Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton admits the coaching succession plan involving Alastair Clarkson and Sam Mitchell at the Hawks took him by surprise.
Hawthorn announced on Tuesday that four-time premiership coach Clarkson will see out the remainder of this season and the final year of his contract in 2022, before handing the senior coaching reigns to Mitchell from 2023.
Mitchell will continue as Hawthorn’s Head of Development and Box Hill Hawks senior coach before stepping into the top job.
Brereton, a five-time premiership Hawk, expects Clarkson to take a one-year coaching hiatus once he finishes up at the end of 2022.
“If I’m 100 per cent honest, I did not see it coming at all. I honestly thought he would coach through to about 2024 or 2025,” he told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“The guys that are playing now, their young brigade who look really good like (Will) Day and those types of boys, I thought he’d see those through to maturity.
“I thought he'd stay the course of seeing three generations of premierships, so I thought he’d back himself in to win one in 2024 or 2025, and then call it quits.
“I would be absolutely earnest in my belief that if Alastair Clarkson retires at the end of 2022 from coaching Hawthorn, I don’t think he’ll have a very significant involvement in football in 2023.
“You can word it whichever way you want. To me it would be a decision reached in unison, but Clarkson would have the major call in it.
“I don’t think the club would say to him, ‘We won’t be going ahead with you’.”
Hawthorn premiership player Campbell Brown can see Clarkson coaching at another AFL club in the future.
“I’ve always seen ‘Clarko’ as a career coach,” Brown told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“I’ve thought for a little while that if his time ended at Hawthorn, he’d be a perfect fit for every other club out there with his resume and knowledge. He knows what it takes to be successful.
“I can see him coaching elsewhere if he wants to. He’d be a really good fit for a lot of footy clubs.”
Mitchell, a four-time premiership player at the Hawks, played under Clarkson during his decorated 307-game career in brown and gold.