AFL 2022: Richie Vandenberg opens up on tumultuous trade period, Alastair Clarkson and new coach Sam Mitchell
Many are eagerly waiting Alastair Clarkson’s next move. But what do the Hawks think? Richie Vandenberg opens up on the past 12 months and what lies ahead.
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Hawthorn football director Richie Vandenberg refuses to see the club’s turbulent trade period as a failed exercise.
If the club’s inability to trade out stars for a haul of elite draft picks ultimately ran aground, Vandenberg can only see the silver lining.
A senior cohort who were in the loop at every turn and ultimately decided they wanted to stay around under Sam Mitchell.
A big group of young talent who will still get their chances under the new coaching panel, including three kids taken in thetop 26 selections and a series of mid-year draft and summer rookie picks.
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And for Vandenberg, the start of a journey that has seen Mitchell passing an early test of his mettle as Hawthorn confronts life after coaching legend Alastair Clarkson.
Clarkson might be gone but nothing that Mitchell has done since putting his feet under the desk has dissuaded Hawthorn’s powerbrokers that installing him as senior coach was the necessary decision.
NO TRADE FALOUT
Vandenberg admitted during the trade-week the club might trade senior players.
It ultimately never occurred, but the former hard nut captain and now club powerbroker makes no apologies for the Hawks’ honesty-first approach.
“‘I don’t think there has been any fallout from the trade period internally,” he said of a fortnight when Luke Breust and Chad Wingard rejected GWS overtures and Jaeger O’Meara sparked minor interest from Port Adelaide.
“Some of the commentary would suggest we set out on a strategy and were unable to execute it. It’s not quite right.
“If you look at what the club has been doing since taking Will Day at pick 13 in 2019, you work your way through it.
“Our list profile looks very different as we sit here today.
“Last year was just another step in that with the players we brought in and the players who left the club.
“What we have now is a list profile that is really about ‘how can we develop the next competitive team to give us a chance?”
Elder statesman Breust recently said he could almost finish Clarkson’s sentences in his final years.
He was intent on remaining at the club, even if it put paid to his hopes of a fourth premiership.
“If you read Luke’s comments (about staying) and some of the commentary coming out of the playing group, they respect thatthey had full transparency and nothing happened,” Vandenberg said.
“But what you don’t have is players running around saying, ‘The club did this and I didn’t know about it’.
“What happened was played out in public, which was a little unfortunate.
“We had a lot of challenging conversations and when you are in the heat of the moment and you are hearing news you don’t necessarilywant to hear it is very difficult.
“But when you reflect on it, and many people had the benefit of reflecting on it, the way they were communicated to, theyreally appreciated it.”
IT’S SAM’S TEAM
Vandenberg cannot wait for fans to see what Mitchell and his new-look team have cooking.
Does it already feel like Mitchell’s club?
“Certainly within the four walls of the football club. Absolutely it feels that way,” Vandenberg said.
“I think what the players are starting to see with Sam is what we as a board assessed Sam on, and that helped us make thedecision to choose him in the first place.
“His ability to build and galvanise relationships and galvanise a playing group is a little bit understated.
“It’s not until you get into the chair (as senior coach) that people really get to see it.
“It’s very early days but the players have just started to have a taste of how he’s going to go about it.”
Are we going to see a noticeable change to the game-plan?
“Yeah, I think you will,” Vandenberg said.
“You will see different game style. He has got a… I will leave it at that.”
Vandenberg pulls back so he can leave it to the coach to outline those changes, but the idea of a tactical overhaul from Clarkson’sbrilliant methods is thoroughly intriguing whether it succeeds or fails.
CLARKO FREE TO PROSPER
Can the board’s decision to implement the succession plan – which Clarkson leveraged into a $900,000 payout – succeed, even if the master coach thrives elsewhere?
Vandenberg says if Clarkson lifts a rival club up the ladder in 2023, it doesn’t mean Hawthorn’s decision was wrong.
“No, not at all,” he said.
“In fact it would be great if he does (succeed elsewhere). I think when everyone sits back and reflects on it, including Clarko, he will say it was the right thing not only for the football club but also for Clarko.
“He will benefit enormously from having a year doing what he is doing.
“He will be in high demand. Just like last year it won’t get to the end of the year, they won’t stop talking about him. Hewill be in the news every second day.”
MAKING MOVES
The club’s relocation to the Dingley precinct is on track, with works already starting on the site in Melbourne’s south-east.
The club is aware of St Kilda’s failed move to Frankston and player rebellion about that move, adamant Hawthorn will not havea similar experience when the new headquarters are finally opened
“From a lifestyle perspective it’s very close to Bayside,” Vandenberg said.
“Guys can live close to the beach in affordable suburbs, it’s the same distance from the CBD to Waverley, it’s just a different location.
