THERE may be no better bloke in footy than Stephen Kernahan.

All the clichés used as terms of endearment by lovers of Australian sports apply to Sticks.

He's a man's man, he bleeds for his club, wears his heart on his sleeve; and if he's not the best bloke in footy with whom to share a beer at a bar, he makes the preliminary finals.

But Carlton's greatest ever captain and one of its absolute top-shelf players cannot lay claim to being one of the Blues' finest off-field operators.

Right now, as a member of the Carlton board and in this case as president, he is in the process of moving on his third AFL coach.

It is a decision that is not coming easily and is being driven by others around him, but it is Kernahan who is the public face of this latest Carlton saga and the man in charge of all Blues operations.

Much has conspired against Kernahan in his time as a Carlton director, which began not long after he retired as a player in 1997.

Salary cap fines and penalties, bloody boardroom machinations, the passing of Dick Pratt, inexcusable player behavior and more. All have adversely impacted on Kernahan and the Blues since they finished sixth in 2001.

This week, for the second time in two months, Kernahan has referred to a review being undertaken of all areas of his club.

It is an attempt to deflect attention away from decisions being made about the coach, Brett Ratten.

It's pretty simple right now for Kernahan - publicly back Ratten, the man re-contracted at the end of last season through to the end of 2013, or allow the media and public to run rampant with Mick Malthouse talk.

Kernahan is stressed over what lies in front of him. In an ideal world, he would not have to move on the man with whom he shared a Blues' premiership in 1995.

But that is what happening right now.

After Saturday night's embarrassing loss to Gold Coast at Carrara, Kernahan started asking those close to him even more questions about Ratten, just as he did in July 2007 about then-coach Denis Pagan, while returning to Melbourne on Dick Pratt's private jet after a 20-goal loss to the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.

Pagan was sacked that week.

And just as he did in September 2002 about then-coach Wayne Brittain.

Sure, John Elliott led the charge to hire Pagan, but Kernahan, then the football director of the Blues, sat in Elliott's Collins St office in a meeting with Pagan. The contracted Brittain was sacked that week.

If Kernahan is, indeed, seriously reviewing all aspects of Carlton, he needs to start with this question: Why did we as a board appoint Ratten to a two-year deal when we couldn't bring ourselves to support him just 13 matches later (as happened after this year's loss to Hawthorn)?

And then this question: Why can't we support Ratten now?

Surely the review that Kernahan keeps referring to needs to take in a very intensive critique of the 12-person Carlton board as its starting point. Surely.

Twitter: @barrettdamian, @AFL