AFL boss Laura Kane makes huge call on changing Rising Star criteria amid Harley Reid furore

Despite growing calls for the AFL to remove the ‘fairest’ component in the Rising Star award following suspensions to favourites Harley Reid and Sam Darcy, AFL boss Laura Kane says the league has no desire to change the eligibility requirements. Last weekend the Rising Star race was blown open after the West Coast Eagles young gun was made ineligible to receive the honour after being slapped with a two-match ban for a sling tackle on fellow nominee Darcy Wilson.

His ban came days after his biggest rival at the time for the award, Western Bulldogs key forward Sam Darcy, was also disqualified from winning the Rising Star after his bump on Brayden Maynard saw him cop a two-game suspension. Unlike other sporting codes, the AFL is unique in the way that if any player is suspended in the regular season they are made ineligible for an end-of-season award - such as the Rising Star or Brownlow medal.

Following the two favourites being made ineligible, debate has raged on as to whether the rules should be changed to allow suspended first-year players to be available to win the Rising Star. The calls are growing largely due to the increase in suspensions for less malicious offences - such as Reid's sling tackle on Wilson.

But speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Tuesday night, the AFL boss said the ‘fairest’ element in the Rising Star is seen as an integral part of the award to the league bosses and insists it won't be changing any time soon. "We feel it is (necessary) and I’ve been pretty clear this week that we don’t have an appetite to change the criteria for Rising Star. But I appreciate it’s caused great debate over the past couple of days," Kane said.

'They’re both (Reid and Darcy) terrific players and they’re both going to have wonderful careers in our game. We are very clear they are now ineligible to win the Rising Star, which very clearly suggests the fairness component remains important to us."

AFL dismisses calls to tweak eligibility requirements

Speaking on Channel 9's Sunday Footy Show, Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes led the calls for the 'fairness' element of the Rising Star award to be adjusted to take into account the seriousness of the offence committed. "Do we need to remove the fairness element of the Rising Star? Particularly with so many tiggy touchwood suspensions that we are getting that we wouldn’t have got 5-6 years ago,” Cornes asked.

"These two players (Reid and Darcy) are ineligible, it’s going to be a bit farcical on the night because of a suspension. Whether we need to remove that and have a threshold (before losing the award) – maybe if you’ve been suspended for four weeks, then that triggers the threshold.”

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But Kane says that isn't something the AFL is considering. "The Rising Star has been around for just over 30 years ... Toby Greene and Dustin Martin both missed Rising Stars in their respective years with suspension. So it’s happened before, it’s not something that’s new," Kane said. "I take the point about what’s referenced but it’s something we are really comfortable with for both of those awards (the Rising Star and Brownlow)."