AFL 2021: All the reaction around Alastair Clarkson’s departure from Hawthorn
Sam Mitchell says he thought the Hawks coaching handover plan would work until Alastair Clarkson pulled the pin and revealed what upset him most about an explosive media report.
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Sam Mitchell remains adamant he wanted Alastair Clarkson alongside him as part of the club’s succession plan next year, but concedes confusion over who would be holding the coaching reins ultimately brought the scheme undone.
Outlining his intention to support Clarkson and ensure a memorable “goodbye” to the four-time premiership coach in his last month at the helm, Mitchell insisted he had remained committed to making the club’s succession plan work right up until the idea came to an end on Friday.
The soon-to-be Hawks senior coach conceded there had been “roadblocks” in the backroom planning for the coaching handover, but he had been prepared to work through it.
“My desire was to work it through and to figure out how it was going to work,” Mitchell told 3AW on Sunday.
“We found a lot of roadblocks in our efforts to make it work, but we still thought that it would right until everyone came to the realisation, particularly Clarko and the club that they thought this would be best.
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“Clarko had a great conversation with me at one stage just saying that ‘It’s a difficult role that you’re about to go into and no one will ever be ready until they’re in the chair, but I’m confident that you’ve got the skills that are needed’, and that gave me great confidence that the decision they were making I would be comfortable with.”
Mitchell again refuted claims he had asked his former coach to move on a year earlier than planned in a meeting last month that involved him, Clarkson, Hawks general manager of football Rob McCartney and Leading Teams boss Ray McLean.
“I don’t think any of the four people in that room, of which I was one, came out of that meeting thinking it was Sam Mitchell that didn’t want Alastair Clarkson. That was what was reported, which wasn’t accurate,” Mitchell said.
“That was the bit that probably upset me because me thinking that I didn’t want Alastair Clarkson by my side through the succession was a long way from the truth.”
Asked why it had been decided he and Clarkson couldn’t work together in the end, Mitchell suggested the plan could have led to confusion among the playing group.
“Clarko is such a passionate and dominant figure, I think he mentioned his shadow and I had never thought about it in this way but … I think he said in the press conference that, ‘A club must have one coach’,” Mitchell said.
“If I was in the background then there would be some players who would think we weren’t progression with my game style as quickly as we’d like and we might tread water for 12 months and if we were persisting with mine then obviously with Clarko being such an influential coach and voice that they thought that may be difficult if Clarko was (coaching).
“Clarko was the first to say, ‘I think it would be difficult for you to coach with me in the background in a director of coaching role or something like that’. We did try to work out a lot of things like that but the club and Clarko have suggested that wasn’t the way.”
Mitchell said he wanted to ensure the coaching great was given the appropriate farewell.
“There has been no indication that Clarko will not coach out this season, so I am right behind him and supporting him in his last month,” Mitchell said.
“I would prefer not to speculate on it because I would love everyone to celebrate one of the greatest coaches of the modern era, if not ever.
“I’m very interested in supporting Clarko and making sure his last few weeks at this club are memorable for all the right reasons and then looking forward to getting this club back up to where we would like it to be competing at the top end of the ladder.”
Kennett refutes member backlash
Jeff Kennett says he will “absolutely” see out the final two years of his Hawthorn presidency, believing the club can be “back in the hunt” by the time he finishes his term at the end of the 2023 season.
Speaking to News Corp the morning after the Hawks announced their coaching succession plan had fallen apart within the space of a month, Kennett refuted suggestions the club was in turmoil and said he didn’t believe there would be a members’ backlash over the “messy” situation.
In an expansive interview, Kennett also said:
# Hawthorn won’t stand in Alastair Clarkson’s way if he wanted to coach a rival club next year, even though the four-time premiership coach told the Hawks he would likely have a year off.
# Sam Mitchell is “super ready” to take over the reins at the end of Round 23
# He had fully intended to back the ‘master and apprentice’ model for next year until Clarkson approached the club on Tuesday night, saying he felt the need to finish early for the sake of the players who had been confused by the messaging surrounding the succession plan.
Kennett said: “I will be concluding my term (as president) when it expires (at the end of 2023), I won’t be going any earlier and there is no way I can go on past (that time).”
“That will see me out.
“Leadership is not always about just popularity; leadership is about making the right decisions at the right time, and 18 years (for Clarkson) is a long time in one job.
“You make the change and you move on.”
While admitting the coaching succession plan had not worked the way he had intended it to, Kennett claimed he had not experienced the same member ire that dominated talkback radio and fan forums.
“There is absolutely no turmoil at the club and there is no turmoil among the members,” he said. “Yes, there has been change, and perhaps in retrospect the master and apprentice (plan) didn’t work, but we adjusted and we keep on going.”
“I dealt with every email that came from members who were upset (on Friday). There were nine and I responded to each of those. A couple of them came back to me and I responded again, and by the end of the night, they started off very vitriolic, but all were in a totally different mood at the end.”
Kennett said Clarkson had contacted the club last Tuesday night saying he needed an urgent meeting to discuss the succession plan.
“I wanted him (Clarkson) to stay and finish his contract (at the end of 2022),” he said.
