Shane Crawford urges St Kilda and Carlton to chase ‘Clarko clone’ Sam Mitchell as their next senior coach
He may have ruled himself out of applying for top jobs but Shane Crawford says that shouldn’t stop St Kilda and Carlton from going after the most well credentialed assistant coach in the game, Sam Mitchell.
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St Kilda and Carlton would be “crazy” not to chase AFL coach-in-waiting Sam Mitchell for their vacant senior roles, according to Mitchell’s premiership teammate Shane Crawford.
While Mitchell recently said he felt the time wasn’t yet right for him to seek a senior coaching position after only two seasons as an assistant, Crawford predicted this might be the only chance each club gets to lock in the closest thing he has seen to a “Clarko clone”.
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North Melbourne is increasingly likely to stick with caretaker coach Rhyce Shaw, but St Kilda and Carlton are underway in their searches for a long-term coach.
“They would be crazy not making an approach to him, at least,” Crawford told the Herald Sun, stressing he felt Mitchell would one day emulate Clarkson as an AFL premiership coach.
“Even if Sam says he thinks he might need another year or two in the system, you’d have to still chase him.
“He’s the biggest Clarko clone I have ever seen.
“He has had a couple of years in the system now as an assistant coach. West Coast won the flag last year when everyone said they were no chance and he is in charge of the midfield.
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“Now he’s doing some great things at Hawthorn.
“They would be crazy not to at least have a chat to him. I can tell you if he presented to them, he would actually blow them away.”
Mitchell, a four-time premiership player and one-time premiership assistant coach, said last month he felt he wasn’t quite ready.
He told Channel 7: “At some point I’d love to sit in front of a CEO or a president and say ‘I’m your man”.
“I couldn’t say absolutely I’m the right man for a head coaching job at the moment.
“Eventually I’d like to get to that point but there’s a lot of learning to happen.”
Crawford pointed to the fact the last eight AFL premiership teams have been coached by a man who was a first-time AFL coach when he took on the role, saying it was the most proven modern method rather than looking back to those who had coached before.
“History is telling us that first-time coaches are the way to go,” he said.
“I think these days you need a coach who has played the modern way, with all the zoning, and Sam’s done that.
“He’s not like a Michael Voss and a James Hird, because he has been an assistant coach for two years, and he’s also been an on-field coach for a lot longer.
“He might say no, but where’s the harm in asking?”
Mitchell grew up as a St Kilda supporter, wearing Tony Lockett’s No. 4 jumper as kid, before switching to Nathan Burke’s No. 3 when Lockett left.
Originally published as Shane Crawford urges St Kilda and Carlton to chase ‘Clarko clone’ Sam Mitchell as their next senior coach
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