Alastair Clarkson’s soft cap payout deal revealed

Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says the club would not receive “special treatment” over coach Alastair Clarkson’s payout after he quit the AFL club.

Hawthorn will be hit with a soft cap breach penalty because they will be forced to honour Alastair Clarkson’s $900,000 contract for 2022.

Club president Jeff Kennett confirmed that Hawthorn would not receive “special treatment”.

The Hawks’ awkwardly handled transition was understood to have been bogged down in a fight over whether Clarkson would get his final year paid out.

It was understood Hawthorn would pay Clarkson $450,000 each year for two years to minimise the club’s soft cap penalty.

But even with that accounting measure, which fits in with AFL rules, it was expected that any payout of his contract next year would breach the $6.2 million football department soft cap.

Clarkson’s contract was expected to blow the club’s soft cap by $100,000 per year.

That would attract a fine of approximately $75,000 but that would have been significantly more if it was paid in full in 2022.

Watch The 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership Season Live & On-Demand on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

Alastair Clarkson, Senior Coach of the Hawks looks on during the 2021 AFL Round 10 match between the Carlton Blues and the Hawthorn. Picture: Getty

Mr Kennett refused to answer specific questions about Clarkson’s cash but was adamant he would not be shortchanged.

“I’m not going to talk about the terms, that’s irrelevant. All I can say is that Clarko is getting every entitlement to which he is owed and to which he deserves,” he said.

“The reduction of the soft cap by a third has affected all clubs, the AFL have a precedent in place which happened with Mr Shaw at North Melbourne and one other coach somewhere else.

“Whatever the precedent is we will follow that, so there’s no special treatment for Hawthorn we just follow the precedent.”

The exact timing of Clarkson’s exit from Hawthorn has been the source of speculation for weeks and there had been tensions about his handover to Sam Mitchell.

Hawthorn had wanted to part ways with Clarkson sooner, but were unable to work out how to pay his contract without it having a major blowout of its soft cap, it was understood.

Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett. Picture: David Caird

There were fears that they may have been penalised for the soft cap breach and in effect had to pay more than double the contract, or be forced to reduce Mitchell’s assistant coaching team.

The spreading of payments to Clarkson eased that burden and he will see out the remaining games of this season as senior coach.

A similar arrangement was understood to have been enacted for Nathan Buckley’s early departure from Collingwood.

The race is on for Clarkson’s signature, with Collingwood’s board already understood to have done their due diligence and made an approach.

Coach Alastair Clarkson is leaving the club, and former Hawks star Sam Mitchell to take the reins at the end of next season. Picture: Nicole Cleary

However, Carlton was a likely destination and it would be an AFL marketing dream if Clarkson went to either Gold Coast Suns or the Greater Western Sydney Giants.

Clarkson said he would be able to coach if an offer came up, but that he wanted to “take a breath”.

He said he would not entertain offers during the final rounds of the year.

However, Hawthorn would save some money if Clarkson was to coach during 2022.

Gold Coast president Tony Cochrane said “we’ve got a coach” when asked about Clarkson.

He said he had only just read the news of his departure and knew nothing more about it.

GWS said it had not approached Clarkson or his manager.

Originally published as Alastair Clarkson’s soft cap payout deal revealed