Burgoyne went out of his way to express to the AFL investigation panel his deep concern with the way Indigenous consultant Phil Egan had compiled his “cultural safety review”, including the decision to exclude non-Indigenous players from interviews.
“If you’re engaging in race relations, a report regarding race relations you need to interview every player … you don’t hear or see alleged racial incidents just because you’re Aboriginal. Non-Aboriginal players can hear and see those things as well,” he said.
Burgoyne said Egan told him some Indigenous players had expressed grievances about racism at the Hawks.
“I said to him, ‘well, which players and what incidents?’ But he couldn’t go into detail because of confidentiality … so in the end we spoke in circles for about an hour,” he said.
Hawthorn’s Indigenous superstar Lance “Buddy” Franklin was not among those interviewed by Egan.
Burgoyne revealed to the panel that he had expressed concerns with Hawthorn chiefs about the commissioning of the Egan review, fearing the process would have a “detrimental impact” on all Aboriginal players.
“We know players have a different array of things going on in their life – some medical and some for whole different reasons – and I put absolute faith in those people at the clubs, especially the two clubs I have (Hawthorn and Port Adelaide), that they get the best help for that player possible,” he said.
“If it’s drugs and alcohol, they’ll put the best. If it’s psychological, they’ll do the best with the PA’s (players’ association) help.
“Something like this going forward … when an Aboriginal player now has a problem in their personal life, which some of these players did have problems in their personal lives, of great magnitude which needed help outside the club’s capabilities, they may not get the treatment that they deserve out of fear of, or in 10 years’ time, that player may sue me or sue the club because (of) the treatment that I’m trying to help that player get.
“Now they help players to the best of their ability whether they are Aboriginal or not without the fear of them being sued or going through a process like this.
“So I think this just adds a lot more murkiness to when drafting an Aboriginal player …
“Myself, being in the system … helping to try to break down stereotypes that have been in the community for a number of years, I think this could potentially strengthen those stereotypes …
“That’s my big concern going forward – how does this process actually help future kids coming through?”
As his interview wrapped up and the panel said it had no further questions, Burgoyne interjected with two final comments.
“Over the course of my time at Hawthorn. I personally helped recruit Chad Wingard and Jarman Impey. and I would never actively try to help bring other Aboriginal players to a club if it was unsafe or if I didn’t feel safe,” he said.
“The other thing I would mention is during the whole process with Mr Egan … he never once tape-recorded it – it was just a conversation.
“We sat at a table and I found it very unusual that he would interview me for such a highly important document that’s going to shape a lot of things, purely by memory.
“I would have thought you needed to record it, tape it, take notes …
“I have concerns with that, too, because five minutes later you could forget what we’re saying.”