Sam Mitchell denies rift with Alastair Clarkson in Hawthorn succession plan
Sam Mitchell #SamMitchell
Sam Mitchell has denied reports he’s trying to push Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson out of the club ahead of schedule.
Reports this week suggested the succession plan was turning ugly at the Hawks, with the current and future coaches at odds following a ‘mediation session.’
Mitchell was asked on Wednesday whether he’d indicated he would prefer to coach the team in 2022 with Clarkson out of the picture.
“Absolutely not. That has not happened. We’ve been working on some form of succession for such a long period of time,” Mitchell said on SEN.
“In 2016… when I left to go to West Coast, Clarko said, ‘it’ll be great for him, I know he’s got coaching aspirations…’
“Then he rang me halfway through 2018 and said, ‘it would be great for you to come back, it would be ideal if you took over from me at some stage, no promises but that would be a great situation for us, so let’s try to work towards that.’
“As soon as I knew the club was not going to reappoint Clarko, my options became to continue on and go for the Collingwood job, or if not do that, I knew someone else was going to coach Hawthorn in 2023 and so they gave me the option of taking that.
“I’m a little bit bemused by the whole situation, I’ve been working with Clarko for the best part of 20 years consistently but apparently we still don’t get along.”
Clarkson wasn’t retained by the Hawks beyond his current contract, with four-time premiership-winner Mitchell set to take over ahead of the 2023 season.
Mitchell said he’d taken exception to the suggestion he’d taken the legendary coach’s job.
“I kind of get a bit pissed off with people saying that,” Mitchell said.
“There’s nothing about anything I’ve done – I’ve worked with Clarko for nearly 20 years.
“The fact that people would say that I’m trying to push him out is disrespectful to both of us because we’ve had a working relationship for such a long period of time.
“I did get a little bit frustrated with people saying ‘oh, he’s just trying to get Clarkson out’.
“If I wanted to coach next year I would have continued to pursue the Collingwood opportunity if it went that way. They’re a very good club and I’ve got a good relationship with Graham Wright.
“Every piece of evidence says that (Mitchell pushing Clarkson out) isn’t true.”
Mitchell reiterated he and Clarkson would have clearly defined roles for the next 15 months, with the current boss to lead the match-day stuff and Mitchell to focus on developing the club’s crop of talented youngsters.
The 38-year-old acknowledged it would be a constant challenge to maintain the club’s messaging amid significant external noise.
“I think what will happen is every time we win, you’ll (the media) will say ‘Alastair Clarkson, he’s the master, why would they be moving him on?’
“And every time we lose, they’re going to say ‘the succession is causing them not to perform as well as they can.’
“At the end of the day, one thing you could never say about myself of Alastair Clarkson is that we don’t have absolute loyalty to the Hawthorn Football Club.”
Despite Mitchell’s denials, the comparisons have already begun between the Hawks’ handover and the messy Mick Malthouse-Nathan Buckley succession plan at Collingwood.
Mitchell said he preferred to look to a successful example of a coaching transition in the Swans.
“I look at the [Paul] Roos and [John] Longmire version of it and think that’s working pretty well,” he added.
“I did hear John Longmire’s press conference after the game on the weekend and I was just so impressed with how invested he was in that group after being there for a long period and he was part of a succession as well.”