Does Alastair Clarkson already know where he’ll return to coaching?
The four-time premiership coach last year stepped down from the senior role at Hawthorn, where he had led a successful program for 17 seasons.
Clarkson was squeezed out as club powerbrokers clumsily executed a succession plan to put club champion Sam Mitchell in the chair, and left dissatisfied that his final tilt with Hawthorn didn’t come to fruition.
The master tactician had lured Jaeger O’Meara, Tom Mitchell and Chad Wingard to Waverley following four successive Grand Final appearances with a list built primarily from the draft, and augmented with shrewd signings.
Now, Mitchell and a handful of young Hawks handed their first opportunities under Clarkson have set out on a long journey of their own, while the 53-year-old is on a sabbatical, and seemingly on the hunt for a new project.
It was reported on Friday that he had been in touch with several players among the 2022 free agency pool.
“He’s put in a call to a few free agents to tell them to hold off,” Tom Rockliff told Triple M’s Dead Set Legends.
“(To) wait until the back-half of the year and you might get a better picture of where he might end up.”
Gold Coast has long been linked with Clarkson’s magic touch, having never qualified for a finals series under three separate senior coaches while expansion twin GWS has soared.
“He must have an idea of where he thinks he’ll be coaching,” Kane Cornes pondered on SEN Breakfast.
“If you’re ringing players and you say, ‘hey, I’m going to be coaching next year, come with me,’ the first question would be, ‘well, which team are you going to?’”
“If I’m Jack Gunston, I would want to know whether I’m going to win another premiership, or am I going to go to Gold Coast and top up the superannuation?
“So Clarko must have a reasonable idea, if you can believe Tom Rockliff, of which club he will be coaching.”
If Clarkson is pitching to free agents, he may fancy he can land a gig at a club with a list primed to take the next step, as opposed to the Suns who are stacked with talent but have finished in the bottom four in six of the past seven seasons.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is under pressure after the Power were torn apart by the Western Bulldogs in a second consecutive home preliminary final loss.
West Coast boss Adam Simpson may face similar scrutiny, with a list build in its twilight years and Western Australia’s hard border remaining in place.
“His shadow is going to loom large over the competition,” Cornes went on.
“Even at a club like Port Adelaide, the supporters are a little bit disgruntled with the finals exit, and it’s Ken Hinkley’s 10th year.
“Could you convince Clarko to go there? There are ramifications everywhere.”
Clarkson took over at Hawthorn ahead of the 2005 season, and left Waverley having coached 390 games for 228 victories, including the 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2015 premierships.