“We might not always agree with them, but I’m OK with them voicing opinions. I talk to all of them privately, and I’m OK with them talking about things that frustrate them within reason publicly. What is important is that I’m in direct communication with them.”

The football operations boss reiterated that she did not want football department personnel struggling with the stress and demands of the job but understood their feelings were real.

“Working in a football department is a high performance, high-pressure environment, unlike many other industries. The highs are high, and the lows can be really tough. We need to work out ways to ease the pressure and [adjusting the] soft cap is one mechanism,” Kane said.

A power play? No way as Kane defends football operations appointment

Kane defended the decision to appoint a general manager of football operations, Nick Carah, who has limited AFL experience and has never worked inside a club.

She said it would be wrong to interpret his appointment as a sign that the role was not important, or that club experience was not valued in football department decision-making.

“It’s a really important role and the roles we have at clubs in football operations are equally important,” Kane said.

She said the football performance stream in the football department was well serviced by former players and club officials such as Josh Mahoney, Ned Guy, Jamie Macmillan, Joel Selwood and Erin Phillips – with support from respected veteran football administrator Geoff Walsh – and that other skillsets in football operations would serve the game well.

Kane said Carah, who worked in real estate with Jellis Craig, while being involved with Uni Blacks and worked as a match day manager, had the professional expertise to ensure football operations were managed efficiently and effectively.

”What was really important to us was that the off-the-field stream was run as efficiently and as effectively as possible, but by someone who still understands the game,” Kane said.

“His appointment is to support the on-field team to make sure when they are looking at the game, the rules, the list rules, the introduction of Tasmania and the second tier, they are supported operationally.”

Carah’s role will be to support clubs in competition management and lead the day-to-day running of AFL, AFLW, VFL and VFLW. Kane said he was already making an impression across clubs.

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“He’s now building a deeper relationship [with club staff]. He has already been out to multiple clubs. He’s travelled outside of Victoria to visit clubs … I am really confident they will enjoy working with him,” Kane said. “We are often described as a relationship-based industry so you are judged on how you are as a person and your character and I feel really good about Nick’s ability to integrate with our industry.”

Kane also said the decision was not the result of a power struggle within the AFL executive as such decisions are shared.

“We make decisions together. We always have. I have worked really closely with Andrew Dillon the whole time I have been at the AFL, and the whole time I have been in the AFL industry. Our executive team are an unbelievable group of people, and we make decisions together and that is something that is really important to me,” Kane said.

“We can have different views, but when we make a decision it is a united one … it’s been a really good process from my perspective.”

Kane also said no thought was being given to introducing a send-off rule, which reared its head after Gryan Miers was concussed by Hawthorn’s Conor Nash; was optimistic the Bulldogs’ Jamarra Ugle-Hagan would return, but said that was up to him; and said the enquiry into the treatment of Melbourne’s Christian Petracca on King’s Birthday last year is ongoing.

As for whether the pre-finals bye would remain, Kane smiled: “Is ask Andrew Dillon an answer?”