AFL coaching news 2021: David Teague ‘comfortable’ about Carlton contacting Alastair Clarkson
As if David Teague doesn’t have enough pressure on him, now the Blues coach has to deal with Alastair Clarkson rumours - but he’s confident he still has some breathing space to prove himself.
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Under-pressure Carlton coach David Teague will be “comfortable” with the Blues contacting Alastair Clarkson, but thinks he has another year of breathing space to prove himself.
Clarkson’s sudden availability – after Hawthorn’s mid-week announcement that Sam Mitchell would succeed him in 2023 – has outwardly poured more pressure on Teague as an internal review bubbles away.
The 53-year-old super coach insists he will complete his contract at Waverley Park next year before handing over to Mitchell, which Teague pointed out when asked about a potential Carlton approach.
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“As long as they’re transparent and clear with me, I’m comfortable. I understand it,” Teague told ABC Sport.
“I think it’d be a year away. I think one thing Alastair’s done is the integrity of his word, and he’s saying he’s going to (finish) the year. I think it’d be 12 months away before that happens.
“I do get it – I understand football, I understand the bigger picture – but I also think we’re doing a lot right, right now.
“We may not have seen the fruits of it yet, but I have a great belief that we will over the next couple of years.
“I’m really comfortable in what we’re doing and the way we’re going about it and I see success in the future for this football club.”
Teague said the Clarkson development had not stirred any change in him and he was confident the current Blues coaches and wider staff could drive the club to finals and beyond.
Teague’s surprising remarks came as Carlton slumped to its 10th loss of the season against a far superior Geelong outfit at the MCG.
The Blues paying dearly for their inaccuracy in front of goal as the Cats tightened their grip on a top-four finish with a 26-point victory.
Lethal: Clarko priced himself out of new contract
Alastair Clarkson’s million-dollar-plus pay packet as much as his extended length of time as Hawthorn coach most likely cost him a new contract at the club, according to four-time premiership coach Leigh Matthews.
Matthews said AFL coaches earning more than $1 million would become a thing of the past if the league soft cap remains the same.
He said finances as well as the future direction would have influenced the Hawks’ decision to implement a succession plan to Sam Mitchell at the end of next season.
“(In) your whole football department these days (you) can only spend currently about $6.3 million, and I can’t see how a senior coach can earn more than 10 percent of the soft cap,” Matthews said on 3AW.
“If we believe the numbers with Alastair Clarkson, (he is) getting $1.2 million, and Sam Mitchell, I guess, would get $500,000 or $600,000, (it) is incredibly important because you have got a massive recalibration taking place because of the soft cap.
“I think Hawthorn would have said … in the last three years we have finished ninth, 15th and this year we are 17th. Alastair Clarkson might be the best coach in the competition, but paying him $1.2 million is not going to be the way we want to go.
“I think it (the succession plan) is as much about money as it is about the future. I am pretty sure the financial considerations are and should be critical.”
Matthews said he could understand why some of the AFL senior coaches had been “bitching” about soft cap squeeze this year.
“No wonder the coaches have been bitching all year about the soft cap because their own salaries are going to be affected big time deep into the future.”
Former Clarko manager slams Hawks ‘madness’
Alastair Clarkson’s former manager Liam Pickering has slammed Hawthorn’s decision to move on from the four-time premiership coach as “madness”.
The Hawks announced on Tuesday that club great Sam Mitchell, currently coaching Box Hill, would succeed Clarkson as senior coach from the 2023 season.
Clarkson and his new agent, James Henderson, have since repeatedly stated that he would see out his contract next year, but Pickering believes he is “absolutely gettable”.
Speaking on his weekly SEN program, Off The Bench, Pickering said Hawthorn’s decision staggered him and that Clarkson would have been the perfect person to guide the club through its rebuild.
“If you’ve got the best coach of the last 20 years and he goes and says he wants to extend, then, to me, that means you extend him. But, anyway, the Hawks know better,” Pickering said.
“Of course, he’s gettable now. He’s absolutely gettable. What he’s saying on the face value is spot on and I’m sure he believes it, and I’m sure his manager believes it.
