RECENTLY retired premiership stars Brad Sewell and Luke Ball have been appointed to the Match Review Panel for 2015 as part of a complete overhaul of the system.
The pair make up half of the newly-appointed panel, which also includes former Saint Nathan Burke and Collingwood premiership player Michael Christian.
The new panel will have responsibility for the revised MRP process, which was changed at the end of last year to simplify the system and make decisions more easily understood and transparent.
Football operations manager Mark Evans said the four appointees were outstanding people "to assess, on football terms, the incidents that occur on-field and to make a deliberation on whether a player should face any penalty under the laws of the game".
Combined, they tally more than 900 games' experience and share four premierships.
Three of the four MRP members will rule on incidents weekly, with the panel's make-up alternating throughout the season.
A chairman has not been appointed, with a player's innocence or guilt to be decided on a majority 3-0 or 2-1 ruling.
After being appointed to the MRP, Bourke announced he had stepped down from his role as a director on the St Kilda board.
Bourke, who spent seven years as a director at the Saints, said he was excited about exploring a new side of the game.
"My new position is an exciting opportunity to play a role, to a degree, in shaping the way the game is played. I see the Match Review Panel as a pivotal part of the League and, when offered the chance to be part of it, was really keen to explore a new role in footy,” Bourke said in a statement.
Evans also announced that media personality and former player Daniel Harford and 200-game player Shane Wakelin had joined the tribunal jury and would be part of the rotation of members to sit on cases throughout the year.
