360 View: Alastair Clarkson’s relationship with Hawthorn seems forever broken
No matter how much Alastair Clarkson and Hawthorn won together, it appears their relationship is irreparable as questions linger whether Clarkson will attend the 2013 premiership reunion.
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Alastair Clarkson’s relationship with the Hawthorn football club is broken into a million pieces, never to be put back together.
So many senior coaches have been marched out the door with steam coming from their ears only to find it within themselves to eventually reconnect with the club that made them famous.
Yet in this murky, never-ending process into First Nations racism allegations where the only winners are the lawyers billing by the hour, this much is certain.
Four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson will never forgive Hawthorn, no matter how the next six months plays out.
No matter how many premierships he won for this club and the millions they paid him.
In his quiet moment, as he seethes and rails at what he sees as the injustice of it all, he would believe the next time he sees some of those senior leaders who commissioned the cultural safety report is when he has his day in court seeking damages.
This relationship is irrevocably damaged, which Clarkson laid bare in an emotional press conference which confirmed what friends have suspected for some time — he is struggling badly with the toil of this never-ending investigation.
The fallout can be seen in matters both trivial and consequential.
When the Hawthorn players who he has helped turn into future Hall of Famers organised a get-together on Easter Monday to celebrate their “Kennett Curse” battles with Geelong, Clarkson had one question.
Is it an official Hawthorn function?
It wasn’t, so Clarkson came and had a great time.
Those same players had hoped Clarkson might attend this year’s 10-year reunion of the 2013 premiership later this season.
But they now realise that won’t happen, with officials implicated in the investigation unlikely to front up either.
It means that those past players are already planning an informal ‘rebel’ event so those not prepared to attend anything that has a whiff of official Hawthorn FC can find a way to commemorate the first in a three-peat of flags.
Clarkson fumed at Arden Street about the lack of investigation into the process which saw the cultural safety report commissioned without his input then almost immediately leaked.
But in truth it is explicitly one of the topics under the official terms of reference.
And it might result in the loss of draft picks, as presidential hopeful Peter Nankivell told the Herald Sun last November.
“If there is fault and or policies have been breached and there are sanctions, we are acutely aware of that. I think the board is charged with being responsible for the good governance and conduct of the football club at a point in time, and if there are legacy issues or historical issues where we have been at fault then we are responsible.”
It is not out of the range of possibilities that Hawthorn could be stripped of the No. 1 overall pick, but given the total lack of progress in seven months how likely that is would be anyone’s guess.
Clarkson might attend this month’s mediation if only to move on the process but will make no admissions of concessions.
An investigation that has stalled at every turn hasn’t even got remotely close to apportioning guilt — or blame — but has already ripped apart any bond that remained between the winningest coach of the 21st century and the Hawthorn football club.
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