Alastair Clarkson says he needs to take time before making a decision on leading Hawthorn
ALASTAIR Clarkson is offering no assurance he will seek a contract extension beyond 2019 while voicing his concerns over the Swans defence — which he believes threatens the future of key forwards.
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FRIDAY night’s loss to Sydney has caused Alastair Clarkson to question his future, with the Hawthorn coach offering no assurance he will seek a contract extension beyond 2019.
The Hawks lost to Sydney by seven points and while Clarkson has been endorsed by president Jeff Kennett, his long-term future is up in the air.
“When you have a game like last night, you get pretty disappointed with your own coaching,” Clarkson said.
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“You just wonder whether or not, at some point in time, this group of players is going to be better served with a different coach.
“I want to sit down and make sure we use the fullness of the next two years to work out whether it’s the best thing for the football club that I’m the bloke that continues to take charge.”
MEANWHILE, Clarkson said Sydney’s well-drilled defence and a shift in the interpretation of the blocking rule for killing off key forwards.
A frustrated Clarkson said the Sydney defenders were able to get away with “blue murder” on Friday night.
He took to the airwaves on Saturday to push his beef with the game, saying he felt for young forwards such as Paddy and Tom McCartin, Josh Schache, Tom Boyd and Eric Hipwood.
He said the Swans were defending the man, not the ball and it was ruining the game.
Clarkson had further criticism of how other rules were being implemented, including the holding the ball rule, and said the game now looked like a “modified form of rugby”.
Clarkson said the charter of the game — which describes the AFL as a game of high marks and goal scoring — was not being upheld.
“I watch a game last week where Dane Rampe’s playing on Ben Brown … there’s only one way that he can actually defend in that manner, he’s not actually defending the ball, he’s defending the body,” Clarkson told 3AW.
“It’s a very sophisticated defence, it’s very disciplined, it’s very well coached and it’s very adhered to by the Sydney defenders, but in my view their defenders aren’t actually defending the ball, they’re defending the body.
“That’s why young kids like McCartin and Schache and Boyd and Hipwood, they wonder why they play such great footy at Under-18 level and then can’t get a kick at senior level, well in under-18 they don’t defend the body, the defend the ball.
“I think if we got back to defending the ball, in a manner that it should be, then we’d get back to getting some contested marks … we’re just not seeing that aspect of our play anymore so what are teams doing? Well, what’s the point of having a key forward anymore? Let’s just play little fellas down there, try to compete, bring it to ground.”
Clarkson said spoiling was now a forwards’ role while defenders were the ones taking all the marks.
He said rule changes including zones and 16-a-side did not need to be implemented to improve the spectacle, the current rules just needed to be adjudicated better.
“When players are just … taking out the body then we miss out on the high marking, we miss out on the full forwards,” Clarkson said.
“I’ve termed it creep before, but over a long period of time we haven’t got classical wingmen anymore, the old KB, Leigh Matthews rover is now gone from the game.
“We’ve either got big bodied midfielders, you’ve got one tall ruckman, the second ruckman is gone from the game now, the traditional ruck rover is gone form the game and we’re just got three types of players: A really tall one, a big bodied one and a little nippy one that can run pretty quickly into space in your front half.
“ … Having discussion with the AFL and many within the game everyone … says yes we’ve got a problem and yes, we want to do something about congestion and not actually doing anything about it.
“We’ve got a very, very easy manner to do something about it. It’s not to have to go to zones, it’s not to have to go to 16-a-side, it is just to police the game according to the rule book.
“If we did that, in my view, at least it would be a step in the right direction in terms of opening up the game.
“ … the key forwards used to be a great talking point of the game and we’re just not seeing them anymore. The big picture for mine is what’s happened to the game?”
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Originally published as Alastair Clarkson says he needs to take time before making a decision on leading Hawthorn