News Clarkson news, media etc - he’s off into the Sunset!

[Strapping Young Lad]

Full Presser at the link below.

 

[MrPremiership]

The announcement of the succession plan doesn't end any media speculation, it just redirects it.

 

[RoughysMullet]

Would’ve personally preferred someone fresh from outside the club to take over after Clarko, that’s how we found success with Clarko- he had some fresh ideas/perspective after we were failing with past players Knights, Judge, Schwabb and also missing out on Terry Wallace..

Having said that, Sammy has done a nice apprenticeship- he’s been at West Coast during a successful era and has done some great work at Box Hill.. hope for our sake this works out well for the club..

 

[Xtreme]

Oh, it was actually Sam McClure. I have a gut feeling that Clarko will not coach else where once his contract ends.

I'd be very happy to see Clarko as president or a godfather type role at the Hawks. While I get we don't want a Sheedy/Essendon situation, I think Clarko would know when its time to finish up. And imo he still can lead Hawthorn to another flag this decade.

 

[Grumblebum]

Last time this old guy saw supporter angst like this is when we traded Croad out and got Luke Hodge. Change is always scary but we need a fresh approach in our coaching box.

 

[Toasted]

It’s pretty well known Wright and Clarko haven’t been on speaking terms for a fair while so if it wrights decision as the pies keep saying it won’t be Clarko.

Wow, is that from before they were at different clubs?

 

[Breustiful]

Unsure how to feel. We knew this would probably be the case at the back of our minds, yet we know how 'succession plans' have worked out in the AFL. Whilst I'm happy to have Sammy as our coach - a great football mind, no doubt - he is unproven and I would've liked Clarko to stay on and guide him. Which begs the question, is two years guidance enough (2021/2022)? Unsure but excited about the future. The club has shown in the last decade or so that it has the capacity and desire to do what is right.


Maybe I'm (most of us?) just dreading the notion of a Hawthorn without Clarkson. Feels weird.

 

[kazzooka]

So....the Board appointed a new coach without conducting any interviews or testing the market?

Yeah, this is like Teague and Shaw no due dilligence. What if Hardwick was available? Maybe Fagan?

 

[westhawk]

that Collingwood at board level looks like a rabble if Clarko sees it as preferable to the hawthorn admin, doesn’t that speak volumes?

If Kennett is there, I don’t think Clarko will stick around, although apparently he doesn’t get along well with Wright at Collingwood either. Maybe the Blues will make a move. Just can’t see Clarko stepping away from coaching.

 

[Ceej Mentality]

Yeah, this is like Teague and Shaw no due dilligence. What if Hardwick was available? Maybe Fagan?

No due diligence? He’s been coaching at the club since 2019 and has been mentored to be a head coach that entire time as he started his coaching qualifications while still playing. Shaw had only been an assistant at the Kangaroos for a matter of months before he had to take the caretaker role so it’s not really a fair comparison. There’s likely nothing about Mitchell that the club doesn’t know about.

 

[Books]

Sam Mitchell was a favourite player for me and he is highly rated. However, so far he has achieved nothing as a coach.

This feels like a Malthouse / Buckley situation. I think Clarkson deserved the opportunity to finish on his own terms.

Now we have 15 months of speculation and potential confusion. This is NOT the environment for on-field success. I hope it all works out but right now I am feeling concerned and disappointed.

 

[kazzooka]

The only thing that makes me comfortable moving on perhaps the best coach of all time that if he wants to could walk into pretty much all 18 clubs tomorrow is. 1. He is proven to be the best person in the AFL at developing senior coaches. This isn't grumpy malthouse having a tantrum and giving bucks nothing. 2. Clarkson has such strong values that he will certainly do his best to prepare Sam for the role.

My queries lie in end of 2022 who is the best possible coach we can get and why is it Sam Mitchell? Because he played for us? What makes him better than Yze or Newman? Why don't we want Clarkson in 2023 when everyone else does? Why don't we try to get Hardwick or Fagan? Or Simpson? Not saying we could or that they are the best but at least do the work to find out don't just assume that Sam is the guy based on the fuzzy feelings you get having him in our colours instead of others.

 

[hawk for 37]

For all those predicting doom and gloom about Clarko going, best check the AFL ladder.
If 17th and still a big chance of 18th isn’t a bit gloomy I don’t know what is..

 

[kazzooka]

No due diligence? He’s been coaching at the club since 2019 and has been mentored to be a head coach that entire time as he started his coaching qualifications while still playing. Shaw had only been an assistant at the Kangaroos for a matter of months before he had to take the caretaker role so it’s not really a fair comparison. There’s likely nothing about Mitchell that the club doesn’t know about.

I meant due dillegence on the market. We know Sam Mitchell but we don't know that other coaches aren't gettable. We don't know that an Assistant at Richmond isn't the real mastermind, or someone is doing a beverage now and winning repeat flags in lower leagues. We seem to have decided on him as our next coach at the end of 2016.

 

[Ceej Mentality]

The only thing that makes me comfortable moving on perhaps the best coach of all time that if he wants to could walk into pretty much all 18 clubs tomorrow is. 1. He is proven to be the best person in the AFL at developing senior coaches. This isn't grumpy malthouse having a tantrum and giving bucks nothing. 2. Clarkson has such strong values that he will certainly do his best to prepare Sam for the role.

My queries lie in end of 2022 who is the best possible coach we can get and why is it Sam Mitchell? Because he played for us? What makes him better than Yze or Newman? Why don't we want Clarkson in 2023 when everyone else does? Why don't we try to get Hardwick or Fagan? Or Simpson? Not saying we could or that they are the best but at least do the work to find out don't just assume that Sam is the guy based on the fuzzy feelings you get having him in our colours instead of others.

