New Hawthorn chief executive Tracey Gaudry warns rivals away from Alastair Clarkson

FOOTY’S first female chief executive says rival clubs should abandon plans for a raid on four-time Hawthorn premiership coach Alastair Clarkson.

New Hawthorn CEO Tracey Gaudry. Picture: Michael Klein

FOOTY’S first female chief executive says rival clubs should abandon plans for a raid on four-time Hawthorn premiership coach Alastair Clarkson.

“Keep your hands off him,” Tracey Gaudry declared after being installed into the Hawks’ top job.

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Gaudry, 47 — a former Olympic cyclist, cancer survivor and mother of three — replaces Stuart Fox, who defected to the Melbourne Cricket Club in December.

The Hawks have slumped to 17th on the AFL ladder after a disastrous 1-5 start to the season, but Gaudry said she had already “reaffirmed” to Clarkson the club’s faith in him and his football department.

“We spent a good hour-and-a-half around my kitchen table last night shooting the breeze, talking about the things that we were going to do together as leaders of this organisation,” Gaudry said.

“Alastair is the most passionate, committed coach that you could find. He has been with this club for some 13 years now and has built success on the field from literally the bottom.

“They’re going through a patch right now which, frankly I’m not happy about — and as an athlete you don’t ever want to be happy about not being at the top of the tree — but he’s taken them there before and the club is absolutely behind him and I can’t wait to be his supporter as he goes forward with the team.”

New Hawthorn chief executive Tracey Gaudry. Picture: Michael Klein

Clarkson warned of “catastrophic change” at Hawthorn on Saturday after his team’s 75-point hammering to St Kilda in Launceston.

Asked about the comments, Gaudry said: “There may well be drastic change, but let’s just not forecast anything like that at this point in time.

“I walked into the war room today with the senior players and they’re taking some stock of the situation.

“As someone who has been right to the top and knows what it’s like to be down the bottom, that rebuilding process ... takes some deep digging ... and as a former elite athlete, your athletes need to listen to the person they most trust and that is their head coach”.

Port Adelaide premiership coach Mark “Choco” Williams on Monday repeated his belief that Clarkson should leave Hawthorn before it is too late.

“I’m telling him to get out while the currency is still high and start again,” Williams told SEN radio.

“He knows when I give these discussions, I do it from the heart. The fact is there is still a lot of time. Whatever his coaching percentage is, mine would have been very similar.

“Obviously, he has won the premierships, but when the numbers start turning against you, you can go to hero to a zero very quickly.”

Tracey Gaudry makes her position on Alastair Clarkson clear. Picture: Michael Klein

Gaudry, Athletics Australia’s general manager of commercial and growth, will take up her new post on May 29.

She cycled for Australia at the Atlanta and Sydney Olympic Games and was a driving force behind the wildly successful Nitro Athletics event in Melbourne earlier this year.

Gaudry said she would continue in her role as vice-president of cycling’s world governing body the Union Cycliste Internationale “for at least the time being”.

Hawthorn president Richard Garvey said: “Tracey has been an elite athlete and she’s also been in sports administration at the elite level. We were just so impressed with her passion and drive.

“She just brings a perspective, a passion and leadership style that is absolutely unique. She’ll do wonders in the AFL industry.”