We speak to those who know Alastair Clarkson best to understand what makes AFL’s No.1 coach tick
ALASTAIR Clarkson could be worth up to $2 million on the open market but will legacy keep him at Hawthorn? We speak to some of the men who know Clarkson best to understand how he ticks.
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NEW Hawthorn chief executive Justin Reeves invited Alastair Clarkson down to the beach over summer.
For Reeves, the surf coast town of Fairhaven is God’s country — perfect beaches, rolling waves, an escape from the chaos.
Clarkson had never surfed before, but eagerly accepted the offer of a beginners’ lesson on what Reeves labels “the best beach in Australia”.
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If you know anything about surfing, you realise most retire thoroughly defeated first time out. If you know anything about Alastair Clarkson, you know how this goes.
“He had never been surfing before in his life. He was an absolute beginner,’’ Reeves told the Sunday Herald Sun.
“He was last out ... determined to stay in the water until he got a wave.
“The rest of us finished and were relaxing on the beach while he was still out there.
“You know what, he got that wave before he came in. That is the sort of competitor he is, whether he’s comfortable or not.”
Reeves had never had any connection to Clarkson before taking on the Hawks’ CEO role late last year.
But the football administrator who has worked with Mick Malthouse, Chris Scott and Nathan Buckley has no doubt the Hawthorn coach is “the most emotionally intelligent, competitive, analytical person I have ever met”.
Former Hawks president Andrew Newbold, now an AFL commissioner, still plays golf and tennis with Clarkson regularly.
They are members at Metropolitan, Newbold off a handicap of four and Clarkson, a “good ten with some work to do”, as Newbold laughs.
“If he and I go play golf or tennis, he doesn’t just want to beat me, he wants to wipe the floor with me,’’ says Newbold.
Former Hawks CEO Ian Robson said: “There are people who are driven, and then there is Clarko. It’s like that line from Ocean’s Eleven — ‘Are you in or are you out?’ With Clarko, he has always been all in.”
Clarkson turned 50 last month, still going strong at Hawthorn on a project he initially believed might take 10-12 years.
Yet here he is, at the top of his game, 13 and a half seasons later. Halfway to Sheedy.
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Kevin Sheedy coached 27 seasons at Essendon — 634 games to be exact.
In a fortnight Clarkson’s coaching career will span 317 games, at a premiership strike rate better than eight-flag legend Jock McHale.
“Don’t tell me he’s not even halfway to Kevin Sheedy,” laughs Reeves, almost incredulous.
“He has coached four premierships already. How many did Kevin coach? Four ... Does that make him twice as good as Kevin Sheedy?”
Clarkson is football’s pre-eminent figure. With a fifth premiership he would pass seven four-time greats including Sheedy and Mick Malthouse and join just four men: “Checker” Hughes (five flags), Jack Worrall (five), Norm Smith (six) and McHale (eight).
But well over a decade into his coaching career, he is a bundle of contradictions.
He is a man described by Newbold as having a “perfect” work manner, and yet others believe he has only been kept from repeated volcanic eruptions because of his elite support staff.
Those who have worked intimately with the coach paint the picture of a man “driven by history, and driven by legacy like (John) Kennedy was.”
Hawthorn great Shane Crawford says the man who helped him realise his premiership dream will choose history over fresh challenges.
“Everything he does every day is geared towards winning that next premiership,’’ Crawford says.
“Maybe down the track, he wants to challenge himself. But at Hawthorn he has had challenges all the way through.
“I think he could pretty much pick whatever club he wants to go to ... and he would do an amazing job at any of them.
“But he has got himself to a stage at Hawthorn where he delegates and is able to take a step back and analyse things.
“If he goes to a new club, that is going to require more energy than ever.”
Clarkson has been here before, of course.
Almost every club searching for a new coach in the past decade has tapped his management and been met with firm rebuttals.
But two in particular stand out for the size and scope.
It is understood Melbourne offered Clarkson $6 million over six years before Mark Neeld was appointed in 2011, while West Coast were prepared to offer him the job that went to his assistant Adam Simpson if he had been prepared to move west.
Yet always he has resisted overtures, and will continue to do so again, according to the man who hired him all the way back in late 2004.
“Alastair has consistently shown loyalty every time he has been challenged to go somewhere else,” former Hawks president Ian Dicker says.
“I expect that continued loyalty. That is his nature. He is such a loyal person — loyal to his family, his kids, he is just a wonderful man. He has been a rock at Hawthorn.
“He has been driving the club through five presidents, four CEOs, four or five football managers.”
Dicker says if he had his way Clarkson would already have a statue out at Waverley alongside three-time Hawks premiership coach John Kennedy.
“No doubt there should be one there. I would have it at Waverley and they can transfer it to Dingley when the time comes.”
Tactical whiz Rodney Eade still marvels at Clarkson’s innovations, often having plans A, B and C and yet still being surprised by a coaching strategy.
He says the secret to Clarkson’s longevity is reinventing his game style and teaching methods, often with a new battery of assistant coaches.
“He has been able to do that exceptionally well. Clubs get sick of you rather than you getting sick of them,” Eade said.
It is what Hawthorn great David Parkin believes will keep him at the club.
“His saying is, “If it ain’t broke, smash it”,” Parkin says.
“That’s his living philosophy and it’s not easy to do. They are Alastair Clarkson’s words and I use them all the time.”
Parkin believes Clarkson can “become like some of the great all-time American coaches who go on for 30 or 40 years in the business.”
From the time the Hawks appointed Clarkson the former schoolteacher had an inexhaustible thirst for knowledge.
If his team played in Perth he would duck off to Singapore to meet a contact then hustle home without missing a training session.
The yearly fact-finding missions to US and UK training bases have become the stuff of legend.
