Alastair Clarkson on his warning to Hawthorn players, recent hospital admissions and the lasting impact of his brother’s death
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has been in the wars over the past year, revealing three accidents that left him hospitalised – and one that gave him “a bit of a singe”.
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Alastair Clarkson has revealed he warned his players of the pitfalls of the “Four Ps” ahead of their summer breaks.
The four-time premiership coach said he held discussions with his players “on a regular basis” about avoiding trouble away from the club.
“Within our club ... we talk about the four Ps, which is the piss, the punt, the penis and the powder,” Clarkson told the Dyl and Friends podcast.
“And where there’s strife in anyone’s life, by and large, one of those four is gonna get ya.
“Three of them are legal, one of them is illegal but three of them are legal.
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“So certainly the legal ones, it’s just like, ‘Well, you’re allowed to have a punt and you’re allowed to go out and have a drink and you’re allowed to spend time with a lady or male partner’, but if you do those things excessively and foolishly, then you’re going to find yourself in a little bit of trouble’.”
Hawthorn has stood down forward Jon Patton while awaiting the outcome of an AFL integrity unit investigation.
Clarkson was responding to podcast host Dylan Buckley, who was reminiscing about the lectures he would get as a player – at Carlton and Greater Western Sydney – with the coaches saying “look after yourself” over the Christmas break.
“We talk about our guys on a regular basis and not always me to the players and the players to me, sometimes just break in groups and just have a chat about where in this next two or three weeks you might find yourself in a vulnerable position and think about it before you go into the scenario rather than reflect afterwards,” Clarkson said.
“Because the reflecting afterwards might be a different scenario than actually giving it some thought beforehand.
“That includes if you’re going to have a drink, are you going to drive? If you’re going to an environment with mates, who are the mates? Do they understand the footy environment, do they understand your professionalism? The background all that sort of stuff, what you do and what your expectations are.
“It’s just a little bit around preparation and thought.
“We’re dealing with young men, they’re not going to get it right all the time. We know that there’s mistakes to be made and many make them, including me.
“I’ve made plenty over my journey but what we try to do now is pass on our wisdom of the mistakes that we’ve made and hope that we can prepare our guys as best we can to avoid some of them.
“There’s pitfalls everywhere, but by and large, it’s held us in pretty good stead.”
Clarkson also revealed he had been hospitalised three times in the past 12 months after accidents on his farm on the Mornington Peninsula.
In one incident he was grinding steel posts but forgot his goggles.
“I was wearing the goggles but because I was going and doing the mowing or some other work and then I’d come back (to the grinding), this one time I came back I forgot to put the goggles on, so needless to say I got a little bit of steel in the eye that required hospitalisation and they actually took a bit of a chuck out of the white of my eye … that caused me a bit of eye trouble for a couple of weeks just before Christmas of 2019,” Clarkson said.
“Then I got myself in an accident involving a bit of petrol and a fire that gave me a bit of a singe and a bit of a fright … and more recently I nearly broke my hand squashing my hand between a sleeper and a bluestone.
“The players have got good reason to think maybe I’m going to be a casualty of that farm.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Clarkson also spoke about going through hard times at boarding school when he lost his 24-year-old brother Andrew in a car accident.
“That smacked the family around big time,” Clarkson said of the 1984 tragedy.
“I don’t want to dismiss it because it was such a huge impact on our family, but you learn to try to develop reason out of these things and just understand that it’s all part of the journey.
“There’s hurdles to overcome everywhere and that’s probably the thing that I can bring, particularly at my age now as a coach, it’s this empathy as a father figure to a lot of these players now that you understand the pitfalls of life not just the pitfalls of footy.
“Now the pitfalls of footy are even more significance because of the public nature of the game, the expectation, the popularity of the game, the difficulties of the game …
“And so that puts added pressure on young men so how can you alleviate some of that pressure.
“We spoke about the four Ps before, how can I forewarn these kids that there’s landmines everywhere across this Christmas break boys, just be careful the way you navigate them.
“If you do stuff up, I’m here to out my arm around you, sometimes a kick up the arse and a slap across the ear hole, but sometimes also a nurturing cuddle.”
CATS GET GOOD NEWS ON DANGER INJURY
- Jon Ralph
And Cats recruit Jeremy Cameron will join him as he overcomes a minor hamstring strain.
The mobile big forward is hitting top speed while covering 10km during training sessions.
Beaten grand finalist Geelong has spent the summer introducing new acquisitions Shaun Higgins and Isaac Smith to a team that saw club legends Gary Ablett and Harry Taylor retire in the off-season.
Dangerfield’s groin injury hampered him late in the year but Geelong football boss Simon Lloyd told the Herald Sun he was on track with the build-up to Round 1.