When he came back in 2018 the Melbourne clubs were apprently lined up for his signature. He was touted as one of the favourites for the Collingwood job. His footy IQ is off the charts when you hear him talk. Our club has ticked off on him replacing the greatest coach in the history of the sport. Something tells me that those in the know understand that Mitchell is more than just a favourite son.

 

[Kanga Commando]

Because Clarko constantly states that he will see out his contract, and the board has agreed to honour that
His word is his word

Does the board get the same honour ? they could terminate now but they honoured the contract too ?

 

[flinchfree]

The timing is this, folks, it's pretty easy to work out.

* The plan was for Sam to take over for Clarkson after next season.
* Collingwood let go of Buckley and the vultures start circling.
* Clarkson, who before all else is a loyal servant of the club, can see Sam is getting or gonna get a good look at Collingwood. So Clarkson say to the club that maybe you should speed up your plans and make a decision on next year now as you won't have the chance to get Sam if you wait.
* The club agrees with Clarkson, they sit down with Sam (and anyone else? We don't know.) and discuss next year. They like what they see and pull the trigger.

Events moved the board's hand - Collingwood (and almost surely have a dozen more clubs) were going to play hard for Sam this year. $hit happens, as they say.

I feel so dirty doing so, but have to agree oops with what you've written.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I feel so dirty doing so, but have to agree oops with what you've written.

Heh. Take comfort, flinchfree. in the adage that even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

 

[wizardwaffle]

What has Alistair Clarkson brought to the Hawthorn Football Club since he arrived post the 2004 season? The time Alistair Clarkson has had at Hawthorn has been really great. If you said to me in 2004 that the next coach at Hawthorn would bring four premierships to the club I would have said get him in the roles now. At that stage we were looking at being down the bottom again after the brief climb in 2001.

Alistair was lucky with the draft picks we had early in his term at Hawthorn. Drafting Roughead, Franklin and Lewis in the same draft, the 2004 AFL Draft, with selections 2, 5 and 7. We had good selectors of talent in the draft. Graham Wright gets all the praise for those selections, but there would be more people than just him to thank for the quality of players we go then. Clarkson is the top of the tree of the Football Department.

The people that were under him have gone onto other clubs. Every club that has won the premiership since we did in 2015 has been coached by a graduate of the Clarkson Coaching Academy. Luke Beveridge at the Western Bulldogs in 2016, Damien Hardwick at Richmond in 2017, 2019 and 2020 and Adam Simpson at West Coast in 2018. Also add to that Chris Fagan at Brisbane, Brett Ratten

Brett Ratten

Age

52

Ht

184cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.4

5star

K

12.1

4star

HB

10.3

5star

M

2.9

3star

T

3.0

5star

No current season stats available

D

26.4

5star

K

13.8

5star

HB

12.6

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

1.6

4star

at St.Kilda and Brendon Bolton for a time at Carlton now back at Hawthorn.

We have to look to the future. and could you see Alistair coaching the Hawks for another ten years. To develop a new list into a Premiership team takes time. Without the picks we got in 2004, it may take a few tries. The 20 premierships by 2050 may be hard to do now. but I am looking at winning one this decade so we are one premiership in 7 decades in a row.

Coaches can stay at a club for to long, their message may start to not work on some, and the troubles start. A new person at the top may be what is needed. Looking at the report in the 2015 AFL Season Guide it said Clarkson was a coaching immortal at Hawthorn, with three premierships in 10 years, the equal of John Kennedy Senior and Allan Jeans. Then add another premiership after that. But it also said he was the second longest serving coach in the club's history, he would be the longest serving coach now.

 

[Kanga Commando]

Don’t expect it, you will only be disappointed.

Unlike others here I don't have preconceived ideas about who did what, based on my pre-existing biases.

I'll make up my mind once the evidence is in ( i.e. Clarko makes an authorative statement )

 

[MrPremiership]

Unlike others here I don't have preconceived ideas about who did what, based on my pre-existing biases.

I'll make up my mind once the evidence is in ( i.e. Clarko makes an authorative statement )

How long until Clarko releases his autobiography

 

[WWSD]

Well… I guess now we can finally see the return of the long sleeve guernsey.

 

[Ceej Mentality]

As an aside but on the topic of this not being a decision just arrived at in the past few weeks (in my opinion). The Box Hill socials have multiple times shown what Sammy was up to as head coach this year - showing his first talk to the club and showing what he was up to one particular game day from pre-game to post-game. Not something you usually see from the social media of the VFL side. Again, I think this was a long play and today was just the formal announcement of what has been in the works for some time.

 

[Siri]

Why are so many posters in shock? This day was touted from the moment Sam left for the WCE. He was always coming back to be AC's successor. It was posted in this forum at the time.

IMO a planned transition such as this was always going to serve the club better than the drama surrounding Clarko's imminent decision at the end of next year. For those who are bewildered, it's like ending any long term relationship. Go through the grieving process, let it wash over you, stare at your photos, think of what could've been ... then go buy a membership.

 

[Hodginator]

A lot of posters up in arms about this and worried Clarko leaves sooner.

What reason would we have to doubt Clarko and the board? I’m a glass half full kind of person. Confident Clarko is on board with the decision and will see out his time until the end of next year. From all accounts, he was a big part of getting Sam back from Perth. No doubt this transition was already a consideration back then.

It’s not like Clarko won’t have any issues finding a job after next year, so why would he race out the door sooner. He bleeds Hawthorn and I have no doubt he wouldn’t leave us in the lurch. He’d want to see Mitchell succeed.

That’s my 2 cents worth anyway.