{"id":96862,"date":"2021-07-08T03:59:19","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T03:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=96862"},"modified":"2021-07-08T04:57:21","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T04:57:21","slug":"hawks-great-shocked-at-clubs-clarkson-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=96862","title":{"rendered":"Hawks great 'shocked' at club's Clarkson treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hawthorn great Jordan Lewis admits the Hawks' succession plan to replace head coach Alastair Clarkson with former star Sam Mitchell<\/a> came as a "shock" to him, revealing he was "surprised" to see the decision taken out of the four-time premiership coach's hands.<\/p>\n

Mitchell, who won four premierships under Clarkson as a player, will take over as Hawthorn's senior coach in 2023 after the club announced a succession plan.<\/p>\n

It was a decision that caught the AFL world off guard, especially with Mitchell heavily targeted by the Collingwood Magpies<\/a>, who are on the search for a new coach after recently parting ways with Nathan Buckley.<\/p>\n

Lewis, a four-time premiership Hawk also, admits he was surprised to see his former club not allow Clarkson to go out on his terms.<\/p>\n

"It absolutely came as a shock," he told SEN.<\/p>\n

\"Alastair<\/p>\n

"I think what Hawthorn has always done is taken the emotion out of the decision, whether that be players, whether it be coaches, whether it be assistant coaches or even administration.<\/p>\n

"That has been a consistent theme through the last 10 to 15 years. If you look back at sides that haven't handled it well, it is all around emotion. How do you actually put that to one side and make the decisions that may be right or wrong for the club – only time will tell – but it was a big call.<\/p>\n

"I was as surprised as everyone in the footy world to hear they had a conversation 10 days or two weeks ago. For them to keep that quiet in this day and age where things tend to leak out and then come to the decision.<\/p>\n

"I think all along we've said Alastair Clarkson is one of the greatest coaches to ever coach the game, it will be his decision when he wants to leave Hawthorn.<\/p>\n

"I didn't expect it would be taken out of his hands. That for me was a big surprise."<\/p>\n

\"Alastair<\/p>\n

Lewis admits rival clubs' pursuit of Mitchell, namely Collingwood, likely put pressure on Hawthorn to speed up the process of keeping him at the club.<\/p>\n

"Speaking to Sam and the people around him, he was ready to coach," Lewis added.<\/p>\n

"He felt he was ready to take the next step. If it was the case that Alastair was going to sign a contract extension then he would have sought opportunities somewhere else.<\/p>\n

"Whether that be the Collingwood job or another assistant coach position somewhere else to broaden his skill level.<\/p>\n

"The decision and the Collingwood job that was up for grabs and potentially him leaving at the end of the season may have fast-tracked their decision making."<\/p>\n

\"Dogs<\/p>\n

Mitchell, 38, retired at the end of the 2017 season as a West Coast Eagles player. He played 22 games for the club after being traded by Hawthorn.<\/p>\n

Following his retirement, Mitchell served as an assistant coach with the Eagles in 2018 and was part of the club's premiership that year, with West Coast defeating Collingwood in the Grand Final<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mitchell returned to Hawthorn in 2019 and most recently has been coaching the Hawks' VFL affiliate, Box Hill.<\/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!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hawthorn great Jordan Lewis admits the Hawks' succession plan to replace head coach Alastair Clarkson with former star Sam Mitchell came as a "shock" to […]<\/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\/96862"}],"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=96862"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96864,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96862\/revisions\/96864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}