HAWTHORN president Jeff Kennett has delivered a stinging broadside to AFL chief Andrew Demetriou, calling him "very aggressive" and saying he was relying on threats to force the Kangaroos to move to the Gold Coast.

Kennett said the AFL's vow to establish a 17th club was unnecessary and criticised it for failing to consult club presidents.

"The AFL is not Andrew Demetriou's asset, he is a servant of the code. While I think Andrew is a good CEO for the AFL he is at times very aggressive and I don't think he follows proper protocol. There are times when he steps right outside his area of responsibility and I think this is yet another one of those.

"I'm not opposed to the concept of opening up a club on the Gold Coast but I'm certainly opposed to the idea of having an existing club threatened by a concept that has not been discussed."