Leading AFL manager Liam Pickering has expressed his disgust with North Melbourne, after the club terminated the contract of assistant coach Jade Rawlings.
Just 12 months into a three-year contract, the Kangaroos announced they were moving on from Rawlings as part of sweeping off-field changes.
The former Hawthorn forward exited a contract with the Demons to join North Melbourne following the 2019 season.
When asked why Rawlings was sacked, Pickering said he was never given a justification.
“I don’t know, fair dinkum. There’s no reason,” he told SEN Breakfast.
“It’s been a tricky couple of weeks for North. I’m looking after Jade (Rawlings) and the way that went down I wasn’t all that happy with.
“I made it pretty clear what I thought of the whole scenario, I was pretty disgusted, but anyway that’s what happens.
“You get a bloke across (from Melbourne), you give him a three-year contract and you get rid of him after 12 months?
“(They didn’t give a reason) to me. They might have to Jade, but not to me.”
Pickering believes AFL teams are “running around like cowboys” now that they have greater freedom to move on from assistant coaches.
“There’s a payout term in the contracts of assistant coaches, which is not the full contract like it used to be,” he said.
“If you had your way, that’s exactly what you’d do to keep clubs more accountable then what they’re doing right now running around like cowboys.
“Anyway, let’s just see how it all pans out for the Roos, I hope they do sort it out because I wasn’t all that thrilled with the way they’ve gone about it so far, but I understand they’ve got their own things that they’re working through, so good luck to them.”