“We have looked at the St Kilda scenario. We have looked at Fremantle and Essendon moving to different locations and withclubs where it has and hasn’t worked, and we have given it a lot of thought.”
STABLE EXIT
The Hawthorn board will also undergo its own changes this year after president Jeff Kennett agreed to accelerate his own successionplan and step down at some stage this season.
Hawthorn is determined for the process not to be a distraction to the football department.
“The key to successful football clubs is to maintain stability for an extended period of time at all levels – board, adminand the football department,” Vandenberg said.
“We have had the change that was required in the football department and Jeff has signalled the intent to move on at boardlevel, so now the key is to ensure we do have a stable handover and maintain stability.’’
BOTTLED EMOTIONS
Fourth-generation grape grower Vandenberg and co-founder Justin Moran’s wine label The Hidden Sea started with an ambitious target of removing one billion single-use plastic bottles by 2030 when they started the venture in July 2020.
Suddenly what seemed a pipedream seems possible given the 10 million mark has already been reached.
“People ask me what is similar between football and business and the thing for me is that football clubs create a vision that galvanises a huge tribe of people,” he said.
“It’s about trying to create that environment in our business.
“How do we create a purpose we think can galvanise a tribe behind that vision. In 2020 we were able to really clearly galvanise that purpose and for every bottle we sell we remove ten bottles. Everyone else has really flown on from there.’’
Star eyeing comeback after impressive display
— Chris Cavanagh
Hawthorn veteran Jack Gunston is building his fitness as he eyes an AFL return after a crippling back injury limited him to just a single game last year.
Gunston impressed in an intra-club match at Waverley Park on Thursday morning, primarily playing as a key forward.
The 30-year-old kicked a goal from a set shot outside 50m, took a few marks and appeared to move well around the ground in pleasing signs.
However, the Hawks’ coaching staff are yet to determine just what role the swingman will have in the side this year, having used Gunston at both ends of the ground in recent times.
“We’d like him to find his feet a bit,” Hawthorn assistant coach Chris Newman said.
“He’s one player who’s missed a lot of football, so we’ll put him in the position where we feel like he’s going to find his best form going into the year. We’re still working through what it looks like in terms of his role in the team, but that was the probably the most I’ve seen him train in terms of a block and I think he got through okay so that’s a good sign.”
The news on the injury front was not so good for crafty forward Luke Bruest, who suffered a suspected concussion during the first quarter of the match.
Breust was crunched in a marking contest and gingerly got to his feet, before being assessed by medical staff and taken out of the game.
Breust will enter AFL concussion protocols, sidelining him for at least the next 12 days and therefore ruling him out of a practice match against Collingwood in Morwell next Friday.
Silky midfielder-forward Chad Wingard (ankle) did some boxing on the boundary line during the intra-club match but remains hopeful of lining up against the Magpies.
“He’s trying to take it slow with his progression but he’s got it to the point now where we’re confident to get him back into some drills,” Newman said of Wingard.
“We’ll see how it goes next week but we certainly won’t be taking any risks at this time of year.”
THE STANDOUTS
The usual suspects had good games.
Tom Mitchell found plenty of the footy through the midfield, as did James Worpel.
Blake Hardwick and James Sicily were excellent down back and Dylan Moore was lively up forward.
Last year’s mid-season draftee, Jai Newcombe, looks set to take his game up another level this year after a good match on a wing and through the midfield.
Harry Morrison added some class on the outside all day, while Finn Maginness was hard-at-it in the contest.
Jacob Koschitzke and Mitch Lewis both had a presence as marking targets in attack.
MOVING THE MAGNETS
After Jonathon Ceglar’s departure to Geelong during last year’s trade period, the No. 1 ruck role is up for grabs.
A pair of developing 23-year-old’s are battling it out for that position, being Ned Reeves and Max Lynch.
The pair – who have played five and three AFL games respectively – went head-to-head in the ruck throughout the intra-club match.
Reeves had the better of the hit-outs but Lynch’s follow-up work caught the eye.
Sicily’s return from injury in defence will help free up Ben McEvoy and Gunston to spend more time forward this year.
Gunston is building his workload significantly after managing just one AFL game last year due to ongoing back issues.
RECRUIT, DRAFT WATCH
Last year’s No. 7 draft pick Josh Ward again impressed in Thursday’s intra-club clash and is on track for an early-season debut.
Ward was used primarily as an onballer for one team, alongside Tom Mitchell and James Worpel.
He also had some rotations onto a wing.
The Northern Knights product can run all day, is composed and clean by hand and foot and showed some good follow-up work.
Rookie draftee Ned Long also had some nice moments through the midfield and as a half-forward, including a long goal from 50m.
Collingwood recruit Lynch looks like being a player of the future in the ruck.
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Originally published as AFL 2022: Richie Vandenberg opens up on tumultuous trade period, Alastair Clarkson and new coach Sam Mitchell
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