How Alastair Clarkson and the Hawks remained successful without high draft picks
HAWTHORN’S sustained success becomes even more remarkable when you realise GWS and the Gold Coast have enjoyed 34 top-10 picks between them since 2009 and the Hawks had none. Here’s why Clarko and Co are the masters of recruiting.
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ALASTAIR Clarkson sniggers at the thought.
Fancy planting yourself near the bottom of the ladder and stockpiling a handful of golden draft choices?
“For some clubs, Grand Final day is towards the end of November,” Clarkson quipped earlier this year.
“That’s because they’ve got all these high draft picks. But that’s never been our go.”
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In the past nine drafts Hawthorn has activated just five top-30 picks, and even they have been hit and miss.
They’ve taken Isaac Smith (No.19 in 2010), Tim O’Brien (No.28 in 2012), Billy Hartung (No.24 in 2013), Ryan Burton and Kieran Lovell (No.19 and 22 in 2015).
Smith and Burton are the only clear ticks. Question marks hover over O’Brien and Lovell while Hartung has been delisted by two clubs in the past 12 months.
GWS and Gold Coast have shared 34 top-10 talents while Hawthorn has had access to zero.
Instead, Clarkson has preferred to cherrypick players and mould them into his line-up.
The Hawks are the kings of the trade table, where they opt for the certainty of knowing exactly what they are getting.
By November — as other clubs start to sweat — they are already entitled to a few cold draughts.
Last year Jarman Impey (Port Adelaide) was welcomed through the door and the year before that it was Tom Mitchell (Sydney) and Jaeger O’Meara (Gold Coast).
Previously it has been David Hale (North Melbourne), Jack Gunston (Adelaide) and Brian Lake (Western Bulldogs).
All of those players were brought in for nothing more than a suite of selections.
In 2011 Hawthorn finished third and Carlton finished fifth. While the Blues used pick No.22 on Josh Bootsma, the Hawks happily traded pick 24 for Gunston.
When Clarkson wants a player he goes hard.
Remember in 2015 when he rolled into Jake Carlisle’s Florida hotel unannounced?
Or how he recently engaged Shane Crawford and captain Jarryd Roughead to help pursue Gold Coast’s Tom Lynch?
In 2016 Mitchell was acquired for pick 14 — an unknown quantity — and in 2018 he is the Brownlow Medal favourite.
It is a myth the Hawks cashed in on free agency to navigate their way to seven top-four finishes in eight seasons.
The only free agents the Hawks have signed are James Frawley and Ty Vickery and they have lost Lance Franklin, Matthew Suckling, Xavier Ellis, Clinton Young and Tom Murphy.
Lately the shrewd moves have been complemented by executing late picks.
Look at their least experienced players in last week’s qualifying final — James Worpel (pick No.45 last year), Harry Morrison (No.74 in 2016), Blake Hardwick (No.44 in 2015) and Conor Nash (Irish rookie).
How many of those would you take ahead of early talents struggling elsewhere?
“You want to talk about draft picks? The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” premiership coach Paul Roos said this year.
There is no right or wrong way to build a list, although sticking to a plan appears to be critical.
Clearly, the Hawks have appealed as a destination club.
But then again Melbourne hadn’t played finals in 12 years and yet it still lured Michael Hibberd, Jake Melksham and Jake Lever.
“If you get it wrong and you pivot in the wrong direction it can be disastrous,” Geelong coach Chris Scott said.
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