Not a Rudd or a Turnbull discarded Clarkson takes the high road

Alastair Clarkson has a knack for the unexpected.

He punched a hole in the wall of the MCG coaches box once. He turned up in the Richmond rooms after the Tigers’ 2017 premiership in what was either fraternal respect for Damien Hardwick, or inappropriate attention-seeking, depending on your vantage.

Outgoing Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson.Credit:AFL Photos

He twice showed up, uninvited, to visit footballers in America. Once to see Lance Franklin in Las Vegas, where he was holidaying with teammate Josh Gibson. Franklin’s fellow forward Jarryd Roughead reckoned this was an (unsuccessful) attempt to pressure Franklin to inform the coach if Buddy was leaving.

He also importuned Jake Carlisle in Florida when Carlisle was departing Essendon around the time footage had surfaced of the defender snorting a white powder - an incident that led to Carlisle being disciplined by his next club, St Kilda.

Clarkson blasted Ian Robson when the chief executive defected to Essendon. He was suspended for four matches from junior footy after he abused an umpire, later acknowledging he had an issue with anger management.

Clarkson is a mercurial, eccentric figure, which one would think would make it hard to predict what he might do after Hawthorn’s huge decision - albeit flagged by Jeff Kennett months ago - to remove him from his tenured position at Hawthorn and replace him with Sam Mitchell.

But if turning up in strange places without warning and unedifying displays of anger are part of the Clarkson package, so too are brilliant, innovative coaching, keeping his word, a strong moral compass, and an understanding that football is only football.

In 2012, after the favoured Hawks lost the grand final to Sydney narrowly, Clarkson put the loss in perspective when he told the players about the tragic murder of Jill Meagher, the death of Swans’ skipper Jarrad McVeigh’s newborn daughter, and the passing of Clarkson’s brother-in-law to a brain tumour.

On Friday, Clarkson again found the better angels of his nature when he spoke, passionately, in a 13-minute monologue about why he would stick it out and coach the Hawks next year, as contracted. He then expanded into his relationship with Mitchell and the players - the mistakes that he and Mitchell had made - and to the importance of loyalty and the trauma of losing his brother in a car accident, and losing his brother-in-law.

Privately, Clarkson has been extremely disappointed by Hawthorn’s decision. Gutted.

But he says he’s coaching Hawthorn in 2022 and we should believe him. He has given his word to players and staff. A man like Clarkson cannot invoke the deaths of those close to him, declare his devotion to Hawthorn players for the next 14 months, and then backflip on that pledge and go to Collingwood, Carlton or anywhere else. Those clubs should make other plans.

He’s a coach, not a politician.

More precisely, he’s not acting like Kevin Rudd or Malcolm Turnbull, deposed prime ministers who - still - struggle to accept that their contracts were not renewed.

Clarkson is wounded. Unlike Rudd, Turnbull, and arguably even Tony Abbott, the Hawthorn coach is sucking it up. Not always gracious after a loss, he’s shown it in this setback, which, in the long run, won’t hurt his standing.

The handover to Mitchell is problematic. It will have glitches, and they will butt heads - the forthright pair already having little spats and disagreements.

Clarkson, unlike Mick Malthouse - who never wanted Nathan Buckley (or anyone, to my knowledge) in the line of succession - tacitly encouraged the concept of a handover when he invited Mitchell to come back and actually suggested that, if all went well, Mitchell would eventually replace him. Another key difference to Collingwood - Mitchell inherits a rebuilding team, not a flag contender.

Collingwood’s role in the handover, according to sources with knowledge of it, is merely one of expediting the inevitable. Kennett had made clear that he wanted Mitchell to coach Hawthorn “one day”, while also bluntly stating, as Jeff does, that this current deal would “probably” be Clarkson’s last.

Clarkson knew that when he and the club board and CEO Justin Reeves sat down at the end of this season to discuss the future, there was little chance he would have one as Hawthorn coach beyond 2022. His grievance is about the timing of the handover, not the concept.

When his removal was confirmed, Clarkson also faced a choice. He could whinge - internally or in public - about the injustice of losing his job after four flags, snipe about Mitchell’s inexperience and deficiencies, and even caution about what happened to Melbourne post-Norm Smith.

Conversely, Hawthorn seems mindful of Kevin Sheedy’s shadow at Essendon - of the perils created by a coach staying too long.

Sam Mitchell will take over the Hawthorn senior role from Clarkson in 2023.Credit:Getty Images

Jason Dunstall, whom Clarkson views as the figure most responsible for Hawthorn’s renaissance from 2004, was critical of Hawthorn’s decision to move on the coach for Mitchell.

Hawthorn fans listen to Dunstall. Had Clarkson taken this as a cue to undermine the handover, to agitate or strike back - he could target Kennett, for instance - the Hawks would be in terrible strife.

He could poison senior players against Mitchell; as it stands, some will need reassurances from Clarkson. He could belittle Mitchell. He could dog whistle to the fans and trigger petitions and so forth.

Those tools of destruction - born of losing one’s hearth and home - are still to open to Clarkson, perhaps the most influential Hawthorn figure since his first coach (at North Melbourne), the late John Kennedy.

This column does not think Clarkson will take the low road, because he would know that this path would ultimately hurt his prospects and legacy; Kennedy, after all, willingly handed over to his premiership captain, David Parkin.

Clarkson’s self-interest is enlightened enough, even in grief, to summon those better angels. He pledged to hand over a club on the upswing and won’t want to bequeath Mitchell a Hawthorn in the divided, dilapidated shape he found it.

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Jake Niall is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.

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