The Hawks,on the whole,do not have the same calibre of players this time around,but Clarkson,buoyed by a win over a finals-bound Brisbane last weekend,and with Collingwood on the agenda on Sunday,hopes to finish his time in charge with the club on the rise. The Hawks have just five wins so far this season.
“It was a pretty tumultuous day for us last Friday,for everybody involved with the club. That includes our members,” Clarkson said of the eventswhich led to a scuttling of a succession plan and confirmation he won’t be at the club next season.
“Our club has been such a stable club for a long period of time,so whenever things like this happen,it creates a bit of uncertainty and instability. But I think the performance on the weekend of our players and coaches and staff around the club is a reflection of us rolling our sleeves up.
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“We are long way from an outfit that is going to contend at the pointy end of the ladder in late September,but what we do know,the things that we do,last week against Brisbane and this week,hopefully,against Collingwood and then in the games against the Western Bulldogs and Richmond,whether it’s individual players or coaching method,or even some victories,we know that everything that we do in the next three or four weeks is going to really help shape what 2022 and beyond looks like for our footy club.”
That may be true to an extent,but the 17th-placed Hawks,desperate to avoid what would be Clarkson’s only wooden spoon,also have several list management decisions to make,including on Tim O’Brien,when Sam Mitchell replaces Clarkson.