Jeff Kennett hails Hawthorn coaching succession plan after Sam Mitchell’s success

One of the key architects of Hawthorn’s coaching succession plan has hailed its success and revealed how it almost unravelled due to Alastair Clarkson.

Coach Alastair Clarkson is leaving the club and handing it over to Sam Mitchell. Presser at Waverley Park. Picture: Tony Gough

The man who orchestrated one of footy’s most contentious coaching succession plans says Hawthorn has been vindicated by its 2021 decision as he revealed he set Sam Mitchell an ambitious two-premiership target at the time.

Former Hawks president Jeff Kennett told the Herald Sun he was certain he and his board made the right decision in fast-tracking Mitchell’s pathway to becoming an AFL senior coach, by reaching a handover agreement with four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson.

A frustrated Clarkson walked away from the deal before it could be enacted, but Kennett said the Hawks’ evolution into a finals force three years later justified the change.

As the Hawks prepared to take on Port Adelaide in a semi-final on Friday night, Kennett said 41-year-old Mitchell had become the embodiment of the modern coach.

“Our decision to go with Sam was that Clarko had been cooked for a number of years and it was time for a change,” Kennett said.

“But more importantly there was no one in the competition who we knew better – no matter who else was going after him – who was better suited to us and who had brown and gold in his veins.

Alastair Clarkson and Sam Mitchell at the press conference to announce the succession plan. Picture: Tony Gough

“We recognised Sam was a young man with values, who was excited about the opportunity to put into place what he had learnt and how he thought the game should be played.

“We made the change, and Clarko, to some degree, wrecked it because he decided not to see out his term, which caused a bit of angst. (But) it was the right decision.

“He (Mitchell) has lived up to our expectations. The thing I noticed the most, which reinforces the correctness of the decision, was when I watched him after a match down in Tassie talking to the players.

“He didn’t yell and scream at them. He just talked to them and won their confidence. It is not only his skill and understanding of the game but the way in which he relates to people which makes him a very modern coach.”

Kennett detailed to the Herald Sun this week the challenge that he and then football director Richie Vandenberg set Mitchell after taking over as Hawks coach in late 2022.

“When we appointed Sam, I said to him, ‘Use the next two to three years, build your coaching panel, get your players on board, and I want you in the finals from 2025 onwards,” he said.

“2025 is our 100th year (in the AFL). I said to him, ‘I then expect you to be in the finals for the next 10 years and to have won two premierships.

“We are a year ahead of ourselves, so whatever happens over the next few weeks, come rain, hail or shine, we are on the right track.”

Clarkson and Mitchell enjoy a Hawks victory in 2011.

But Kennett said it was “not Sam alone” who had been responsible for transforming the on-field fortunes of the club. He also stressed Hawthorn was not “getting ahead of ourselves”.

“You can have the best coach, but if you don’t have the right coaching group and playing group around you won’t get very far,’’ he said.

“We have a team of young and mature players who play for each other and they are playing in a way that the public hasn’t seen for some years.

“It is not just Sam, it is a team of people. Sam is the leader of that team. You can have a good orchestra player but if you don’t have the rest of the people singing from the same hymn book, you are buggered.”