THE BIG AFL word coming into and out of round 13 is REVIEW.

Carlton has launched one, St Kilda and Gold Coast need one. The AFL's own Match Review office actually needs a full review. It is the body established by the AFL to assess on-field incidents, and that it could not even bring itself to officially grade Saturday night's jaw-breaking hit of David Mackay on Hunter Clark was mind-boggling. It has ultimately washed its hands of it. Too hard for us, over to you Tribunal.

Assessing incidents on conduct, impact and contact clearly doesn't work. A complete overhaul is now required. Given past assessments, it would be fair to assume that had Clark somehow absorbed the Mackay contact without having his jaw shattered – and we all know, the difference between a jaw being broken and not being broken can sometimes be a matter of a split millimetre – then the Mackay incident would not have even been spoken about by the MRO, let alone be regarded as so serious that it had to be sent to a supposedly higher authority.

The MRO review needs to determine a system which removes the grey, totally eliminates the possibility of the same on-field incident being viewed as both perfect in execution in the eyes of some and abhorrent in the eyes of others.

Hawthorn last week exposed one of its players to a workplace situation which led to him being knocked out. All aspects of that now need to be fully reviewed. 

Mitch Lewis suffered an horrific concussion when asked to box, without protective headgear, against teammate Jacob Koschitzke last Monday. I can hear a lot of hardened football industry people ask , "so what"? And I would've too, a few years ago. But, it's 2021. It is not OK in any circumstance for a club-controlled training session to expose players to having their brains rattled. Lewis' was seriously jolted, initially on punch impact, and then again when he fell to the "canvas". 

The AFL felt the need to change its own match-day rules just 30 hours before the start of the 2021 season, so panicked had it become at the impending wave of law suits relating to concussion that it introduced a 23rd player, a medical substitute, to team match-day lists.

The review on this matter should extend to all media outlets taking a close look at their own coverage, too. The Lewis situation has even been glorified in some quarters. After the Hawks won their third match of the season with a great team effort against Sydney on Saturday, it was jokingly asked of a Hawk player in a post-match interview who would be Clarko's sacrificial lamb this week, given the "obvious" positive effect that the Lewis incident had on the next match day performance.

A review in the AFL world means instant headlines, and that's not always a bad thing. And big, bold headlines accompany club reviews which include external reviewers. That Blues president-elect Luke Sayers felt the need to head down that path just 12 matches into the 2021 season has revealed his concerns at the magnitude of problems inside his club's football department.

That Sayers ordered this examination was bold, as even by 2021 Carlton standards, the remaining 10 matches present many winning opportunities. GWS twice – next Saturday and again in round 23. St Kilda. Collingwood. Gold Coast. North Melbourne. Fremantle. Adelaide. Of the remaining assignments, only Geelong and Port Adelaide are currently top eight teams.

If it is good enough for Carlton to turn itself inside out and upside down, then the Saints need to, too. In a season which has already seen them lose four matches by nine goals or more, Saturday night's capitulation against Adelaide was arguably their worst performance.

The Crows had not scored even a behind well into the second quarter, trailed by 36 points twice, as late as the third quarter. And yet with a match total of 66 points (9.12), won by six. St Kilda didn't have access to key players Rowan Marshall, Jade Gresham, Zak Jones, Tim Membrey, Seb Ross, Jarryn Geary, Ben Paton and Jake Carlisle. But this was the loss of a team which is lost. The review should incorporate recruiting, too, not just the match-day workings of the football department.

Collingwood's consistent mishandling of its own operations in the past 12 months has prompted an unwanted review, with an outside force by the name of Jeff Browne challenging its business. President Mark Korda talks a lot about governance in the lead up to this boardroom showdown. Would be interesting if his board was to ask an outside firm to review its actions in the past nine months. The debacle of a Trade Period. The Do Better report, both its contents and public handling. Eddie McGuire's resignation as president. The staggeringly long nearly-three-months it took Korda and Peter Murphy to sort out their own issues as to who should become leader. The exiting of coach Nathan Buckley. And then, the recent club-edicted rolling out of normally private directors into media spots. If it looks and smells like a "vote for us" campaign, then it probably is.

If director Paul Licuria is prepared to bob up out of nowhere to defend himself and other Magpies in a couple of media interviews on the weekend, then he should also be prepared to reveal all about how his club botched the trade period of 2020. Interesting times at the Pies. Even more cause, in Browne's eyes anyway, for proper boardroom review.

Tickets for the Big Freeze in Sydney match are on sale now. Get your tickets HERE. The famous blue Big Freeze beanies are still available from Coles, Coles Express, Bunnings or fightmnd.org.au, while donations can be made at fightmnd.org.au.