Two reports in the Hawthorn racism saga are said to have suggested minimal basis for the claims made by the Indigenous former players involved, according to exclusives by News Corp on Thursday.

Two separate AFL-commission reports completed by Justice John Middleton and Gordon Legal and handed to the league in May 2023 found "a startling lack of evidence" and "no basis whatsoever" to allegations made against former Hawks coaches and staff Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan and Jason Burt and of a subculture of racism at the club between 2008-15.

Both called on the AFL to shut down its probe launched into the matter.

On May 30 2023, the league dropped their investigation led by four-person panel including chairman Bernard Quinn KC after citing "no adverse findings" and with an early agreement between the former players and their families and the AFL reached in the days prior.

It prompted an open letter penned by Carl Peterson, Cyril Rioli, Shannyn Ahsam-Rioli, Jermaine and Montanah Miller-Lewis and Leon Egan, revealing themselves as the players and partners behind the allegations.

The matter has continued to play out over the following 12 months.

The Australian Human Rights Commission terminated their hearing after a breakdown in mediation between the parties involved last week.

News Corp reports lawyers representing the accused former Hawks coaches and staff were left struck by the lack of detail and inconsistencies around major claims against their clients when first granted opportunity to cross-check statements made by the complainants with Hawthorn's 2022 cultural safety review authored by Phil Egan.

"There were major gaps in the material," one figure told News Corp.

A source also said they believe "procedural fairness appeared to be a one-way street" after Leon Zwier, who continues to act for some of the complainants, argued Clarkson, Fagan and Burt's representation's demands for internal Hawthorn records they felt would benefit their clients would breach the families' privacy.

Clarkson, Fagan and Burt have consistently denied the allegations of wrongdoing made against them.

The most serious claims included one former player allegedly being pressured to terminate he and his partner's pregnancy, and another being persuaded to distance himself from his partner.