Former Hawthorn legends Luke Hodge and Dermott Brereton have discussed the likelihood of coaching master Alastair Clarkson taking the reins at a new club in 2023.
Hodge provided an insight into the thought processes that the 54-year-old was going through in his first season since 2005 without being the senior coach of an AFL side.
“I reckon he will (coach next year),” Hodge said on SEN's Crunch Time
“He just loves it so much; I spoke to him about six weeks ago and he said he thought he’d be missing it more than he is at the moment.
“He’s been pretty busy, he’s been to America a couple of times, but he said he’s not missing the match day stuff at this stage.
“But knowing him, as soon as he comes back in and around… he just loves it, he’s so competitive, I reckon if a job pops up, he’ll jump at it for sure.”
Meanwhile, Brereton praised the Hawks' radical decision to promote Sam Mitchell to the senior job last year and believes Clarkson's style suits a contending team over a rebuilding one.
“I think Sam Mitchell is, in my opinion, doing a better job than 'Clarko' (Clarkson) would do with this group, given where they are at, what he’s trying to instil in them,” Brereton said.
“I think you’ve got Clarko (who had a fantastic kicking team), they have claims to be the best team that we’ve seen in the last 30 years or so, and that could stand up.
“I think he’s an incredibly good coach with a team that is top three talent, so I would think he’d want to go somewhere where he could find success and enhance the reputation even more.
“I don’t think he wants to build for four seasons, not at this age of his life.”
Clarkson has already been linked to the struggling GWS, Port Adelaide and North Melbourne, as well as potentially being involved in the introduction of a Tasmanian side.
The 390-game coach has four premierships under his belt with Hawthorn and will be hoping to add to that tally should he return to the leading role in 2023 or beyond.