Fight for Alastair Clarkson reignites bitter rivalry between Essendon and Hawthorn
As Alastair Clarkson contemplates taking over as Bombers coach, we re-live all his tense run-ins with the club — including his vocal comments about the Essendon supplements saga.
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Hawthorn flag heroes Dermott Brereton and Campbell Brown never figured Alastair Clarkson might one day consider a push to install him as the next coach of Essendon, given his long-time enmity for the Bombers.
Clarkson and the Bombers have had a tempestuous relationship for as long as the coach has been in the game.
Now if some Essendon powerbrokers have their way, the man who accused the club of ambushing the game when the Bombers’ sports supplements saga was raging a decade ago could be Essendon’s coach in 2023.
Brereton, who famously set the Essendon jumper on fire for a newspaper promotion, told the Herald Sun on Tuesday that Clarkson was “welcome to his choices”.
But Brereton said the four-time premiership coach embraced the bitter Hawthorn-Essendon rivalry like few others, even though he never played for either club.
“Put it this way, I know (former CEO) Ian Robson a lot better than Clarko and he will tell you when he ended up going to Essendon (in 2009) he got a voicemail,” Brereton said.
“He recalls that the message just said, ‘Tell me it’s not true. Not them ... Not them.’.
Brown, who played in the Hawks’ 2008 flag under Clarkson, joked on Browny’s Podcast: “I will sever my relationship with Alastair Clarkson if he goes to Essendon.”
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“He promoted and built our hatred for the Essendon footy club.
“The (2001) line in the sand game – he wasn’t there yet, but he was still a part of it spiritually.”
Here is a snapshot of the Clarkson v Essendon moments that helped stir the rivalry over the years.
CLARKO FURY AT LLOYD, 2009
Clarkson’s temper boiled over in an explosive aftermath to the final home-and-away game of the 2009 season, furious at Matthew Lloyd’s shirtfront on Brad Sewell.
The coach had to be held back from confronting Lloyd on the field by his football manager Mark Evans, who managed to quell a situation that could have escalated.
Campbell Brown labelled Bomber captain Matthew Lloyd “one of the biggest snipers in the game” after his crunch on Sewell left him with a fractured cheekbone and eye socket.
Brown said afterwards on radio: “Matty Lloyd he has done that a fair few times to us and I think he is one of the biggest snipers in the game, so his time is coming.”
THE CEO SENDOFF, 2009
The decision by Hawks chief executive Ian Robson to quit and take on the same role at Essendon in the middle of the 2009 season incensed Clarkson, who gave him old-fashioned send off.
It made for a heated exit with Clarko questioning Robson’s loyalty, insisting he leave as soon as possible.
As Campbell Brown recalled: “He hated them, you’ve got to remember he nearly attacked Matty Lloyd on the ground after he ran through Sewelly (Brad Sewell in 2009).
“He attacked our CEO Ian Robson when he handed in his resignation, not because he resigned, because Clarko heard he was going to the arch enemy of Essendon.”
BOMBERS ‘AMBUSHED’ THE GAME, 2014
Clarkson stoked the stove on the bitter rivalry in early 2014 by saying Essendon “ambushed” the game during the 2012 sports supplements saga.
In doing so, he called for wide-ranging reforms in the AFL’s coaching ranks.
Clarkson said at the time: “We need to ensure it (the Essendon supplements scandal) never happens in our game again … what have coaches learned about their obligations and responsibilities to young men.
“Hirdy (James Hird) needs accreditation to coach under-9s but not an AFL footy team. It really concerns me that the game doesn’t protect itself in the way, say, the teaching industry does.”
He acknowledged his comments meant “the boxing gloves” would be on again between the two fierce rivals.
Essendon’s then president Paul Little hit back at Clarkson, saying his comments were “inappropriate” and “neither helpful nor informed.”
CLARKO HITS BACK AT HIRD’S ‘HATE’ GIBE, 2015
Clarkson used a back-page headline in which Bombers coach James Hird said he hated Hawthorn “more than anyone else” to spur his team to a victory over Essendon in 2015.
He said after the 38-point win: “When articles lob on the back page of the paper about the opposition coach hating our club, I reckon there’s not a coach in the competition who is (not) going to use that.”