“He came to the club on Tuesday night and said he has come to a decision, he wants to go in the interests of the club.
“That led to a discussion on Wednesday, then with his manager (James Henderson) and it was finalised (on Friday).
“What has happened (in the change) is right and it has worked out for the best. Yes, there has been a bit of a speed hump along the way, but that is all it is going to be in the history of time.”
He reiterated Clarkson is free to coach another AFL club next year if he chooses.
“He (Clarkson) can do whatever he likes,” the president said. “He said to us that he wants a year off and needs a break, that’s what James Henderson said.
“Whether he takes that (year off) or not, I don’t know.
“Whatever he does, we have arranged the affairs of the settlement that gives total flexibility.”
Kennett believed Mitchell was “super ready” to coach at AFL level next year.
“He is absolutely ready, he is keen, he knows what he wants to do and he is hungry,” he said. “By the time he takes over, Sam will be 39; when Clarko took over he was 36.
“We are not saying to our members we are going to be premiers in 2023 (Mitchell’s second season), what we are saying is that from 2023 we will be really back in the hunt.”
Kennett said he hoped Clarkson would one day reunite with the club in a manner that the legendary John Kennedy did after leaving and going on to coach North Melbourne.
“Clarko will always be respected for what he has done for this club, and hopefully he will take a role in the future,” he said.
“That might take him a while, a bit like John Kennedy, who came back after he went on to coach at another club.”
Gutwein urged to increase crowds
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has urged Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein to allow as many fans as possible — in a Covid-safe manner — to attend Sunday week’s history-making clash against Collingwood in Launceston.
His call comes as Kennett says Tasmania has become a “shining light” for the AFL in the wake of further fixture chaos, including games in Brisbane and Gold Coast being postponed due to Queensland’s snap three-day lockdown. The Hawks’ game against Brisbane will go ahead in Launceston on Sunday after the Lions were able to fly out of their home state in time.
Hawthorn will then complete a trifecta of consecutive games in Tasmania, hosting Collingwood for what will be the Magpies’ first game for premiership points in the state, before taking on the Western Bulldogs in round 22.
The Tasmanian government capped this weekend’s two matches in the state at 10,000 fans, but Kennett has called Premier Gutwein in an effort to try to accommodate more fans in coming weeks.
“I have put a call through to Peter because I want to make sure that all being well, we can have as many people at the (Collingwood) game as possible,” Kennett said. “As I understand, it is already close to a sellout.”
Mitchell keeps Box Hill ticking over
Sam Mitchell has unfinished business before he assumes the mantle of Hawthorn’s senior coach at the end of the season — driving the Box Hill Hawks deep into the VFL finals.
Just a day after Hawthorn’s coaching succession plan was fast-tracked after a dramatic day at Waverley, Mitchell was back hard at work, coaching his Box Hill Hawks’ VFL team.
It was the club’s first official VFL game back in almost a month, following Melbourne’s lockdown, and Mitchell could hardly have been any happier with the 63-point victory over Collingwood’s VFL side on a windswept day at the Holden Centre.
Having trailed at halftime, the Box Hill Hawks stormed over the top of the Magpies with a nine-goal final term at the Holden Centre.
The 38-year-old will take over from Alastair Clarkson after Round 23, having agreed to a three-year contract to lead the Hawks.
Mitchell has spoken about how much he has enjoyed coaching Box Hill this season, saying he has thrived on the relationships he has built with some of the club’s young talent.
Saturday’s win over the Magpies was Box Hill’s eighth win from 10 games this season, putting them right in the finals frame.
Mitchell’s ‘greatest challenge’ in life after Clarkson
Hawthorn premiership star Jordan Lewis is backing ex-teammate Sam Mitchell to succeed as Alastair Clarkson’s successor but warns he will need support in his coaching baptism of fire.
The titanic development that Clarkson would coach only until season’s end rather than next year had “no doubt” heaped more pressure on Mitchell, Lewis said.
Complicating those matters is the Hawks could still finish last on the ladder this year and appear likely to be in a rebuilding phase for the foreseeable future.
“He’s thrust into the senior coaching role when he (previously) admitted he didn’t think he was ready to be in it,” Lewis told SEN radio.
“He would have thought he had another 12 months to coach Box Hill and get that experience under his belt, yet everything’s been fast-forwarded.
“I think the way everything’s transpired — the handover and the way it’s ended (and) all the messaging out of Hawthorn — adds to the pressure.
“He’s unfortunately a coach who will be under scrutiny straightaway, when we thought he had time to get this list together.”
Lewis emphatically endorsed Mitchell’s senior coaching potential, but cautioned that no one really knew whether anyone would be a great AFL coach until they were in the job.
“You’ve got to understand you have to put people around you, develop a list and be able to make your players believe in what you’re selling,” he said.
“That’s the challenge. Is his football intellect there? Absolutely. He’s the smartest player I ever played with — but how that’s conveyed to the group is his greatest challenge.
“There will be moments in the early parts of Sam Mitchell’s career (that) the club will have to stand by him.”
