Alastair Clarkson admits he fears he got ‘LUCKY’ at Hawthorn and wants to prove that his dynasty at the club was not a fluke as coaching great ponders next move after Hawks exit
- Alastair Clarkson says he fears he got ‘lucky’ during his stint at Hawthorn
- Clarkson, 54, won four premierships in his illustrious spell with the Hawks
- He says he wants to prove that his success at Hawthorn was no fluke
- Clarkson is being monitored by a number of AFL clubs ahead of the new season
Alastair Clarkson has lifted the lid on what motivates him to get back into coaching after admitting that he fears his Hawthorn success was fortuitous.
Clarkson left the Hawks last year after winning four premierships with the club, including three on the spin between 2013 and 2015 and his availability has alerted a number of AFL clubs.
The 54-year-old has spent this year well away from the sport – travelling to the United States to enjoy the NBA finals – and has been mulling over his options ahead of his anticipated return.
AFL supercoach Alastair Clarkson fears his huge success at Hawthorn was driven by luck
Clarkson had previously said he would only be drawn back in if a club with exciting potential came calling, and now he has explained how history views his success at Hawthorn is a motivating factor.
‘The most significant intrigue for me is “was I just lucky to have that group of people at that point in time at that particular club?”‘ Clarkson said on ‘The Believers: Tasmania’s AFL journey’ podcast.
‘The excitement for me is can it be done elsewhere with a different environment and a different group of people and see how we go?’
Clarkson won four premierships during his illustrious spell with the football club
‘That holds some appeal, but just doing what I’ve been doing in the past six months with a bit more farm time and a bit more friends time has got some appeal as well.’
Clarkson also opened up on approaches from Collingwood and Carlton last year, revealing that he snubbed those advances for non-football reasons.
‘It makes it sound like I’ll be picking or choosing and there might not be opportunities to come back into coaching, and it might be that I don’t want to,’ he said.
He admits that he may have been blessed with a supremely talented group of footballers
‘I had an opportunity with both Carlton and Collingwood, not necessarily to be accepted to coach those clubs but certainly go into the process as an option, but it didn’t suit me.
‘Strangely enough that had not so much to do with their direction and that sort of stuff as I could see they were both on a direction of where they wanted to go.
‘It was just around mine and (wife) Caryn’s and our family’s needs at that time.
‘We wanted to make those decisions at the end of this year in terms of what our future will look like and not six months ago.
‘And we’re still not ready to know what we want to do beyond 2022.’