Coach Clarkson has left the building

toomanysquibs

Premiership Player
Nov 25, 2006
4,153
5,982
Hawthorn
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Hawks
I heard that opinion many times before 2012-16 too


Short memories on some people here. The near exact same things were being said about a team that was about to go on an all time great type series of appearances in Grand Finals.

No-one can say for sure what was going to transpire if he stayed. Just as no-one can say for sure what's going to happen at the HFC now he's left.

One thing I guess we all agree on though, is that we want Sammy to do just as well. Pretty sure Clarko would want that too.
 
I am not sure that the game has not passed him by. He definitely needs a freshen up though, because we got stale, regimented and pretty mediocre for large periods over the last few years.
The time was right for the club and Clarko to take a fresh approach, and all signs look positive for our boy Sammy.

But we have looked stale and mediocre cos we are a mostly a mediocre squad. We just moved on close to 20 players in a 12 month period, that’s not a sign of a team that’s a couple of chess pieces short and are just poorly coached. That’s the sign of a club rebuilding, and rebuilding clubs look inconsistent and mediocre.

I would argue Clarko has squeezed more talent out of this list than some predicted in recent years but he paid the price for too much of a say in list management and perhaps less of a long term view as we looked to pinch an extra flag.

Sam will get all the time in the world (in football terms) to reset this list and go again and so he should.
 

Pessimistic

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts HBF's Milk Crate - 70k Posts TheBrownDog
Sep 13, 2000
86,852
42,951
Melbourne cricket ground. Australia
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Horks
I’m wondering if he fancies a future as an (international) sports strategist, if there is such a thing.

much less stress and there are mega dollars being invested out there
 
But we have looked stale and mediocre cos we are a mostly a mediocre squad.
We have a better squad than our form had shown and we played better football in the last month with more injuries than we did earlier in the year.
 
I heard that opinion many times before 2012-16 too
Yeah, you heard that opinion when we were struggling to get in the 8 or the top 4, not when we were sitting in the bottom 2 losing to other bottom 4 teams.
 
We have a better squad than our form had shown and we played better football in the last month with more injuries than we did earlier in the year.
Still better than I thought and many of us thought at the beginning of the year and almost all the media (fwiw). We were awful and inconsistent and brilliant in patches and that’s what rebuilding teams do.
 
Still better than I thought and many of us thought at the beginning of the year and almost all the media (fwiw). We were awful and inconsistent and brilliant in patches and that’s what rebuilding teams do.
We lost to 3 of the worst sides in the comp this year, North, Crows and Suns, under the direction of a master coach.

He was clearly not on his A game.
 

Pessimistic

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts HBF's Milk Crate - 70k Posts TheBrownDog
Sep 13, 2000
86,852
42,951
Melbourne cricket ground. Australia
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Horks
Once hawthorn were bottom 2, the only time they won was when the win didn’t lift them a ladder place. Then of course the Kennett intervention, and the team won most of the games after.

‘it’s like some agreement was then null and void. All bets off.
 
Really. I done some legal work for Linfox about 10 years ago and actually had dinner with Lindsay and a few others. Didn't find anything specifically 'awful' about him, a bit aloof perhaps, but for a bloke who dropped out of school at 16 and bought a second hand truck, he's done alright. Has he stepped on some toes along the way, sure, but he's not running a charity...
His head of logistics (at the time) on the other hand was/is probably someone I'd struggle to have a beer with...

BTW, as I alluded to months ago, the AFL media boof-heads (who continually chose to ignore Clarko's related hints and/or his education-leadership qualifications) will be made to look like the boof-heads they really are, if Clarko is given an opportunity in the US to pursue a career there, which may well happen...

"He's done alright" doesn't excuse the man.

I worked closely with a few former GMs and department heads from Linfox when they moved into other roles, and am close with the site manager for a Linfox defence contract. How he handles himself casually is the issue, and the commentary I've been told he makes on people - in particular women - is the issue.

Great businessman, not a great person.
 

Jack Green

All Australian
Feb 14, 2018
692
579
AFL Club
St Kilda
Exactly and once it's mathematically impossible we just reset and reload for the following season!
Pessimistic - Don't think its ethically or morally wrong. It's just simply not possible and wise. We saw what happened with Carlton 2 decades ago under Elliott with we don't rebuild at Carlton and we try and win it every year. Hasn't that played out well for them the past quarter of a century.

We saw it with the Hawks under Kennett [ December 2017 2 flags in 5 years ] and Clarkson openly stating the aim was to contend every year.
In November 2018 [ trade week are some clubs grand finals but that's not how we do it at Hawthorn]

3 years on of not playing finals and some interesting times ahead . Having said that with Clarko now gone , there has been an enormous back-flip from your President in recent times on aims and expectations.

Xtreme we reset and reload for the following season
The late John Elliott at Carlton would have been in full support of this strategy.
I would respectfully suggest that quick fix and now approach and lack of long term thinking, has placed the club 6 years on from their last premiership , where it is today :think:
 
Pessimistic - Don't think its ethically or morally wrong. It's just simply not possible and wise. We saw what happened with Carlton 2 decades ago under Elliott with we don't rebuild at Carlton and we try and win it every year. Hasn't that played out well for them the past quarter of a century.

We saw it with the Hawks under Kennett [ December 2017 2 flags in 5 years ] and Clarkson openly stating the aim was to contend every year.
In November 2018 [ trade week are some clubs grand finals but that's not how we do it at Hawthorn]

3 years on of not playing finals and some interesting times ahead . Having said that with Clarko now gone , there has been an enormous back-flip from your President in recent times on aims and expectations.

Xtreme we reset and reload for the following season
The late John Elliott at Carlton would have been in full support of this strategy.
I would respectfully suggest that quick fix and now approach and lack of long term thinking, has placed the club 6 years on from their last premiership , where it is today :think:

Well you should know as a St Kilda supporter even the best laid plans don't always work out!!!

Hawthorn have had many periods of lean years... it only makes the very next premiership all the more sweeter

(I hope it's not a 20 year wait :p lol)
 

Jack Green

All Australian
Feb 14, 2018
692
579
AFL Club
St Kilda
Well you should know as a St Kilda supporter even the best laid plans don't always work out!!!

Hawthorn have had many periods of lean years... it only makes the very next premiership all the more sweeter

(I hope it's not a 20 year wait :p lol)
Right on plans and Saints . and boy do we know it. :tired: Don't start me on our mis- management. Christ, I'd be here for hours.

yep, no sour no sweet. :thumbsu:

👍20 years - well history post dynasty since the 60's will say that's basically what your facing. Hawthorn 91-2018 is the minimum with Brisbane who are in the window now just joined you at 17 since the 2004 three-peat. if you read Gary Buckenara's 2021 Hawthorn analysis he has you basically 5 years without finals . Might be a bit heavy handed but the reload and go ahead strategy which you alluded to, does bite you on the bum , as one of your club legends aptly point out.👍
 
Back