Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has doubled down on the Hawks not voluntarily paying out Indigenous players at the centre of systemic racism accusations, which occurred under the control of former staffers headed by senior premiership coach Alastair Clarkson.

The matter that retired Hawks legend Cyril Rioli and his wife Shannyn Ah Sam Rioli first brought forward in an internal report that also involved former Indigenous teammates Carl Peterson and Jermaine Miller-Lewis, his wife Montanah Miller-Lewis, and ex-Aboriginal liaison officer Leon Egan, will head to Federal court after mediation between warring parties broke down.

The AFL club has set aside more than $1 million to compensate the six First Nations claimants since the completion of its Binmada Report, where author Phil Egan investigated their pain, trauma and suffering.

Kennett is strongly opposed to Hawthorn paying out the Indigenous party should the claim not be proven in court from the allegations across 2008 until 2016, and also for reliving their stories since the report was shockingly made public in 2022, while also having to endure mediation talks earlier this year.

On a recent episode of Nine's Footy Classified, veteran journalist Caroline Wilson said Kennett's hardline approach has undermined club president Andy Gowers and his board.

"I'm absolutely opposed to any organisation … giving into allegations … being forced into, or tempted to give money to those who make allegations where the allegations aren't proven," Kennett said.

"So, yes, I have been writing to the club as a member, and as a former president, to make sure that the Hawks board understands any payment to those who made the allegations or to our (past) coaches is totally a misuse of our funds."

The club was willing to also compensate Clarkson, former football manager Chris Fagan and former staffer Jason Burt despite being the accused in the matter over the possible damage to their own professional reputations.

Despite his stance, Kennett admitted to forking out $1 million after a new deal that asked Clarkson to step aside to instead mentor his former star midfielder, Sam Mitchell, as the new coach, an arrangement terminated after Clarkson withdrew from an uncomfortable arrangement.

The club's handling of the "botched" Binmada Report that came out under the presidency of Kennett was accused of being the cause of the proposed payouts.

"No, the report was alright," Kennett retorted to Wilson.

"What happened is what we sort to do was to get stories from other Indigenous players and staff members about what their experience was (at Hawthorn).

"When we got that report, we were shocked like the public were, and then someone leaked that report."

Hawthorn is believed to have sat on the report for an undetermined amount of time ahead of the club handling it over to the AFL Integrity Unit.

It came after one of the players approached the club's human resources department over allegedly being subjected to accusations of racism in May 2021 that led the board to commission the report.

Egan interviewed every First Nations person involved with the club during 2008 and 2016.

The former Richmond 1980s VFL star, claimed listening to the accounts of players was "absolutely horrific" and the interviews had a real impact of "occasional despair".

Former AFL boss Gillion McLachlan said at the time the report was a "challenging, harrowing and disturbing read".

But the Indigenous families affected said in a statement they had relived the trauma, criticising the AFL's own handling of the report.

Clarkson later came out and said the allegations were clearly "reported in a different way to when we saw them when we were at the club".

Neither Clarkson, Fagan or Burt were given an opportunity to contribute to the report's content.

The AFL launched an investigation into Hawthorn with a culturally-safe, independent panel over the club's handling of the allegations.

But players that were named in the Binmada report were against taking part in the another investigation after believing the AFL bungled the club's internal investigation.

The AFL investigation believed there was no adverse findings against the three Hawks staffers, but also added that despite the findings it did not preclude the players from taking further legal action.

Kennett, in the end, said he was "absolutely comfortable" with his legacy at the club over two stints at the head of Hawthorn.

"Right now the Krakouer brothers are making claims of racial discrimination that go back 40 years," he said.

"The AFL and the clubs are going to have to deal with concussions too.

"They are very difficult issues, but we all have to prove the case."