Robson says there is never a moment wasted, often going into the club gym to spot Clarkson running on the treadmill with whiteboard and magnets in front of him.
“People used to go to British soccer clubs and they stayed and had a cup of coffee. Clarko went for weeks,’’ he says.
“He went to training, he went to matches, he went to meetings, he went to scouting academies. He absorbed it. He embedded himself.”
Then he came back and put in place innovative tactics such as “Clarko’s Cluster” and the attacking box that helped reduce the single focus on Lance Franklin.
“He was never so arrogant to assume he was the finished article,” Robson said.
Many friends close to Clarkson wonder whether he can keep this extraordinary pace up after nearly 14 years as a senior coach.
“Listening to Wayne Bennett interviewed this week, he said four or five times, ‘as long as I retain my health’,” Dicker says.
“It is an issue for every one of us but Alastair pushes himself to the limit. One time (in 2011) he ran the New York Marathon, then rang me up and said, ‘Can you get me to the Philadelphia Eagles game?’, then the next day flew back to Kokoda with players.
“He has been sick a few times and the things he does give him some mental time off, but he still has to physically lead the lifestyle he does.”
Kevin Sheedy has concerns for the pressures on senior coaches today.
“He has already had to go into hospital and have six weeks off (Guillian Barre syndrome in 2014). Coaching jobs are extraordinarily stressful,” Sheedy says.
Reeves said Clarkson thrives on his hectic lifestyle: “Whatever Alastair does, he does at 100 per cent. Whether improving himself through study or experience or his family life. All those things he does at 100 per cent. Not many people can fit as many 100 per cents in their lives as he does.”
But Clarkson has found ways to find a work-life balance — spending 90 minutes with his children Stephanie, Georgia and Matthew on their projects each night, locking in an annual family holiday to the Sunshine Coast.
Sheedy wonders about whether he could reach two decades or more at the Hawks under Kennett.
“I don’t think he could do it at Hawthorn with Kennett,” he says.
One friend concedes the relationship is challenging: “(Kennett) is forever challenging Alastair and Alastair is doing the same back ... they push each other’s buttons.”
Clarkson has bristled at suggestion his protracted contract negotiations have sometimes painted him as out for every dollar he can get.
Many coaches famously have deep pockets, but not everyone says he shares that thrifty tendency.
His first contract with Hawthorn was between $300,000-$350,000, the base rate for a first-time AFL coach.
Yet when he attempted to lure Australian Institute of Sport biomechanist David Rath to the club, the Hawks didn’t have enough cash.
It is said he then handed over $20,000 from his initial salary to “get the bloke he wanted”.
After the 2008 premiership he turned up on the doorsteps of his assistant coaches and presented them with 70-inch flatscreens.
Recently he funded educational trips overseas for assistant coaches from his own pocket so the club didn’t go over the football department soft cap.
He has even personally funded and appeared in videos with club legends John Kennedy and Graham Arthur for Hawthorn’s archive collection.
The Hawthorn soft cap is a reason why he cannot be paid anywhere near his true worth.
On best estimates it is perhaps a little over $1.1 million, so with premiership bonuses he is a rich man, supplemented by a series of speaking engagements.
Former AFL Coaches Association boss Danny Frawley believes there should be a marketing exemption to see he and his ilk paid as much as $2.5 million a year.
Kennett famously believes coaches should move on before they get stale, once saying he had discussed future challenges with Clarkson.
“Moving can freshen you up ... he could easily head up a major Olympic sport,” Kennett said.
Clarkson has admitted that fascinates him— attempting to test his skill set in a different sport.
America’s Cup winning skipper John Bertrand is the president of Swimming Australia and an Olympic bronze medallist.
“That wouldn’t be an issue. His skills are totally transferable,” Bertrand said.
“He would be of great interest to any program. We have spent a lot of time benchmarking what the Hawks have been up to.
“We spent some time with him and he showed us the video he showed the Hawthorn selection committee.
“It was about John F. Kennedy and how he made the decision to fly to the moon — we don’t know how we will do it, but it is what we have chosen to do.
“His presentation was about choosing to win a premiership, but not being sure how we would do it. It is typical of the global view of high performance.”
Premiership coach Robert Walls wonders why Clarkson would leave Hawthorn when history is within reach.
“At AFL level, it’s all about the flags. That is the ultimate. Ultimately that is how you are remembered,” he said.
“That is why Sheedy is remembered, and Norm Smith and John Kennedy. I am sure that would be at the back of his mind when he looks at this decision.”
The man who gave him his start at Port Adelaide, Mark Williams, believes there would be positives in a move, but he can’t see it happening.
Last year Williams stated openly Clarkson’s best move was to freshen himself at a rival club.
“I stated last year I felt that at some stage in my career it would have been better for me long-term to have actually moved (from Port Adelaide),’’ he said.
“Maybe you get pigeon holed a bit and people reflect on your last two years rather than your first 10.
“But if you are in a position at a club that makes multimillion-dollar profits every year and can do exciting things for the playing group and the staff, it might look a little greener over the fence, but it’s bloody difficult to leave.”
Newbold says if Clarkson wanted an overarching AFL role at some stage in the future, he could have it in a heartbeat.
But in Clarkson he sees a man with unfinished business.
“He is the best coach I have seen in my 15 years in the game. How do you find a better coach? It is one thing getting rid of blokes, but you need to find someone better and there aren’t many better.
“He will be excited by (the club’s future move to) Dingley.
“I don’t know if it will be at Hawthorn — it’s not my remit — but I can see him being in the game for another 10 or 15 years.”
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Originally published as We speak to those who know Alastair Clarkson best to understand what makes AFL’s No.1 coach tick
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