Lewis also admitted how alarmed he was at the increasing but unfamiliar instability that’s suddenly showing from the Hawks’ succession plan, which failed before it even started.
“It was always a club of stability that protected a lot of the information that came out,” he said.
“I suppose over the last three months it has been a club I didn’t associate with information coming out so freely.”
Clarkson had already been linked to the Collingwood and potential Carlton jobs before Friday’s news, with Lewis rating the Blues as a marginally more appealing option.
‘Embarrassing’: Dunstall blows up at panicky Hawks
– Jay Clark
Hawthorn champion Jason Dunstall has labelled the club’s handling of Alastair Clarkson’s departure “an embarrassment”.
Dunstall helped hand pick Clarkson from Port Adelaide in one of the most inspired and successful coaching appointments in the game’s history.
Dunstall said Hawthorn should not have jumped at shadows when Sam Mitchell was a chance for the Collingwood senior job, and instead maintained its faith in Clarkson for longer.
“The bottom line is it has been really poorly handled, I think the way it has played out over the past few weeks doesn’t reflect well on anyone,” Dunstall said on Triple M.
“I think it has become a bit of an embarrassment.
“For me if you go back three weeks probably everyone knew what the best outcome was.
“They have probably fashioned the idea of ‘lets have a handover’ because you become severely impacted if you pay out (his contract) and all of a sudden next year’s soft cap has got a big chunk missing before you start, so that makes life tough.
“But you’ve also seen over the years handovers have never been smooth, they’ve never really worked
“Clubs get through them but I don’t understand the point of doing it.”
Dunstall said he would have preferred to have seen the club show “great respect” for Clarkson rather than the messy exit.
“I think everyone just danced around the topic,” he said.
“Everyone has to live with this decision. You have got to be very careful the way you make these things happen and I think they have been a little disappointing the way it has played out.”
He said the Hawks should have been more patient around Collingwood’s interest in Mitchell.
“I don’t know why you don’t let that play out,” he said.
“I wouldn’t have pulled the trigger that early, I don’t think it needed to be.
“I would rather let Mitch go through the process and see whether he actually gets the Collingwood job and take it from there.
“If he does get the (Collingwood) job and he’s going well get him back in a few years’ time when he’s contract is out.”
Brereton: Clarko wasn’t at top of his game
By Jay Clark
Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton says premiership mastermind Alastair Clarkson had passed his prime as senior coach when the Hawks made the bold move to appoint Sam Mitchell as his successor.
Clarkson’s glorious 17-year reign as Hawks’ coach has come to an end after the planned succession part fell apart in dramatic circumstances on Friday only three weeks after the club announced the controversial handover plan.
Brereton said while Clarkson was still one of the best coaches in the game, the champion forward was adamant Clarkson was no longer at the peak of his powers.
“There are aspects of his coaching that I can view right now, which I don’t think he is completely and utterly at the top of his coaching game,” Brereton told the Herald Sun.
“I don’t think he is at his peak as a coach.
“He is still probably close to the best coach or maybe even still is the best coach, and definitely top-three or four coaches in the competition.
“But there are aspects of his game style and coaching that I don’t think are as a cutting edge anymore.”
Clarkson’s tireless work ethic and sometime confrontational nature is known to have worn thin on some of his staff and former colleagues including former list boss and footy manager Graham Wright who has since joined Collingwood.
In particular, there has been frustration over Clarkson’s influence on recruiting and the decision to hand over Ryan Burton and a first-round draft pick for Chad Wingard from Port Adelaide.
The Hawks are in second-last spot on the ladder with four wins as it enters a new era, and have kicked more than 100 points in a game only twice in the past two years.
Brereton, who won five premierships with the Hawks and is one of the club’s most revered figures, said Mitchell was “insanely clever” in the football IQ department.
He believed a key party — believed to be Clarkson — had changed their minds on the succession plan in the past 72 hours, leading to the stunning development on Friday to part ways.
Brereton said Hawthorn fans should take a breath before lashing the club.
“I would caution people before they get emotional and before they get hysterical and cynical and aggressive about it,” he said.
“You can’t keep going with the same coach forever. Essendon did it (with Kevin Sheedy) and it entered into a strange set of circumstances by the end of Kevin’s tenure,” he said.
“And if you look at it through another lens we were so lucky to have someone so good for so long.
“I am a believer in Sam Mitchell who is insanely clever with football. That is the first hurdle. That is the first thing you look at as a coach and there are so many layers to add to on top of that.”
Hawthorn triple premiership player and former captain Don Scott, who helped save the club from a merger with Melbourne, said a call was made too early on Clarkson’s future.
Scott said the Hawks’ administration should have waited until 2022 to decide on his contract, pending the team’s performance and direction.
“Clarkson instigated the initial meeting 18 months out from the expiration of his contract because maybe he knew other clubs were out there and maybe he was playing the game,” Scott said.
“But Hawthorn made a mistake. They should not have said we are not going to extend your contract.
“They should have just sent him away and said we are not going to talk about the contract, we haven’t made up our minds and won’t for 12 months.
“Delay the call. If Mitchell is going to go that is too bad, if that is what they were worrying about.”
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