‘I think he’ll walk’: Mark Thompson suggests Alastair Clarkson could leave Hawthorn for success, right offer
FORMER Geelong and Essendon coach Mark Thompson believes Alastair Clarkson could leave Hawthorn in pursuit of success elsewhere.
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FORMER Geelong and Essendon coach Mark Thompson believes Alastair Clarkson could leave Hawthorn in pursuit of success elsewhere.
The call comes as commentators suggest the Hawks are on the road towards a rebuild, as the team — one of the oldest in the competition — sits at 0-3 through three rounds for just the second time this millennium.
Clarkson is under contract until the end of 2019 at Hawthorn, where he has been the senior coach since 2005.
If he completes that contract he will have coached the Hawks for 15 seasons, equalling the record set by John Kennedy Sr. Clarkson will this year pass Kennedy Sr. for the most games in charge of Hawthorn.
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But Thompson, who famously departed Geelong at the end of the 2010 season at the height of the team’s success, thinks the famously competitive Clarkson could be drawn elsewhere because “he likes winning”.
“Say they (Hawthorn) perform really poorly this year, next year they don’t go so good either, he’s got two or three years of his contract to go and he can’t see them actually winning a premiership,” Thompson said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“Because that’s what he wants, every coach does, and (if) he’s been offered a great job elsewhere ... I think he’ll walk.”
Thompson agreed that Clarkson is a loyal person, stating that any potential move would not be “for the wrong reasons ... he’s been fantastic for the club.”
“He’ll want to win. That’s what I think you do know, if you can be bothered to do this job you’ve got to get what you actually want out of it. And he wants to win.”
Clarkson has previously been linked to coaching vacancies at multiple clubs over the years including West Coast and Adelaide.
Originally published as ‘I think he’ll walk’: Mark Thompson suggests Alastair Clarkson could leave Hawthorn for success, right offer
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