Mitch switch: Will Clarko see out Hawks handover?
Hawthorn have blinked, 17 years after they went away from a trio of favourite sons to appoint the untried outsider Alastair Clarkson as coach at the direction of club legend Jason Dunstall, who had watched success elude the club under former Hawks Peter Knights, Ken Judge and Peter Schwab.
Collingwood were courting Sam Mitchell after Nathan Buckley departed and Clarkson responsibly aired the question of his protege’s future at the Hawks with football manager Rob McCartney a few weeks ago.
Alastair Clarkson will depart the Hawks after next season.Credit:Getty Images
That question swiftly became one for the board who decided last Monday Clarkson’s contract would not be renewed beyond 2022 and Mitchell would have his job in 18 months.
Jeff Kennett’s rationale is that Mitchell, who will turn 40 in 2022, is the man to lead the club in a fresh direction in the next five to 10 years rather than their four-time premiership coach. He will also come cheaper in an era dominated by tight football department soft caps.
The former state premier said it would have been unrealistic for Clarkson’s coaching tenure to extend beyond 20 seasons.
However the Hawks president, who will be in the chair until 2023, wants Clarkson to remain in charge to set the foundation for his successor until the end of 2022, arguing the club doesn’t break contracts.
Unsaid however is the fact it’s not in Hawthorn’s interest to break the contract before the end of 2022 as he has an ironclad agreement that would see him paid out in full if removed early.
The reality is – although they will inevitably protest the suggestion – it would not disappoint the Hawks hierarchy too much if Clarkson, despite his legacy, chased opportunities that might open up at other clubs in 2022.
They might be guessing too that he won’t be keen to hang around to guide Mitchell for one more year now the finish line is clear.
But Clarkson is not one to break contracts either – and has resisted multiple offers in recent seasons to try his hand elsewhere – although other clubs will now view him as gettable, and what a get he would be.
Clarkson’s four flags is unmatched by any other individual coach in the club’s history, one more than revered Hawthorn figures Allan Jeans and John Kennedy.
He is a club icon who set a wobbly organisation back on track with a winning percentage just under 60, a coach industry sources still regard as the best in the business even though Hawthorn have not won a final since 2015.
He transformed the club as they charged to the 2008 premiership in just his fourth season, reinventing the way they played several times over with Clarkson’s cluster marking a seminal shift in the way teams defended.
He then shifted gear, repurposing the talented list to control the ball and pick their way through opponents. He won a flag in 2013 before superstar forward Lance Franklin left for Sydney, then two more without him.
In his post-2015 phase he tried to mix and match using trading and free agency to defy equalisation before being convinced that a full rebuild based on draft picks was needed, a decision that laid a better foundation for Mitchell to coach beyond 2022.
Clarkson became harder to manage as his influence grew. Some of the significant figures that had helped him succeed, such as Andrew Russell, David Rath, Chris Fagan, Graham Wright, Mark Evans, Luke Hodge and Jarryd Roughead, joined other clubs.
Clarkson not only taught players, he became a finishing school for coaches with the production line to emerge from his football department including Damien Hardwick, Leon Cameron, Luke Beveridge, Adam Simpson, Fagan, Brett Ratten and Brendon Bolton.
That’s why Mitchell was so attractive to Collingwood and why Adem Yze, Chris Newman and Craig McRae are also likely to be future coaching candidates.
It took Kennett two terms but he finally made the decision to move Clarkson on as a result of a decision from Collingwood in June to put a full stop on their succession plan involving Mick Malthouse and Buckley. Funnily enough that Pies plan began while Hawks’ CEO Justin Reeves – who is contracted until 2026 – was at Collingwood.
The decision is made. Hawthorn is straddling a succession plan for the next 18 months. Anything could happen.
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