Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has refused to open the door for his predecessor and four-time membership premiership coach Alastair Clarkson to attend the membership’s 2013 reunion subsequent month.
In an indication that tensions stay excessive between the Hawks, Mitchell and his former mentor, Clarkson mentioned he would wish to work out “who’s going” to the membership celebration at Crown on September 26 earlier than deciding whether or not to attend.
Clarkson, who stepped away from his position at North Melbourne for 10 weeks as a result of toll of the investigation into allegations of racism throughout his time at Hawthorn, slammed the Hawks’ dealing with of the accusations levelled in opposition to him, present Lions coach Chris Fagan and former Hawthorn administrator Jason Burt as “shameful” in May.
He mentioned the reunion together with his former gamers and employees had not been on his thoughts as he concludes the season with the Kangaroos.
“I’ve had a pretty hectic year to be fair, and I’ve only been back in this seat for four weeks,” Clarkson advised reporters on Thursday.
“I’ll sit down … there’s a few things we need to work out what that looks like – when it is, who’s going, what’s involved in it.
“And actually the stuff around the human rights commission, all that sort of stuff too … I haven’t really needed to worry about that until we get some sort of indication from the league where that’s all at.”
Mitchell batted away questions over whether or not he wished his former coach to attend the operate when requested earlier within the day.
“That’ll be up to him, I think he’s got his press conference later on (Thursday) … I’m looking forward to it, it’s nice this week playing against Freo, with (premiership teammate) David Hale and I on the coaching staff, we have a bit of a reminisce,” Mitchell mentioned.
“Like I said, you can ask him,” he mentioned when requested once more about Clarkson attending.
Mitchell’s straight bat to reunion questions got here as he declared Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin’s feedback about Finn Maginness after Sunday’s sport mirrored how nicely the Hawks tagger was performing his duties.
Goodwin mentioned Maginness was “someone that doesn’t want the ball” in his post-match press convention having shut down Demons star Clayton Oliver.
Mitchell mentioned he was “really proud” of the 22-year-old for riling up the Demons coach.
“I think every player in the competition would love to be called challenging and frustrating by the opposition,” he mentioned.
“I’ve seen plenty of vision of him trying to get the footy … he’s certainly a negator first, and I’ve been really proud of his effort and his growth across this year.
“He started in the side, and had a long period out of the team, and now he’s causing opposition coaches to call him challenging and frustrating … you’ve got to be really proud of what he’s done as an individual player.”
The coach confirmed Mitch Lewis would miss the Hawks’ ultimate sport of the season with a mid-foot sprain however Jai Newcombe would return.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
