OUR exclusive interview with Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson concludes with some fascinating insight into how the decision of the club captaincy came about. Entering his fourth season in charge at the club, the soon-to-be 40 year old also reveals how he is growing in the job, and how he is continually surprised by the rate the game is evolving.
How have you assessed Sam Mitchell’s progress since he was made captain?
He’s been no different from my point of view; he’s been a very, very active part of our leadership group in the three years that I’ve been here. They [the leadership group] share a fair amount of the responsibility, the only difference Mitch would notice is that he’d have greater media commitments now that he’s the spokesman of the leadership group.
But in terms of a different relationship with me as the coach or anything like that – we work very closely with the whole leadership group so nothing has really changed from that mindset. But he’s progressed really well; he’s a natural leader and he handles the media and that side of things particularly well. He’s highly-regarded by our whole club and particularly the playing group and hopefully he can have a stellar season for us.
And what about Hodgey? He’s also highly-credentialed in terms of leadership and I’m sure it would have been a tough decision, but how has he handled the disappointment of missing out on the top job?
We had three or four candidates, but two standouts in Hodge and Mitchell. We had a process where we all had input into the selection of our captain – coaches and players – and that will happen every year. I’d be very surprised if, at some point in his career, Luke Hodge isn’t the captain of our football club, but just the decision making at the end of last season meant that, at this point in time, Sam was [given the nod].
It’s a little bit like what Roosy [Paul Roos] said the other day, you’ve got two choices and because you make one over the other, you think the other one’s no good; that’s far from the truth. They’ve both got outstanding credentials and leadership styles that complement each other really well and I’m sure we’re going to see both those guys have an enormous influence on our progress over the next era.
Turning the focus to you; how are you travelling entering your fourth season in charge?
Yeah, well, you learn all the time and what’s probably been significantly challenging is that while you’re trying to come to terms with the role itself and the responsibilities that you’ve got and the progress of your playing group, what’s been of great alarm and interest to me over the past three years has been just how much the game itself has actually evolved.
The professionalism of it, the sports science, the amount of personnel, just how the game is continuing to grow in terms of popularity, how far-reaching it is in terms of markets you have to service, the people you have to service. That’s very, very demanding in terms of managing your time and how much you should be spending actually coaching your group of players and how much you should be spending as a coach managing your staff and the marketing of the club and handling the media and all that sort of stuff.
But I’d reckon even for someone as experienced as Mick Malthouse, for instance, or Leigh Matthews, they would also acknowledge the enormous change that has happened in the game in the past three to five years. It’s probably what keeps them motivated and hungry to still be involved, the fact that it does change so regularly, but it’s also enormously demanding.
How would you describe your relationship with the media; it looks sometimes like you’re sliding into the dentist’s chair when you front for your weekly press conference.
[Laughs] Look that’s the nature of the beast, you know. We’re asked, in a lot of cases to address the media 10 or 15 minutes after a game which, whether you win or lose, there are so many things that happen in a game of footy that you’ve hardly had time to compose yourself. But I enjoy the role [of senior coach] and everything that comes with it.
At times it’s challenging, whether that’s to do with your playing group, your drafting, your role with the media; there are challenges all around and you don’t do everything perfectly, but you try to do it as well as you possibly can.
With all those things that you mentioned; how do you switch off after the working day is done?
I’ve got a young family and pretty much every bit of time I spend away from the footy club I spend with my family. I’ve got three children aged eight, five and three, so most of my time away from the club is spent doing things with the kids, whether that’s going to the beach or taking them to their sport or doing stuff with them. That’s down time or leisure time for me. It’s a pretty boring existence really, but they’re the two significant passions in my life; family first and football second and it’s just something that I really enjoy.
Is it an easy switch to flick for you?
I find it is, but at different stages you’ll get home and you’ll get phone calls about things and you’ve just got to take them, but we’ve got a pretty good balance between the two.
