Alastair Clarkson admits Hawthorn ‘let finals go’ last year after 0-4 start

ALASTAIR Clarkson has admitted Hawthorn was prepared to sacrifice finals last year after a disastrous 0-4 start but he’s confident the right path was chosen for the betterment of the club.

ALASTAIR Clarkson has admitted Hawthorn shut down its finals aspirations only a month into last season.

Clarkson conceded his players lost their hunger in a disastrous 0-4 start after six years of brilliant finals football.

But rather than bust a gut to attempt to scrape into eighth, the year was invested into playing youngsters and experimenting with positional changes.

PAID UP: IS YOUR CLUB MEMBERSHIP A GOOD DEAL?

RISING SAINT: MCCARTIN READY TO LIVE UP TO HYPE

SUPERCOACH BUZZ: MUST-WATCH PLAYERS IN THE JLT

As a result the Hawks discovered James Sicily, Ryan Burton and Blake Hardwick as defenders and blooded emerging players like Conor Glass.

In an interview to be played on Fox Footy during Saturday’s clash against the Western Bulldogs, Clarkson said this year “there’s a fire burning among the playing group”.

“Probably going 0-4 like we did early in the year, strangely Sydney were 0-6 — we took different paths,’’ he said.

“We’d been there and done that before in 2010 when we were 1-6 after seven rounds and worked so hard to get ourselves back into the season.

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson says finals weren’t a priority last year after a 0-4 start. Picture: Getty Images

“But you spend so much energy getting back into finals and you’re kicked out pretty quickly and that happened to Sydney.

“We took a different approach this time at 0-4. We thought we could work really hard to get ourselves back into the season, but by the end of the year you’re buggered.

“Or the reality is we probably need to invest in our next generation and so that was the decision we made. We wanted to win, but we weren’t going to push some of these players back from injury.”

Speaking for the first time about Cyril Rioli’s tough summer, Clarkson said his father’s heart attack was complicated by the family’s medical issues.

“He had a big hiccup over the summer. His dad had surgery following a heart attack and that really knocked Cyril around because his uncle Maurice passed away with a heart attack and his uncle Sebby had the same,” Clarkson said.

“It just seemed to be that this period from 50-60 years of age, of which a lot of his uncles and father is at the present time, was a real high-risk area and time for his family.

Cyril Rioli has been dealing with his father’s health issues during the summer. Picture: Getty Images

“He was just wondering what his purpose in life was, to be a footballer and is that with Hawthorn or is it to be a family member and that really tore him apart for a long, long time so we gave him the space he needed.

“He did that and he also recognised he can combine both footy and family. So he’s in a good space.”

Clarkson was thrilled good mate Damien Hardwick won a premiership with one power forward, but is adamant it bucked a historical trend.

“I remember watching the Tigers through the early part of the year thinking to myself, ‘Gee, if they are going to reply on Jack Riewoldt being their sole forward for the whole year they are going to battle’.

“It challenged me. I have done a lot of research on AFL spines and they defied that.

“My view is you need two or three of those big beasts in your front end to be able to withstand the rigours of a whole season, but in particular finals when pressure’s at its greatest. Richmond defied that.”