Last night hurt. It did. Not only because any loss to the scum hurts but because it mad a lie of the belief that we are fundamentally only a few soldiers short of a premiership list. Take out Mitchell, Lewis and Hill...replace them with O'meara, Mitchell and Henderson. Replace the departed Hale with Vickery. One soldier for another until we are back on top. That is the Clarkson model right?
After a match in 2012 in which Poppy had missed a simple shot for goal and it cost us the match, Clarkson told Poppy that he needed to learn composure; that in order to continue to play up forward he had to make good decisions under pressure and if he couldn't do it he [Clarkson] would need to find Poppy another role. Note, he didn't threaten to drop him, just find another role on the field that he could do. Even as much as Clarkson preaches processes and systems over personal, he places his absolute faith in people to win matches. That is why he recruited Burgoyne. That is why he played Hodge and Ellis in the 2012 grand final (yes, it doesn't always work). So to discard Mitchell and Lewis is a massive statement about where he thinks the list is relative to those two players.
In 2009 when injuries ravaged the squad and wins became hard to come by it was Clarkson's faith in the players that would return that caused him to retain a dysfunctional game plan through the first half of 2010. In round 6 2010 we were hammered by Essendon to the tune of 43 points. After the match Kennet famously confronted Clarkson, Fox and Evans, drew an inverted pyramid on a whiteboard, and reminded them that they sat at the bottom of that pyramid. The message was clear. Change or be changed.
From the team that lost to Essendon in round 6 2010 to the team that lost a heart breaking preliminary final to Collingwood less than 18 months later there were eight changes. All eight would go on to win a premiership (or three) with Hawthorn in the next four years. In fact only four players in that loss were not part of our premiership threepete with only two who were also not part of 2008 (Murphy and Whitecross - still hoping for Whitey!) That is a big transformation of the team and a massive change in fortunes orchestrated very quickly. Once Clarkson understood the players he was using were not up to it he looked for and found players who were. Four of the eight players came from off the list over the offseason (Poppy, Hale, Gibson and Smith). Bailey, Burgoyne (arrived in 2009), Mitchell and Suckling were already on the list. A further three players on the list did not play that day but would go on to win premierships (Breust, Duryea and Roughead). So we can see player development was a very important part of the transformation from bottom dwellers to powerhouse. So too was finding a few diamonds in the rough via the draft. So for me the question isn't can Clarkson rebuild the list or where will he find the players with the talent, competitiveness and commitment to achieve success, its does he yet know who among those who played last night are able to take us forward and who should be put to pasture? Kennet isn't there any longer to realign his thoughts. Neither is Fagan. Hoping Clarkson has mastered self reflection and can ask honest questions of himself and the list. I know he can rebuild the list, its just a matter of whether or not he is capable of making that honest assessment.
I think the departure of Mitchell and Lewis demonstrates that he at least knows in what ballpark our team is in so I think it is fair to say the rebuild is underway. What is important to realise is that two weeks after losing to Essendon there were seven changes to to the team that ran out and narrowly defeated Richmond (thank you Sam Mitchell!), four of which were never apart of a premiership team but that win got the team moving in the right direction for the rest of the year. There is going to be some short term needs put above our premiership ambition either to ensure competitiveness or due to injuries etc. It isn't going to be all smooth sailing. The seas are going to get rough and we are going to want to mutiny. But we have the right captain and he can see us through this storm. The storm will pass and we will rebuild. We will be strong again. Go Hawks!
After a match in 2012 in which Poppy had missed a simple shot for goal and it cost us the match, Clarkson told Poppy that he needed to learn composure; that in order to continue to play up forward he had to make good decisions under pressure and if he couldn't do it he [Clarkson] would need to find Poppy another role. Note, he didn't threaten to drop him, just find another role on the field that he could do. Even as much as Clarkson preaches processes and systems over personal, he places his absolute faith in people to win matches. That is why he recruited Burgoyne. That is why he played Hodge and Ellis in the 2012 grand final (yes, it doesn't always work). So to discard Mitchell and Lewis is a massive statement about where he thinks the list is relative to those two players.
In 2009 when injuries ravaged the squad and wins became hard to come by it was Clarkson's faith in the players that would return that caused him to retain a dysfunctional game plan through the first half of 2010. In round 6 2010 we were hammered by Essendon to the tune of 43 points. After the match Kennet famously confronted Clarkson, Fox and Evans, drew an inverted pyramid on a whiteboard, and reminded them that they sat at the bottom of that pyramid. The message was clear. Change or be changed.
From the team that lost to Essendon in round 6 2010 to the team that lost a heart breaking preliminary final to Collingwood less than 18 months later there were eight changes. All eight would go on to win a premiership (or three) with Hawthorn in the next four years. In fact only four players in that loss were not part of our premiership threepete with only two who were also not part of 2008 (Murphy and Whitecross - still hoping for Whitey!) That is a big transformation of the team and a massive change in fortunes orchestrated very quickly. Once Clarkson understood the players he was using were not up to it he looked for and found players who were. Four of the eight players came from off the list over the offseason (Poppy, Hale, Gibson and Smith). Bailey, Burgoyne (arrived in 2009), Mitchell and Suckling were already on the list. A further three players on the list did not play that day but would go on to win premierships (Breust, Duryea and Roughead). So we can see player development was a very important part of the transformation from bottom dwellers to powerhouse. So too was finding a few diamonds in the rough via the draft. So for me the question isn't can Clarkson rebuild the list or where will he find the players with the talent, competitiveness and commitment to achieve success, its does he yet know who among those who played last night are able to take us forward and who should be put to pasture? Kennet isn't there any longer to realign his thoughts. Neither is Fagan. Hoping Clarkson has mastered self reflection and can ask honest questions of himself and the list. I know he can rebuild the list, its just a matter of whether or not he is capable of making that honest assessment.
I think the departure of Mitchell and Lewis demonstrates that he at least knows in what ballpark our team is in so I think it is fair to say the rebuild is underway. What is important to realise is that two weeks after losing to Essendon there were seven changes to to the team that ran out and narrowly defeated Richmond (thank you Sam Mitchell!), four of which were never apart of a premiership team but that win got the team moving in the right direction for the rest of the year. There is going to be some short term needs put above our premiership ambition either to ensure competitiveness or due to injuries etc. It isn't going to be all smooth sailing. The seas are going to get rough and we are going to want to mutiny. But we have the right captain and he can see us through this storm. The storm will pass and we will rebuild. We will be strong again. Go Hawks!