“We are very pleased with Patrick’s progress,” Lloyd said.
“He has progressed through his footy loads without any issue and looks strong and fit. We are very happy with where he is at.”
Cameron has already settled into the club and town after a bruising trade period that saw Geelong forced to trade with GWS for his services but retaining three 2021 second-round picks.
Despite stepping out of some match simulation including last week’s contest, Lloyd said he had been on the track enough to build synergy with his new teammates.
“Jeremy is completing large loads of football training,” he said.
“He is up around the 10km (distance) mark in sessions and we have seen him hit his maximum speed.
“You can see with Jeremy how quick his decision-making is and he is getting used to the dynamics of working with the new forward line. He’s settled in here and to be honest it feels like he’s been here forever.
“He’s a highly intelligent footballer and he’s working with Corey Enright, the forwards coach, and they are training in small groups this week but the more they train together the more comfortable they will be.”
Geelong and Collingwood will play in a practice match on February 26 at GMHBA Stadium before the Cats take on Essendon on Saturday March 6 in their only AAMI Community Series clash.
The scratch match against Collingwood will again be an informal affair in which the clubs will work on match strategy with a mix of normal game time and then specific drills such as forward 50 stoppages to hone their craft.
Luke Dahlhaus is building his strength after groin issues, while Darcy Fort (PCL) is in modified training after a recent setback.
Sam Simpson (shoulder surgery) is back in training and nearly ready to progress to full contact training after his breakout 2020 season.
“Dahlhaus is progressing well,” Lloyd said.
“He is picking up speed and working on change of direction and working through different footy sessions and that will increase in coming weeks.
“Darcy is completing modified craft sessions at the moment and we will monitor how his knee responds in the coming two or three weeks. We are happy with his progress.”
LEGEND HITS OUT AT ‘INSULTING’ COACH CLAIMS
Paul Roos has revealed he will have a match-day role in the North Melbourne coaches’ box.
And on Sunday Roos labelled “insulting” suggestions that his urging David Noble to apply for the senior coach role meant the latter’s appointment was a forgone conclusion.
Roos officially joined North Melbourne last week in a role that will include mentoring of coaching staff and executives, as well as a football role on game day.
In his first interview at his new club, he told the Herald Sun he was excited about the blend of experience and emerging talent on North Melbourne’s list.
Roos is just back from two weeks in Sydney hotel quarantine after returning from overseas and has run smack bang into Melbourne’s five-day lockdown. But in his first days at the club, he already has a good idea of what his new role will look like.
“Nobes and I already have a great relationship, so it’s just about formalising what they need from me,” Roos said.
“I know pretty well what it looks like, so we will take the next three weeks to go in and observe and decide.
“I think where I can help will be sitting in the box and observing and helping.
“The football department is a little skinny in terms of what it was in the past (given new footy department caps).
“I am really conscious that David is the senior coach and that’s his role. My role is to do the best for North Melbourne.
“So game day is an area when I can help, and then there will be some kind of review process, and we are going through that.”
Noble said this month he only strongly considered the North Melbourne role when Roos called to convince him that he had what it took to cross from his job as Brisbane Lions football boss.
Some commentators wondered if fellow contenders Daniel Giansiracusa and Robert Harvey ever had a chance, given that strong endorsement, but Roos says the reality is exactly opposite.
“It’s a bit insulting when I hear that,’’ Roos said.
“One of the biggest things for me was getting as many people to the line as we could.
“There wasn’t an Alastair Clarkson or John Longmire-type person, so everyone in the process had an opportunity to get the job.
“I have been asked to be on coaching selection panels before, and there are times when you already know who is going to get the job, so I declined.
“I said, when this was put to me, we need to be really transparent about this and put everyone through the process.
“I know David Noble and I played with him, and what helped him commit was when he trusted that we would run a full process.
“That gave him confidence he would get heard.
“We wanted as many strong candidates as we could and he just stood out through the process. The things we saw on his resume he was able to articulate. He got the job 100 per cent through the way he interviewed.”
Roos is confident North Melbourne can find an onball role for ex-Collingwood forward Jaidyn Stephenson and is reunited with former Greater Western Sydney midfielder Dom Tyson, who he lured to Melbourne in a swap that saw the Giants draft Josh Kelly.
“Dom is super talented and is one of the main reasons we went from two wins to 10 wins, so I hope he can get a good run at it,’’ Roos said.
“You talk about Rising Star awards, you have to be a really good player to win that, so Jaidyn has got some real talent to work with.
“Collingwood had expectations of him as a key forward, and it’s a really hard role to play. Our expectations will be slightly different.”
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