“But if the right deal comes and Clarko wants to explore it, it’ll happen and he’ll go.
“I mean, why wouldn’t he? He doesn’t owe Hawthorn anything now. They basically terminated him. I find it just extraordinary, the decision. Extraordinary.”
Pickering would have risked losing Mitchell to retain Clarkson, comparing this situation to Collingwood’s ultimately messy coaching handover from Mick Malthouse to Nathan Buckley.
“Didn’t we see this happen with Bucks? It might even be seamless and it’s got nothing to do with Sam Mitchell. He might be a fabulous coach and all that sort of stuff,” he said.
“But, to me, it’s extraordinary … a bit like Bucks – but Bucks got 10 years out of it. But Mick didn’t want to do it in the first place.
“(It was) about the same thing – we’re all happy with this at the time, then a year later Mick said, ‘No, I’m out’.
“There’s no reason why ‘Clarko’, if the right deal comes, and it’s Collingwood – the obvious one at the moment, because they don’t have a coach – well, why wouldn’t he go?”
Pickering is convinced Clarkson, 53, will coach again elsewhere at some stage, even if it’s not until 2023.
“He’s only a young man, really, in coaching terms. I mean, Chris Fagan – what age was he when he started coaching? 55? He’s a great coach.
“It’s very unusual for Hawthorn, to be honest. The stability in that footy club has been so good for so long and Clarkson’s been one of the drivers of it, so, to me, it’s a strange, strange decision.”
Why Clarkson’s stern rebuke won’t end speculation
Alastair Clarkson has a certain way of staring at his accusers that bores deep into their soul.
It is a gaze that reminds you of a coaching history including run-ins with Essendon great Matthew Lloyd, an MCG coaches’ box wall and anyone who dares to doubt his integrity and commitment.
To be at Waverley Park on Friday as Clarkson made a public declaration to honour his 2022 contract was to interpret that stare in only one manner.
Clarkson has every intention of honouring his contract with the Hawthorn Football Club.
To be honest, it was impossible to be there and believe he was simultaneously plotting his departure from the club that he has given a third of his 53 years and four of its 13 flags.
As he said when this journalist asked specifically about Collingwood’s interest: “I don’t know how many times you are going to ask the question in a different way, but I am contracted for next year and I am staying here.”
At Hawthorn’s captain’s run Clarkson made the best possible fist of explaining how a succession plan would play out despite its obvious challenges.
He would still coach the side, Mitchell would have control of list management, they would liaise when those areas intersected.
And two self-confessed “stubborn” bulls in the paddock would have the usual robust conversations they have had in the past three years for the good of Hawthorn.
The first challenge in accepting that perfectly laid-out future is considering how often across history has a person rejected by their boss or board or colleagues felt great about remaining there in any capacity, let alone the 16 months Clarkson has signed up to?
The second is that the landscape will change again within coming weeks, let alone the past month when all of president Jeff Kennett, CEO Justin Reeves and football boss Rob McCartney have told fans succession plans don’t work, only to institute that course of action.
Just as Nathan Buckley promised all year the fire was in the belly at Collingwood, only to admit upon moving on he was attempting to throw the media off his trail, clubs tell porkies or circumstances change.
As Kevin Bartlett is fond of declaring, lying is football’s second language.
If Carlton does move on coach David Teague after an exhaustive review and Charlie Curnow makes a successful late-season return, how could Clarkson not be enticed by the prospect of a list on the verge of a finals window?
Would a single person in football begrudge him after offering to extend his contract, only to be given the tap on the shoulder by Kennett and co?
Clarkson has never cared much about the media’s reaction, even somehow shocked that Hawthorn moving on the best coach of the modern era had created a “media frenzy”.
He aint seen nothing yet, the Hawks signing up for 16 months of Clarkson being linked to every coaching job in the land in daily or weekly stories.
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It will never stop.
It might not be a distraction if the Hawks don’t let it be, but it will sure prove tiresome with seven coaches out of contract next year and some of the rest sure to have an open mind on Clarkson as a replacement for even contracted coaches.
