Coach Alastair Clarkson III - new NMFC senior coach until at least end 2027 - NMFC board approved AC to start 1/11 amid ongoing HFC racism investigation

[DrZaius]

Swans fan here, so am aware our clubs haven't always seen eye to eye.

But so you know (assuming you are aware), no neutral clubs would be blame you at all for this Clarkson Hawthorn stuff, North have operated with integrity for some time now, so I'm at least confident you wouldn't have known about the allegations when you hired him.

Hope you somehow find a way to come out ahead in all of this. Felt sick to my stomach reading the ABC article earlier.

I am 100% confident Sonja had no idea about the allegations, regardless of them being truthful or not.

Even if you take morality out of the equation, purely from a self-interest point of view hiring Clarkson in full knowledge of the existence of this ticking time bomb of a ****ed up secret (not to mention while Hawthorn were actively conducting an investigation into racism within their club) would be an absolute bone headed career killing move. It simply would not be worth the risk.

 

[krakouers]

Warning to Le Grille - krakouers didn't get his username from being a Krakouer Brother fan.

Hey, that was meant to be on the DL

 

[giantroo]

 

[Fleabane]

I think the disappointing part from our personal stance is that AFL have had this report for a week and I would imagine the Hawks would have been investigating this for some time and at no point did they reach out to the AFL, Clarkson or us to hold off on finding a new coaching job because there are serious allegations raised against you and there will be need for some sort of official process before you would ever be allowed to coach again.

For us we went through a long period without a coach and spent a lot of time in the process with Clarkson and we are coming into the pre-season with this bag of s**t on our doorstep. It is really unforgivable that nobody at Hawthorn who was aware of this s**t internally and didn't reach out to our club at least off the record to give us a warning that this was coming or a possibility.

I think this investigation should also focus on what Hawthorn knew, how long they knew of these allegations and the timing of this report and if the club hesitated or delayed in any way any kind of investigation until he was no longer the coach then the AFL should throw the book at the club as vigorously as they punished Essendon for bringing the game into disrepute.

Yep, of course, fully understand. I wasn't meaning to diminish NMFC's situation and I agree with your final paragraph, as much as it pains me. So sick of spin and evasive responses.

 

[Mcarcherey]

 

[Bazzbot13]

The hardest part in all this is that your dealing with issues that occurred with teenagers. Having two older teens myself, what I say to them and what they believe I said to them can be vastly far apart. Add to this the potential lack of cultural understanding from coaches and administration and you've got a recipe for disaster.

 

[leighlee13]

Caro said she had a sense of foreboding.

Of course she did. FFS

 

[Grogg]

Part of my unease over everything is that the AFL is saying they were broadsided by the media article today despite having the official report. The truthfulness and reason for that need to be explained pronto.

I'm just spitballing here, but a possible scenario:

Jackson (given his reporting history) recieves a leaked copy of the report, approaches the relevant parties who agree to speak. Despite not wanting the report done in the first place, they then extrapolate on their experiences to Jackson who manages to cajole certain information that wasn't given to the investigators. Hence the differences in what the AFL & Hawthorn had before them, as opposed to additional info contained in the ABC article.

 

[Sphynx]

Williams has to be in the equation. And we would have a list of backup names lined up in the case of everything falling through.

I could imagine Sonia being quite pragmatic realising the evidence in the report that she could have gotten word of weeks ago. In that case, discussions have probably already been had with backups.

This has been debunked.

We found out around 24 hours ago, the AFL 1 week ago.

 

[King Corey]

North hat on, this is a tricky but crucial time. I don't envy the board's task right now.

Just as entering 2022 under Noble I said we should be assessing Clarkson, bizarrely we have progressed to a stage we may need to quietly review or construct a list of contingency options "just in case".

Simultaneously we need to run our own review over the situation, hear Clarkson's side of things and form an educated opinion on both him and the report at large.

