AFL coaching bombshell as Alastair Clarkson quits Hawthorn

Alastair Clarkson says he will ‘take a spell’ after sensationally quitting as Hawthorn coach, but one answer on his future won’t have been missed by rival clubs.

Hawthorn Coach Alastair Clarkson addresses his team

Alastair Clarkson says he believes Hawthorn would allow him to coach a rival club next season, despite agreeing to an early exit from the Hawks after the club’s contentious succession plan collapsed on Friday.

On one of the most dramatic days in the Hawks’ history, the four-time premiership coach confirmed that president Jeff Kennett had said the club would not stand in his way if he accepted an offer to coach elsewhere in 2022.

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While Clarkson said he wasn’t in the right “head space” to consider rival offers at the moment and would most likely “take a breath”, he is certain to field inquiries now that he won’t coach out the final year of his contract — handing over to Sam Mitchell after Round 23, a year earlier than planned.

Collingwood is searching for a senior coach after Nathan Buckley stepped down this year, while David Teague is under pressure to keep his job at Carlton.

Sources said Clarkson would be paid out $900,000 — but Hawthorn could split the cash $450,000 a year for two years to minimise the club’s soft cap penalty.

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Alastair Clarkson and Sam Mitchell face the media on Friday at Waverley. Picture: Michael Klein

Asked if he was still able to coach another club next year, given his hastily arranged settlement with the Hawks, Clarkson said: “Yes, I am.”

Kennett nodded his head in agreement at the comment while off-camera at the press conference on the Waverley boundary line attended by the club’s leadership group and senior executives.

“That would all depend on money and all that stuff,” Clarkson said of any potential offer. “But if I went back to the club and said, ‘A fantastic offer has come up, would you allow me to take it?’, (well) I think Jeff already indicated a couple of weeks ago (that the Hawks wouldn’t stand in his way).”

“I am just going to take a breath … Right at the present time, I want to give all my energy that I possibly can to the last four weeks of our season.

“At the present time my commitment is to have a spell and see where 2023 might take us.”

Clarkson said he hadn’t made a decision about whether he will coach again or even stay in the AFL system.

Alastair Clarkson says Sam Mitchell is now driving the Hawthorn bus.

Less than a month after Kennett revealed the club’s succession plan, it has fallen apart on the back of a “messy” past few weeks amid allegations of infighting, leaks and player confusion.

Clarkson said some of the club’s senior players played a part in the tipping point of Friday’s decision, saying recent discussions with captain Ben McEvoy and leadership group member Jaeger O’Meara convinced him it wasn’t going to work.

But he dismissed suggestions his strained relationship with Kennett and that chief executive Justin Reeves fast-tracked the decision.

“It’s my view the footy club needs to free itself from my shadow,” Clarkson said.

“We’ve come to the realisation that this footy club needed some fresh air from 2022 onwards. I’m going to step aside from coaching the Hawthorn Footy Club at the end of this year. I’ve had my time in the sun, and I’ve had a blast.

“We don’t want any confusion.

“We want to know who’s driving the bus, and this guy (Mitchell) is driving the bus. (The players) need one bloke leading the charge.”

Clarkson conceded there had been numerous “robust” discussions in recent weeks, which convinced him that coaching the Hawks next year wasn’t going to work.

“We (Kennett and Clarkson) both agree on one thing (doing what is best for Hawthorn), even though at different stages it might seem we are like two pieces of sandpaper running against each other,” he said.

“We both agree healthy tension is a good thing in a football club.”

Kennett described the chaotic day as “a momentous moment in the life of the football club”.

But he denied he had misled Hawthorn members by insisting in recent weeks that Clarkson would “absolutely” coach the club next year and wouldn’t be paid out under any circumstances.

“We hope that as a result of the goodwill that’s been shown by all parties we now have clear air. We have clear air, we have clarity and we can move on,” Kennett said.

“I don’t think we’ve misled the members. We have done what we think is the right thing. We thought it (the succession plan) would work, as it turns out, it caused a lot of confusion.

“I accept responsibility for that.”

Kennett would not go into the terms of Clarkson’s payout, or how it could potentially affect the club’s soft-cap going forward.

“There will be time properly to salute (Clarkson) but he will always be, I suspect, the most significant coach up to this point of any coach we have ever had,” Kennett said.

“We welcome Sam Mitchell as our next coach for the next 10 years, or 15 years, and (we hope he can) replicate what Clarko has been able to achieve.”

Mitchell said it had been “a really strange day”, but said he would be “forever thankful” to Clarkson for the “position he’s given me.”

“I’m disappointed we all end up here with a month to go,” he said. “There’s a statue (of John Kennedy) just up there, fair to say there’ll be another for (Clarkson).”

Hawks assistant coach Sam Mitchell pictured at training on Friday. Picture: Nicole Cleary

Hawthorn will be hit with a soft cap breach penalty because it will be forced to honour Alastair Clarkson’s $900,000 contract for 2022.

Club president Jeff Kennett confirmed that Hawthorn would not receive “special treatment”.

The Hawks’ awkwardly handled transition was understood to have been bogged down in a fight over whether Clarkson would get his final year paid out.

It was understood Hawthorn would pay Clarkson $450,000 each year for two years to minimise the club’s soft cap penalty.

But even with that accounting measure, which fits in with AFL rules, it was expected that any payout of his contract next year would breach the $6.2 million football department soft cap.

Clarkson’s contract was expected to blow the club’s soft cap by $100,000 per year.

That would attract a fine of approximately $75,000, but that would have been significantly more if it was paid in full in 2022.

Kennett refused to answer specific questions about Clarkson’s cash but was adamant he would not be short-changed.

“I’m not going to talk about the terms, that’s irrelevant. All I can say is that Clarko is getting every entitlement to which he is owed and to which he deserves,” he said.

“The reduction of the soft cap by a third has affected all clubs, the AFL have a precedent in place which happened with Mr Shaw at North Melbourne and one other coach somewhere else.

“Whatever the precedent is we will follow that, so there’s no special treatment for Hawthorn, we just follow the precedent.”