Sitting tight for a season while getting paid $1.2 million and assessing the sporting landscape for opportunities that he said on Friday might be out of football or even out of Australia sounds like a prudent decision for Clarkson.
He will just have to accept that it is a course of action which will test his very patience given the distractions ahead and those who simply will not believe him until every coach is secure in the 2021 post-season.
Clarko blasts talk of jumping ship to rival
Alastair Clarkson says he will refuse to entertain all overtures to coach rival sides next year, adamant he and Sam Mitchell can find the kind of working arrangement Collingwood could not in its succession plan.
The Hawks coach on Friday said he was genuinely excited to spend the next 18 months considering his future in or out of football while remaining at Hawthorn.
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett said this week he would deal with rival overtures when they presented, with Carlton and Collingwood sure to make contact with the four-time premiership coach.
But asked specifically about interest from Collingwood through football boss Graham Wright, Clarkson bristled at the suggestion he might walk to a rival this year.
“I don’t know how many times you are going to ask the question in a different way, but I am contracted for next year and I am staying here,” he replied.
“I am coaching the footy club until the end of next year, the only thing that changes in terms of decision making is to do with some staff and players and list management about the future of the club beyond 2022, all the day to day stuff is still run by me.”
Clarkson said he and Mitchell would continue the same challenging but productive relationship they had enjoyed in recent years despite the power dynamic changing.
“There are plenty of sceptics out there that say that’s not going to work. ‘They are too hard-nosed and stubborn lads’. But tell me a coach that is not.
“We will work our way through that but it’s not different to what we are doing now.
“We will work exactly the same way we have for the last three years, he and I know each other pretty well so we will work together and position this club as well as we possibly can for when the handover does occur.”
Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire made clear on Fox Footy on Thursday Carlton would enter the race for Clarkson despite having a contract for David Teague.
But he said the Hawks would be happy to pay the rest of Clarkson’s deal to a rival if he secured a new job but not at the current salary above $1 million for 2022.
“If he does go, Hawthorn will have to mitigate the difference between his contract and what he would have got at Hawthorn,” he said.
“You save the (difference in) money which they can redeploy into having assistant coaches.
“If you are Jeff Kennett and Justin Reeves with where they are at, they need a whole lot more coaches than an alpha coach.
“If Alastair leaves, there is $1.2 million or let’s call it $1 million (of salary) and let’s say he gets $800,000 from somewhere else and in the first year of his contract there is some mitigation.
“As far as Carlton is concerned, my understanding is Carlton have said, ‘Clarkson is out there and that comes into our thinking as far as our review. New ball game, we take it all into account on our review’.”
Despite the shock decision by Hawthorn’s board to move him aside for a club legend with a dozen VFL games under his coaching belt, Clarkson says the move will allow him breathing space to consider what is next.
“We are just going to take the opportunity to take a breath and sit back and look at what we want to do next. Everyone thinks that’s going to be in coaching, it might not be.
“We have got 18 months perhaps now to sit and look at the landscape of what we could possibly do. For the best part of 45 years of my life I have chased this dream of AFL footy. “There is something exciting about wondering what else might be out there. I will explore that over the next 18 months.
“That might be in coaching or out of coaching, in footy or out of football, in Australia or out of Australia and all those things have appeal to us.”
For the 2022 season Clarkson will still have total control despite Mitchell’s increased focus on list management, with decisions ahead on whether to trade out a veteran for another first-round pick.
“I will consult with Sam like we always have done anyway, and he will consult on some list management stuff,” Clarkson said.
Pies’ Clarko hopes take massive hit
Alastair Clarkson is emphatic that he will fulfil his million-dollar contract at Hawthorn next season despite the certainty of offers to come from rival clubs.
Clarkson’s manager, James Henderson, on Thursday told the Herald Sun: “Clarko will honour his contract at Hawthorn.”
The greatest coach of the modern era will be quizzed about his future at his weekly press conference at Waverley on Friday, with many already touting him as the Magpies coach for 2022.
But if he follows through on Henderson’s statement it would rule Collingwood out of the picture in its coaching search and shine the spotlight on Carlton as it continues its review of the football department and David Teague.
