Leaderboard

Gobsmacked, after his impassioned commitment a mere week ago. "The decision was reached on Thursday after a meeting between the Hawthorn board and Clarkson’s management in which the two parties agreed that the coach would receive a full payout. The arranged marriage between Clarkson and Sam Mitchell was further-eroded earlier this week when a group of senior players confided to club bosses that the situation was proving untenable". Senior players. WOW. Machiavelli would have been proud of how it has all played out!! Terrible way to treat a 4 time premiership coach. Hope it comes back to bite them for decades to come.

Couldn't he have left 2 weeks before they played us?

The 'Alistair Clarkson Curse' I hope.

The selections mean that both TMac and Lever have chosen to play both i/state games rather than stay with their young family and new bubs. Credit to them and partners for making those sacrifices.

Due to a serious illness in my family I will be unable to continue these threads. I wish the Dees all the very best and I am sure the Bathwater Express will rumble into the Finals and to ultimate success. CHF

That's no good, CHF. Here's hoping things work out for the best with your family issues and the Demons win some games to provide that little bit of extra cheer.

Jeff Kennett continues to reveal he’s got a personality that matches his face.

Well, how good does Caro look now???? All those people that doubted her, you might not like what she says but she's right again. She doesn't put her reputation on the line unless she can back it up. A lot of other football people and Hawthorn supporters look pretty stupid now. Not the supporters fault as we all are, we're just pawns in a bigger game.

I love that Bowey's mum's name is Dee.

I'm not gonna lie, A fair bit of me is enjoying this. Couldn't happen to a bigger pack of entitled toss bags. #remember1987.

I don’t like her style of Reporting, never have. But she does have the Sources, most of the time. That i have been told and shown from TV Connections. So i am not suprised by this overall. But did SHE make it worse than what it was by her Media positions Day after Day TV & Radio. Did this make Clarkson’s position even more untenable. That is the part of Wilson i do not like. She drives the nail in to get the Results she wants. Did the same to us in 2013-14 Wilson made the “Tanking” saga bigger than what it was

Melbourne football club must have killed Jesus. Nothing else can explain the endless amounts of crap luck bestowed upon us since birth.

Potentially why Bowey has been brought in, as a second transition option from back half turnovers

Well Hawthorn have well and truly stuffed this up epically. What a complete PR nightmare.

4 time premiership coach essentially sacked! unbelievable! 18 month succession plan reduced to 2 weeks. Possibly one of the worst club decisions in the history of the game. Mitchell is starting on a hiding to none.

A few egg on faces now in regards to Caro. She was right all along.

The Clarko Curse has a nice ring to it Let's win the flag this year and hand the baton over to them

The Last Hurrah is an excellent read, Supermerc. Reliving the Crompton goal reminded me that some years ago I had some dealings over a period with Denis Dalton, who was a lawyer acting for a client that my employer was in dispute with. At the end of it all I had an opportunity to ask him whether he was the same Denis Dalton that was running around in the 64 Grand Final with #27 on his back. He said indeed it was, and he assumed I was a Collingwood supporter and went on a short reminisce of the day - I thought it polite to acquiesce in the disclosure of my allegiance. He brought up the Crompton goal; said that he and Mick Bone, the other rover, had worked out a plan to “strand” Crompton up the field, with one of them going down the outer wing while the other went to the play up the ground by running up the northern wing (back in the day, players stood positions, and a resting rover would take over from the “working” rover by going through an imaginary interchange gate half way up the field, so this would be different to the usual way of “changing” rovers); probably a smart move in theory, but oh dear, terrible consequence in theory! They did at least have the effect of stranding Froggy - right in the spot to kick the winning goal. Denis went on to mention that “we should have received a free in front of goal moments before the siren sounded”. Understandably the events of the day would be vivid to him for the rest of his life. Nice man, later was a top level bowls player who represented Australia in Commonwealth Games, as I understand.

The coaches and football bosses need to start putting pressure on the AFL about this debacle of a competition - the inability of the clubs to get decent match practice into their fringe players has surely got to be concerning them. As a player I would hate to be coming out of contract having played 8 games in a season spread across five months.

What I find really distasteful is this is just one week after Clarkson made what looked like a sincere and impassioned declaration of his loyalty. There may have been an element of: I've got my principles so I'm not going to walk the plank. If you want me gone you have to push me. If so good on him for not letting them hide behind some smokescreen. Whoever initiated this weeks player meeting with Reeves and Vandenberg could have waited a few weeks to the end of the season and given Clarkson some sort of dignified exit. The Board could have said to the players: we hear you but lets see how it goes for the next month. Couldn't wait to EOS. Instead they have hurriedly pulled down the architect of their success for no apparent good reason. Thrown his loyalty back in his face. Shameful by all concerned.

