The AFL has ended its review into racism at the Hawthorn Football Club, effectively punting the reckoning over Hawthorn’s past treatment of Indigenous players to the Human Rights Commission. Let’s step it back: in September 2022, media reports emerged that an internal Hawthorn review alleged 3 staff – coach Alistair Clarkson, assistant Chris Fagan, and welfare manager Jason Burt – had separated some Indigenous players from their partners and, in one case, urged an abortion (the 3 men deny any wrongdoing). The AFL intervention, announced in October 2022, has since been criticised by the coaches and the Indigenous families, and Squizers will remember that Clarkson recently stepped away from coaching because of the stress. That brings us to last night, when AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan called time on the AFL’s review, saying that the coaches had been “cleared” and that the Indigenous families agreed to the termination of the review and “feel heard”. But even though the AFL’s process is over, McLachlan said “we support all parties doing what they want to do from here,” and the word is (paywall) that the Indigenous families will pursue a reckoning through the Human Rights Commission.