Petrol station refused to serve Alastair Clarkson amid racism investigation

Hawks great Jordan Lewis has unloaded on his former club, while revealing the real toll of the racism investigation on Alastair Clarkson.

Jordan Lewis has gone into bat for his former coach Alastair Clarkson.

Four-time Hawthorn premiership player Jordan Lewis has unloaded on his former club, saying they have has “lost control” and there are people with “blood on their hands” as the racism investigation enters another sad chapter.

It comes as his former premiership coach Alastair Clarkson stood down indefinitely from his position as senior coach at North Melbourne on Thursday.

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Speaking on AFL 360 Plus, Lewis said he was “shocked” when he heard the news that Clarkson had stepped down from his new coaching role, but understood why his former mentor would be feeling the way he did as he shared some animosity towards his former club.

“There are people still at Hawthorn with blood on their hands. The more I talk about it, the angrier I get,” Lewis said on Fox Footy.

“He’s the most resilient person that I’ve ever come across in my life. So for him to get to a point where it’s taken such a significant toll on him for him to be able to step away and acknowledge that he’s not dealing with the situation greatly and his mental health has taken suffering and I can only imagine how much his family has been put through at this particular time shows just how much stress he’s been under.

“These people who were put in place to interview both sides of the situation to get a clearer picture of what actually happened haven’t done their job.

“I feel for the Indigenous players because they probably went into this situation hoping there would be an outcome. Once again, eight months down the track they still feel like they’re in limbo. The same goes for the other side of the camp. They haven’t even had a chance to talk.

“I couldn’t imagine that they would want to go back to the football club for a very, very long time. It’s really sad.”

Lewis and Clarkson. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Petrol station refused to serve Clarkson

Lewis shared a story detailing some of the strain that Clarkson had been under since the allegations were first reported in Grand Final week last season.

“When the news first broke and he had his first little layoff at North Melbourne, he went down to the coast to get away for a little bit,” Lewis explained.

“He stopped off at a petrol station, the person behind the counter refused to serve him. Because of what these allegations had been about.

“I don’t know how many times in his everyday life that would have happened, but it wears you down. To be accused of what he’s been accused of and the other guys, to not be able to speak and tell your version of events, it would be excruciating.”

Hawthorn will be celebrating 10 years since the 2013 premiership later this season, the second of Clarkson’s premierships at Hawthorn and the first of the historic three-peat.

But Lewis doubts that, as a result of the ongoing saga, neither Clarkson nor some of the other parties involved in the investigation would want to come back to the club to celebrate.

“I couldn’t imagine that they would want to go back to the football club for a very, very long time,” he said.

Originally published as Petrol station refused to serve Alastair Clarkson amid racism investigation