{"id":102203,"date":"2021-07-19T12:15:04","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T12:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=102203"},"modified":"2021-07-19T14:01:09","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T14:01:09","slug":"mitchell-and-clarkson-at-odds-over-coaching-plan-mess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=102203","title":{"rendered":"Mitchell and Clarkson at odds over coaching plan 'mess'"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are fresh doubts over whether Hawthorn's famed coaching succession plan will indeed materialise next season after Sam Mitchell<\/a> reportedly indicated his desire to have "clean air" in 2022 in a mediation session with Alastair Clarkson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Mitchell and Clarkson have put on a united front in public after the announcement of the succession plan<\/a>, people who understand the pair have warned that they could clash due to their similarities.<\/p>\n

According to veteran AFL reporter Caroline Wilson, the club held a "mediation session" between the two in an attempt to get the pair on the same page last week after a 62-point loss against Fremantle in Round 17<\/a>, Hawthorn's first match since the succession plan was announced.<\/p>\n

"I'm told that during that meeting it became clear that Sam Mitchell would rather have clean air to have a fresh start next year without Alastair Clarkson by his side," Wilson told Nine's Footy Classified<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

"When this meeting took place, mind you this happened after a pretty flattening loss, I think Alastair sort of went along with this according to some sources at the Hawthorn Football Club.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

"Those at the meeting felt that Sam Mitchell made it clear that he wanted to be the coach next year and he would prefer to be there without Alastair Clarkson."<\/p>\n

Clarkson and Mitchell are understood to have been joined in the meeting by Hawthorn Head of Football, Rob McCartney and Ray McLean, who is the boss of Leading Teams, a company which specialises in culture change, leadership and team development programs.<\/p>\n

"Depending on who you talk to there are several versions of why this meeting was held," Wilson added.<\/p>\n

"There is a version which says that there was concern that Alastair had gone into his shell to a degree, was not coping with the announcement, and was not necessarily happy about working with Sam.<\/p>\n

\"Alastair<\/p>\n

"There's another version which says they just needed to sort things out and perhaps Sam wasn't particularly happy."<\/p>\n

After guiding an undermanned Hawthorn side to a draw against ladder-leaders Melbourne<\/a> in Round 18, Wilson says Clarkson is now prepared to "dig in" to lead the club in 2022, despite Mitchell's wishes to ascend to the senior coaching role sooner than planned.<\/p>\n

"The feeling is from the players that Alastair has never been more engaged this year than he was after [the draw against Melbourne]," she said.<\/p>\n

"He is now digging in and he's not prepared to leave despite Sam's wishes."<\/p>\n

Wilson also suggested that the announcement of the coaching succession plan had "disappointed and blindsided" Hawthorn's senior players, who remain fond of Clarkson.<\/p>\n

\"Jeff<\/p>\n

Despite rumours of discontent, Hawthorn CEO Justin Reeves denied that there was any drama between Clarkson and Mitchell, telling Footy Classified<\/em> that "they're actually working together better than we expected".<\/p>\n

While Clarkson has been linked to both Carlton and Collingwood throughout the year, Wilson believes the four-time premiership winner has weighed up the proposition of taking a sabbatical next year if he is to leave Hawthorn.<\/p>\n

"If he doesn't coach, he doesn't get paid, and he's got a contract," she said.<\/p>\n

"I personally believe that if [Hawthorn president] Jeff Kennett had his way and if it wasn't going to cost him a million dollars, Sam Mitchell would be the senior coach of the Hawthorn Football Club next year.<\/p>\n

"My view is it's a mess and I don't think it was a good idea."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are fresh doubts over whether Hawthorn's famed coaching succession plan will indeed materialise next season after Sam Mitchell reportedly indicated his desire to have […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102203"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102205,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102203\/revisions\/102205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}