Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has defended the club’s ruthless decisions during trade period

“IF it ain’t broke, fix it anyway”. That is the attitude Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson is taking on the back of the club’s controversial trade period.

Alastair Clarkson says trading out club stars was the right call. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

ALASTAIR Clarkson has delivered a stirring defence of Hawthorn’s controversial trade period, insisting the club needed to ruthlessly fight to stay at the top.

In a string of October trade bombs, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Bradley Hill were shipped off to West Coast, Melbourne and Fremantle respectively.

But it was the departures of favourite son Mitchell for pick 88 and fellow four-time premiership player Lewis for a swap of late picks that most shocked the football world.

RETURNING STAR: ROUGHEAD BACK ON TRACK AT TRAINING

NEW HOME: DINGLEY MOVE A MUST FOR CRAMPED HAWKS

In his most insightful explanation yet, Clarkson used a 20-minute speech at the club’s annual meeting to argue they were the agonising decisions the Hawks had to make.

Clarkson also revealed he had come up with a new game plan in a bid to continue the Hawks’ golden run, declaring the attitude was “if it ain’t broke, fix it anyway”.

Alastair Clarkson says trading out club stars was the right move. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

“In every period of success I’ve identified with other clubs, but particularly this club, you need to be really, really bold. You need to be really, really resilient and you need to be really, really strong on values,” Clarkson said.

“Examples of bold? Managing the exits of decorated servants. Sam Mitchell; it’s hard to find a more decorated servant of this football club in the last century.

“(It has been) really, really hard for me, the captain of our footy club (Luke Hodge), who is one of his best mates, and for all our supporters and members to sit there (and ask), ‘How can you possibly have a conversation with one of the most decorated servants of your club about him possibly playing anywhere else other than a club wearing brown and gold?’

“I can remember speaking to (Mitchell’s) father about two days after I first spoke to Sam and even Wayne said: ‘I hope you blokes know what you’re doing, Clarko.’

“We didn’t want those guys playing for another club. Nor did we want Buddy Franklin to play for another club either ... but that’s the harsh reality of the game.

“What we did understand, particularly with Sam and Jordan, is that if they’ve been so decorated for our club and if we can’t guarantee what their futures look like beyond 2017 then surely they deserve to have a say in how their career might be shaped after 2017.

“Even though we hate seeing it happen, part of it is about Sam and Jordan and how we can help them with the security and the next phase of their lives, and there’s also in the back of our minds the need for our footy club to continue to progress, to continue to look at new ways, to continue to offer opportunities for our younger players and the next wave of players.”

Jordan Lewis, Alastair Clarkson, Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell sing the club song together. Picture: Getty Images

Clarkson said Hawthorn couldn’t afford to go back to the dark days of the mid-90s or 2004 and was mindful of all-conquering clubs that had fallen off the cliff.

PAY FIGHT: PLAYERS TO GILL: SHOW US SOME RESPECT

OVER-UNDER: CAN YOUR CLUB MEET EXPECTATIONS IN 2017?

“We never want to be that footy club. We understand the implications when you don’t have onfield success — it’s turmoil for a club, it’s hard for supporters, members, players, board members and the administration and if we can avoid that, we need to do it,” he said.

“We’ve seen too many times, either at our club ... or at Port Adelaide and Brisbane, where you have a fantastic era of success and then it all goes pear-shaped and sometimes very, very quickly.”