Alastair Clarkson says trades are certainly on the table as Hawthorn embarks on long road back to top
Alastair Clarkson says everything is being thrown in the stove pot — including the trade table — as the Hawks stir for that special concoction to return them back to the top of the AFL competition.
Hawthorn
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Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson is considering going back to the trade table as he plots their return to the AFL summit.
While Grant Birchall is edging closer to a return, he urged people to reserve their judgment on Chad Wingard trade, which while saying they were being “ultra cautious” before bringing him back into the squad.
Hawthorn, currently 12th and eight points of the top eight, faces Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night, but Clarkson said they were playing the long game.
“We’ll do whatever we think will be best for our club. Things come up that’s like a bear jumping on your back.
“We didn’t anticipate in the last two years that Grant Birchall would play no footy and Cyril Rioli was going to retire at 28,’’ Clarkson said.
“We had no inkling this time last year that we’d be in the market for a Chad Wingard because we didn’t really need him while Cyril was at the club. (You ask) have we got someone like Cyril right now, someone emerging, someone in the draft. There’s not, so we go to the trade table.
“That’s the area of Graeme Wright and Mark MacKenzie, but we’re all on the same page. We’ll do what’s best for the club — sometimes that’s draft, sometimes that trade.
“We’ve got some hits and misses in that space, like all clubs.
TRADE HQ: ROUGHEAD OUT, PATTON IN AT HAWKS?
“We’ll continue to look at our list and our playing group. We’ve got eight games to go, where that takes us in terms of finals — it’s not about the short term goal for us, it’s about the big picture and the long game in terms of when we can next seriously compete for silverware.”
Clarkson said it was foolish to be making judgments on the Ryan Burton-Wingard trade.
“People say the Burton-Wingard thing wasn’t good for Hawthorn. It’s five minutes old. Come back to us in 2027 and let us know how it’s gone,’’ he said.
“I couldn’t even tell you who Port got for Shaun Burgoyne. People want a winner and a loser. Years ago Wayne Schwass and Shannon Grant swapped clubs — both clubs benefitted.
“It’s a 5-8 year plan rather than a five minute plan. Shaun Burgoyne, people forget in his first year forget that he didn’t play they first 10 rounds of that season.”
Jarryd Roughead was ruled out of the Collingwood clash, but may play for Box Hill this week as Clarkson warned about the rebounding Magpies.
“By their standards they were average last week, but the Kangas were outstanding,’’ Clarkson said.
“Expect a pretty fierce response from the Pies, they’re a proud club.
“But they’ve won 10 games, they’re in a good space — we’ve got a few more issues than they have.
“We were competitive with our effort last week, kicked poorly.
“Having won five and lost nine, we’ve got a percentage just under 100. We’ve been really competitive, just lacked polish and consistency.”