^i agree with a lot of the sentiment in your post....however, there is a difference between what clarko started with compared to what jeans started with. you could argue that we were almost at rock bottom. yes we had hodge and mitchell but they were far from being the stars they are today. whilst jeans inherited players of the ilk such as matthews, tuck, scott, knights etc. he entered a club that had been through a period of success and many star/experienced players remained.
never in the history of the afl has a coach taken a club from rock bottom to premiers within a 4 year period. and then in the next 4 years built the foundations of a club and playing list that looks like being able to contend for another 5 years (and is now winning flags).
Yep....I appreciate what you are saying here & my comments are in no way an attempt to belittle nor diminish Clarko's achievements.
My point rather was in contending the claim that he has earnt the mantle of our greatest coach ever on current standings alone....I.E historical perspective.
John Kennedy Snr dragged this this club up by it's shirt-tails from a perennial easy-beat & cellar-dweller into a respectable & tough opposition....When he first arrived in 1950 we did not win a single game & had secured for ourselves our 10th wooden spoon in 26 years of football....Unlike clarko, Kennedy was not the beneficiary of Draft concessions in order to build his squad from the best kids available in the land. Clarko also facilitated the arrival of other top draft talent by trading away our top end mature talent barr Crawford. Kennedy also had no precedent of club accomplishments upon which to point towards nor draw from as inspiration....In other words, Kennedy transformed the entire culture of our team & club from one of Losers to one of winners!...It is my contention that without him, our club would be in much the same predicament today as Footscray or St.kilda, or worst yet, not even exist at all!
Also, Jeans/Joyce record of 8 Grand finals in 9 seasons of football will take some beating indeed....Regardless of the dearth of champions he had at his disposal. To maintain the level of hunger necessary in order to play in so many Grand finals is a phenomenal coaching achievement!...To say that on the back of his Back to Back flags following his 2008 Triumph that Clarko has somehow transcended both Jeans & Kennedy as our best coach ever is a fundamentally naïve perspective in my opinion. Especially when taking into account all of our history & accomplishments as a club prior to his arrival!
That said however, another flag or 2 in the foreseeable future should render such debates as these as obsolete....With our current squad, there is no reason why he cannot....But even then, I'd probably still stump for Kennedy Snr on the back of aforementioned reasons alone!