Couldn't it be the other way around? That is, that McEvoy was supporting Clarkson? Mind you, as Captain, his job would be to tell the club exactly the impact - positive or negative - of any situation.

well we better toughen up then. every team is going through this. waiting around for hours in cricket nets, a game was delayed 15 mins as a team were stuck on the bus in traffic we need to stop looking for excuses and go out and win. MFC clearly hasnt shaken the mental fragility that has plagued us for so long

For those who have read the book "Red Fox" and the chapter on the sacking of Norm Smith, this is history repeating itself. Let me explain! I was so angry reading the story and how Smith was undermined by those around him. In the preceding chapters I discovered MFC were the family club, post training sausage sizzles, players loved the joint and I was trying to work out how this all changed and hawthorn somehow picked up the mantle of the family club. It was this lack of foresight, fall off in recruiting and aftermath of sacking and reinstalling an iconic coach that has left us in the void for the last 57 years. Ironically the club that took on the mantle of family club has just followed the MFC route and sacked their legendary coach. This has Kennet all over it and maybe it is the Hawks who can now lift the Curse of Norm Smith and replace it with the Clarkson Curse. As oft quoted George Santayana is credited with the aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” while British statesman Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” I think the curse has officially been handed over. Go Dees

I think he should take a year off…

Norm Smith curse now over. Hawthorn have taken the torch off us by burning and sacking the best coach of an era

I have a great deal of respect for Caro and have been for many years regardless of what people think of her. There is a reason why she has good well connected sources within clubs.

Shocking. Never saw this coming.

Do you really think we lost last week because of May and Lever and the Dog's tall forwardline? We lost last week because we couldn't convert in front of goal and they applied a lot of midfield pressure and shut down the Langdon wing, which caused us to overuse the ball. The backline had nothing to do with it, and it doesn't matter how many talls GC or anyone else plays. May, Lever and Petty are and will continue to be the best defensive unit in the competition. It's what happens forward of the centre that has been our biggest problem this season and particularly in the last 6 weeks.

The Matilda’s game is enthralling. Great match so far.

Yep its a disgusting industry to see how she was treated. It wasnt the first time either. The media need to take a long hard look at themselves because substitute Caro with Eddie, Whately, Robbo, Hutchy etc....no one would have come down that hard on any of the boys.

Your mistake is expecting honesty!

Sam Micthell - welcome to the fine tradition of recently retired star players/Favourite sons turning to coaching on little experience - ultimately failing. The Voss/Hird/Buckley/Blight(first time)/F.Bourke club. Given the proud Hawks history, and foundations laid by John Kennedy, then Parkin and Jeans, I would have thought this scenario would have occurred anywhere else, but not the Hawks. It takes real genius to stuff up than pattern - kudos Jeff.

Mate, they lost to the Roos, Blues, Suns and Crows this year.

Yeah, Jokes.

Only thing is, we'd lose Yze and quite possibly Choco (if we haven't already by then) if Clarko came over. IMO, if for some reason we change coaches in the next year or two it will be to put Yze in charge.

Say what you want about Caro, she gets good mail.

I'm 100% petty enough to hope this happens to HFC. Never forgiven them (or Simon Eishold) for 1987.

Kennett and Mitchell faking sincerity.

Caro was right on the money!! Clarko will either be at MAGGIES or CARLTANK next year , unless he takes a year of and does media before embarking on one of the greatest challenges of the modern era!!............................!!

Why would you speak to the club. Wouldn’t it have been better to be a regular Demonland Chicken Little and run with the media’s unconfirmed report as gospel. You could have accused the club of a) Being irrelevant b) Bowing to the AFL c) Putting money before top 4 chances d) Stuffing the season up all together No doubt none of these posters will ever jump at shadows again

I reckon a good amount of this is the wet games we’ve been playing. Expecting a turnaround on the Goldie.

Congrats Jake Bowey on your very first game in the red and the blue?

Absolutely and especially TMac who's newborn has been unwell for a few weeks. I know that lots of families experience similar time away for work, so these guys aren't exactly alone, but it still is a big sacrifice and puts a lot of pressure on families. Thankfully we aren't in lockdown anymore so for these families getting the support they need becomes that little bit easier while their partners are away. Fingers crossed we come back with 8 points, making the whole thing far more worthwhile! And PS- trust the AFL to screw us and nobody else when it comes to our quarantine facilities in WA.

^^ picket and poita - agree 100% Especially with the ongoing threat of lockdowns that undoubtedly will go forward into 2022 and beyond, just set up an AFL Reserves competition with all Victorian teams involved. The interstate clubs can set up their own local competition. As it stands it is a total dogs' dinner, benefiting nobody.

My guess sadly is that it will be fly up on the day, which means a stupidly early start. These sorts of situations can be seen as obstacles thrown up that suck or challenges that can galvanise the group. It’s bloody well time the players stuck their heads in and got the job done, we’ve had our slump, it sucks but move on and get the [censored]ing win. I love Max but his leadership has been found wanting in the last month, him, Jack, and the other leaders at the club need to be the ones to pull us out of this funk. You can’t expect the kids to do it. Oh and thank you @Lord Nev, you basically said everything I needed to say re: Jackson/Weid.

Love a debut. Go you little red fire engine.

It seemed to work for the New Zealand cricket team. They once were worriers.

I wonder whether Nasher can add some Prozac to the Demonland software servers? I'm just about ready to slash my wrists, not because of the MFC situation, but because there are so many "woe-are-us" posters on this site spreading misery like it's a delta strain!

I have spoken with the club and have been assured that the Round 22 Adelaide match will be played in Melbourne at the MCG.