North chairman Ben Buckley has shot down a proposal from Hawk’s president Jeff Kennett to relegate underperforming clubs to the VFL.

“The proposal that Jeff put forward I don’t think has even been really considered by the AFL and certainly wouldn’t be supported by the overwhelming majority of the presidents and the wider football community,” Buckley told SEN.

“It’s certainly not a practical suggestion given the history and the nature of the AFL competition.”

In a letter to Hawthorn members, Kennett put forward the idea to rate clubs against specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

“I hope that in the not too distant future we can agree on a set of KPIs for all clubs, which in part will ensure an improvement for all clubs and the AFL’s financial position,” Kennett wrote.

“The timeline for these KPIs should be three years with an evaluation taking place in the third year of performance. If clubs and their Boards do not meet the KPIs set, they should be relegated to the VFL.”

Buckley disagrees with Kennett and says clubs that miss out on free-to-air games, big stadium deals and better fixtures must continue to be compensated.

“We all have to adjust our cost structures accordingly … we will work with all other clubs to come up with a model that suits the new world we’re working in,” Buckley said.

“There is a widely acknowledged rationale for having variable funding payments made to quite a number of clubs … and we’ll need to continue those into the future.

“We’ve been around, our footy club, for 150 years … I just don’t think you can look footy clubs as businesses that have to ride the ebb and flow of economic times but having said that, we all still have to live within our means.

“I would say to our members: we’re in as strong a financial position than we’ve ever been and we’ll ride-out this difficult time and I’m optimistic about the future.”

Off the field Buckley says the club is strong, and it’s shaping that way on the field under Rhyce Shaw.

“We live in an extraordinarily competitive environment and from time to time you have to make some hard decisions about where you think you’re going to be more successful into the future and we appointed Rhyce, and Rhyce is an outstanding young coach,” he said.

“I think the impact he’s had with the playing group, and right across the club actually with supporters and members, and the wider club community has been first-class.”