We need to be looking into exit strategies if it comes to that (hoping he is innocent and we do not, however..), managing the PR and forming a strategy on how to keep the football activities ticking over - trading, speaking to agents, draft planning etc.

Then there's updating and addressing any sponsor concerns.

Not to mention getting an initial contingency view of the football department as a whole - what we do about any Clarkson related existing or in-flight appointments if things go bad etc.

This is government level complexity to navigate. Tough gig.

 

[buttox]

I suspect this wont be just a Hawthorn issue.
I reckon other players possibly from other clubs will come forward.

 

[Sphynx]

Of course they did . He was senior coach but I also reckon if true a lot of the coaching staff would have been aware. Even if only partly true then there will be a lot of ex Hawthorn coaching staff out of jobs. Even if anyone at the club was peripherally aware they are guilty of abusing their power over young men.

2014:

 

[Themanbun]

Is everyone just guessing its Jed?

I don't think it's Jed at all. And I hope it wasn't simply because of further fallout for our club. Shouldn't matter who, though.

 

[Merlin007]

Of course she did. FFS

She did break the Cyril Rioli story in April

 

[TruRoos7]

I'm just spitballing here, but a possible scenario:

Jackson recieves a leaked copy of the report, approaches the relevant parties who agree to speak. Despite not wanting the report done in the first place, they then extrapolate on their experiences to Jackson who manages to cajole certain information that wasn't given to the investigators. Hence the differences in what the AFL & Hawthorn had before them, as opposed to additional info contained in the ABC article.

You mean possibly “off the record” I won’t breath a word of it type stuff.

Yep reporters are only out to ensure the proper care for the victims (alleged).

 

[Kanga1996]

Am I reading this right in thinking today is the first time anybody at the HFC has herd these allegation.

 

[leighlee13]

She did break the Cyril Rioli story in April

That may be so but I am sure she didn't know the everything else that has come out in this report. Any chance she has to make anything good we do a negative is more what I was getting at.

 

[Keilor Tiger]

Hi all - I come in peace. My In-laws are all financially invested Roos members through the generations, so I do have some attachment to your club - except when they continually give us grief, but that's for another day.

My message is simply that this is a Hawks issue not a Kanga's issue. Even if Clarko is tarnished as a result of the findings, it is not a reflection on your club.

Hopefully the players at the centre of this horrible issue can be supported and protocols implemented that ensures this never happens again, but the Kanga's can continue to work with Clarko and rebuild. The early signs of players wanting to come and I'm sure new members next year are positive - stay the course!

 

[Devington]

I'm not making any allegations towards anyone, but I don't understand the mechanics of how everything can all be true. I'm genuinely confused by the prospect that these specific types of alleged incidents could have been happening to multiple young players and that senior members of the playing group were never aware.

****ing hell, I don't know if I'm just subconsciously looking for some kind of indicator that it's all lies and slander and that actually everything is AOK and rainbows and unicorns woohoo Clarko is bringing home number 5! This is so confronting on multiple fronts.

 

[buttox]

Am I reading this right in thinking today is the first time anybody at the HFC has herd these allegation.

wed 7/9 Hawks got the report and told the AFL.

 

[spurs]

Even if only partly true, using a position of power to coerce young men to choose employment over a relationship has been outlawed for a long time. If there are any employment lawyers here this may even be a criminal issue in Victoria?

Yes, this would be a criminal matter if alleged is true.

 

[Val Keating]

 

[Grogg]

You mean possibly “off the record” I won’t breath a word of it type stuff.

Yep reporters are only out to ensure the proper care for the victims (alleged).

No I don't mean that.

The people in the article were stated as saying they never wanted the report done in the first place, but once they had done that they saw it as an opportunity to be heard. I would contend that in all likelihood they agreed to extrapand on their statements on the proviso of remaining anonymous.

supposition on my part, but it would go some way to explaining why clubs, etc were blindsided by the article.

 

[Marstermind]

Of course she did. FFS

Her entire career has been built on expressing her 'feels' as facts. She was bound to be right once.

 

[buttox]

Well said