DONS COST CLARKO HIS FIRST WIN AS COACH, 2005
A year after the “line in the sand” game, and two days after Brereton doused an Essendon jumper with petrol and set fire to it, the Bombers cost the rookie coach his first win in heartbreaking circumstances in 2005.
Dean Solomon claimed a toe-poke goal in 2005 after the ball came off the boot of Hawk Jonathan Hay. The Bombers won by two points and umpires later admitted they got it wrong.
Adding fuel to the fire, Bomber forward Matthew Lloyd – wearing an arm guard – crashed into Josh Thurgood, breaking the young Hawk’s cheekbone, to the frustration of the new coach.
BOMBERS ‘IN THE DARK AGES’, 2007
Clarkson hit back at Kevin Sheedy in 2007 after the Essendon coach accused the Hawks forward of using illegal tactics following a game.
Sheedy said defenders were denied a fair run at the ball because of screens being used by Hawthorn forwards. But Clarkson said Sheedy‘s comments were a smokescreen to divert the focus from Essendon’s form.
“He’s made a long career out of diverting the media somehow and he’s successfully pushed away the attention from Essendon again,’’ Clarkson said of Sheedy.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about. We’ll just concentrate on what we can control and let him play his games.”
HE COULD HAVE BEEN A BOMBER, 1980s
Clarkson was meant to be part of the wave of Essendon young guns hailing from the Wimmera, following a host of bush hopefuls who became premiership Bombers.
He came from Kaniva, not far from the South Australia border, and he was family friends with the likes of 1984-85 premiership Bombers Roger Merrett and Glenn Hawker.
Clarkson attended school in Ballarat, which happened to be St Kilda’s zone, so his name was temporarily left off Essendon’s junior list prospects, though there was an understanding he would one day end up at Windy Hill.
Then came a moment that changed it all.
Eager to register for a junior football carnival, he signed a form he thought was required to play. Instead, it relinquished Essendon’s right on him.
Unbeknown to Clarkson, it actually tied him to St Kilda, as the Saints’ zone was Ballarat.
As it turned out, the paperwork was invalid as Clarkson’s father had not countersigned it.
But the Bombers were a little miffed, thinking the kid from Kaniva had tried to get out of going to Windy Hill.
In swooped North Melbourne’s recruiting guru Greg Miller, who swiftly made Clarko a Kangaroo, and the rest is history.
Fight for Clarko ignites bitter TV war
– Ben Horne
The fight for Alastair Clarkson’s signature has reignited an icy war between club bosses which exploded five years ago in another sport.
North Melbourne chief executive Ben Amarfio and newly appointed Essendon president David Barham famously squared off over Cricket Australia’s last broadcast rights deal.
Their history adds another element of spice to the absorbing battle to clinch the services of one of the AFL’s greatest ever coaches.
Amarfio was media rights boss at Cricket Australia and Barham the head of sport at Channel 10, when the rights changed hands to Foxtel and Channel 7 as part of a billion-dollar TV deal in 2018.
Channel 10 privately claimed Cricket Australia had reneged on a handshake agreement and were furious at being shafted at the 11th hour, feeling that a deal had already been done.
Cricket Australia denied those claims and CA chief executive James Sutherland said the governing body had no regrets over how it conducted the closing stages of the tense negotiations.
While Amarfio was credited with playing a key role in locking away a record $1.2bn deal with Foxtel and Seven for Cricket Australia, Ten felt betrayed and Barham was left shattered by the fallout.
Five years later Barham and Amarfio are locking horns again as Essendon threatens to rain on North Melbourne’s parade and steal Clarkson from under the noses of the Kangaroos and his old cricketing adversary.
North Melbourne have been talking to super coach Clarkson for weeks and have tabled a five-year offer, but News Corp has reported Clarkson has strong interest in coaching the Bombers, with those discussions set to ramp up over the coming days.
Current Essendon coach Ben Rutten appears to be on borrowed time after losing the confidence of the Bombers board, and Clarkson now shapes as the club’s No.1 target.
Barham has taken over from former President Paul Brasher following a board room split.
Amarfio and the Kangaroos have invested heavily in their negotiations with Clarkson and are seeking an answer in the coming days.
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