The Hawks have been ravaged by injuries to key players this season and the coach says a mid-season draft is one of my possibilities the AFL should look at in consultation with clubs and players.
“It is very clearly on the agenda and I’m certain at some point in time there will be much more fluid movement for players to be able to change clubs,” Clarkson said.
“Some of those changes may mean it is possible mid-season to add some players to your list throughout the course of the year to give you some more flexibility when you have some injuries.
“Others might be post-season mechanisms where you can have players changing clubs. It is certainly on the agenda at the AFL and I’m pretty confident they will source all parties concerned to make a good decision on what will be best for the game.”
Clarkson said many clubs, including his own would benefit from the ability to add players to the list throughout the season.
“It has been quite an unusual season. Some clubs have coped particularly well. We’ve done okay but not as well as we would have liked in coping with the bulk of our defence being out of action,” he said.
“I’m certain that all clubs, if they had the mechanism there, could upgrade a player for a short period of time from a VFL list or an SANFL list or from Tassie. That would at least provide the clubs with the flexibility to access it if they needed to or just keep their own if they think there is a replacement within their own ranks.”
Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss renewed his call for a mid-season draft earlier this week after losing three of his key defenders.
Voss submitted a proposal for the concept at the start of the season and he says the topic is worthy of spirited discussion.
The Hawks are set to take on the Brisbane Lions in Launceston this Sunday with a top temperature of nine degrees expected.
Clarkson said he hoped Hawthorn’s understanding of the Tasmanian conditions would give them an advantage over their opponents.
“We enjoy playing footy down there. We’ve played some really good footy at Aurora Stadium and we hope that continues on Sunday,” he said.
“We are hopeful that the fact it is our home ground and we know the ground and conditions of the ground very well that it would give us some sort of advantage.”