Hawthorn made one of the most courageous decisions in football history — and one with catastrophic effects if it backfires — when it refused to extend his contract.
But those close to Clarkson are adamant that he is content to spend the next year at Hawthorn continuing the rebuild while also assessing his options for 2023.
While it would also see Clarkson ending his nearly two decades at Hawthorn without acrimony, it would also allow him to cherry-pick a perfect role at the end of next year.
There are seven coaches out of contract next year but with increasingly small payout figures for coaches many clubs would consider Clarkson as an option.
The Hawks said on Tuesday they would hold him to his contract, but for Clarkson securing $1.2 million in salary next year will soothe the pain.
While only he can prove his intent with actions, for now that statement shows he is prepared for the role and the 16 months of weekly scrutiny about where he will land in 2023.
The Hawks have made no decisions yet upon their list strategy for 2022 despite admitting they might have to consider trading one of their established stars to secure another first-round pick.
All of the club’s established stars in Chad Wingard, Jaeger O’Meara, Jack Gunston and Tom Mitchell are managed by TLA’s Tom Petroro and none has expressed a desire to leave.
The Hawks have made no move to trade Brownlow Medallist Tom Mitchell and will clearly let the dust settle before deciding upon a list strategy for the off-season.
In particular Wingard has in recent weeks expressed his determination to remain at the club given his love of playing under Clarkson and his enjoyment at playing at Hawthorn.
But one of the first flashpoints under the potential Clarkson-Mitchell handover will be whether the Hawks strip back their list or retain their stars and continue to go to the draft.
With James Sicily (knee) and Gunston (back) returning next year and Will Day, Denver Grainger-Barras and Changkouth Jiath emerging as exceptional young kids the Hawks might believe they are closer on their rebuild path than they believed.
Mick Malthouse told News Corp on Wednesday sitting in meetings while Nathan Buckley and the coaching staff discussed list management strategies for two years into the future was unedifying.
Rival clubs said if the Hawks did lose Clarkson’s seven-figure salary their possibilities were endless to use the money in their salary cap.
One senior rival figure said the Hawks first priority would be to increase the salaries of staff who had taken a pay cut while adding two or three more assistant coaches and development staff.
The Hawks would also be able to boost their welfare and development areas, while also handing Mitchell a pay rise as the official senior coach.
TEAGUE GRILLED OVER CLARKSON, BLUES LINKS
Glenn McFarlane
Carlton coach David Teague remains confident he is the right man to lead the club into the future, saying he isn’t fazed by the sudden availability of four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson or the Blues’ review into the club’s football program.
With former leading coach and media commentator Ross Lyon saying the Blues would be derelict in not asking the question of Clarkson for next year, Teague said he had tried to block out the outside noise.
“There is going to be lots of noise, there has been all year, there will continue to be, but what we will do is keep focusing on getting our job done to the best of our ability,” Teague said ahead of the Blues’ clash with Geelong this week.
“You can’t control it; I am pretty good at blocking it out. I don’t watch any of those shows, I don’t read a lot of the media.
“I am not too worried about it. I will focus on what I can control.
“I honestly believe I am the right person (to coach Carlton) … I think we have got a good team together at the moment. I understand we haven’t performed as well as we would have liked, but in terms of where the club is going, I have a lot of confidence.”
Asked if Carlton’s chief executive Cain Liddle or president-elect Luke Sayers had contacted him since Hawthorn stunningly called time on Clarkson’s coaching tenure at the end of next season, Teague said there had been no need to as the club was in the midst of its review.
“The review started a week ago,” he said.
“We are not going to have a running commentary on the review, but in terms of the Clarkson thing, there is no need to give me a call around that.”
He revealed he had spoken with the Carlton players before the review started last Monday week, but stressed he didn’t think its operation had had anything to do with the club’s two consecutive wins.
“We addressed it with the players’ group before it and now it is business as usual,” he said. “The review I don’t think has had any impact (on the past two wins). I do think there will be some great positive feedback. It is a learning tool. I have encouraged it, I look forward to it.
“I have encouraged our players and staff to be as open and honest as they can be because that’s how teams get better.”
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