Clarkson was appointed to his first senior Australian Football League (AFL) coaching role for the 2005 season when the Hawks appointed him to lead their rebuilding phase. [11] Clarkson replaced Hawthorn Football Club caretaker senior coach Donald McDonald, who replaced Peter Schwab during the 2004 season, after Schwab quit during the season when the Hawks were struggling and eventually finished in second-last placed position on the ladder at the end of the 2004 season. [12] [13] Clarkson was prepared to delist older players and introduce a youth policy. Club veterans Rayden Tallis, Mark Graham, Kris Barlow, Luke McCabe and Lance Picioane left the club and Nathan Thompson was traded to North Melbourne. Hawthorn under Clarkson had five wins in Clarkson's debut season as senior coach of the Hawthorn Football Club in the 2005 season. [14] Another round of culling saw the delisting of Angelo Lekkas and Nick Holland and the trade of Jonathan Hay and Nathan Lonie. Clarkson brought to the club delisted players Brent Guerra and Stephen Gilham whom he knew from his time at Port Adelaide. In the 2006 season, the side under Clarkson improved as Clarkson showed innovation by restructuring the forwards with a system that became known as "Buddy's box". [15] The team won its last four games in a row to finish in 11th spot on the ladder at the end of the 2006 season. [14] The Hawks under Clarkson continued to improve in the 2007 season, winning 13 games and finishing fifth on the premiership table. This took them into the finals, where they defeated Adelaide in an elimination final, before being eliminated in a semi-final against North Melbourne. [14]
Clarkson went against his own policy on draft day 2007 when, in addition to youngster Cyril Rioli, he recruited the recently retired Stuart Dew, whom he also knew from his time at Port Adelaide. He also introduced a new style of play that became known as the "Clarkson cluster".
Early dominance in the 2008 season led Hawthorn to announce that Clarkson had signed a contract until the end of 2011. In the 2008 season, Clarkson took the Hawks to second place at the end of the minor round before coaching the team to the premiership victory in the 2008 AFL Grand Final, when Hawthorn defeated Geelong by a margin of 26 points, with the final score Hawthorn 18.7 (115) to Geelong 11.23 (89), Geelong had lost only one game during the year. [14] In doing so, Clarkson became the first (and, as of 2017, only) person to be a premiership-winning coach in both the AFL/VFL and the SANFL. [14]
After the 2008 premiership, opposition teams worked hard at picking the "Clarkson cluster" apart. Dogged by injuries to key players, the Hawks under Clarkson slipped down the ladder to finish ninth at the end of the 2009 season and therefore just missed out of the finals. [14] After a poor start to the 2010 season, when the club under Clarkson lost six out of its first seven games, including an embarrassing 43-point loss to Essendon in Round 6, 2010 after which the entire club came under scrutiny, [16] [17] the team finally abandoned the cluster for a more precision-kicking style. Aided by recruiting established players to cover weaknesses, the club under Clarkson climbed its way back up the ladder and finished seventh on the ladder at the end of the 2010 season, therefore making the finals, but the Hawks under Clarkson were eliminated by Fremantle in the first week of the 2010 elimination final. [14] In the 2011 season, the Hawks under Clarkson finished third on the ladder and made the finals, but were eliminated by the eventual runners-up Collingwood in the 2011 Preliminary Final. [14]
In the 2012 season, Clarkson coached Hawthorn to the 2012 AFL Grand Final, but fell short and lost to Sydney Swans by a margin of 10 points with the final score Hawthorn 11.15 (81) to Sydney Swans 14.7 (91). [14]
In the 2013 season, Clarkson again led the Hawks to another premiership win, this time over Fremantle in the 2013 AFL Grand Final with the score Hawthorn 11.11 (77) to Fremantle 8.14 (62). [14] [18]
Clarkson's additions of players with Shaun Burgoyne and Josh Gibson who arrived in 2010, David Hale in 2011, Jack Gunston in 2012 and Brian Lake in 2013, had a significant impact on the club. [14]
In 2013, Clarkson became only the third man behind John Kennedy, Sr. and Allan Jeans to coach Hawthorn for 200 games. He is the only man to coach the club in 200 consecutive games. In Round 8, 2014, he became the equal second longest-serving coach of Hawthorn, with Allan Jeans, when he coached his 221st AFL match against the Sydney Swans. [19]
Clarkson has been coach of the Australian team in the International Rules Series in 2014 and 2015. The IRS is a hybrid game played between an Australian team of AFL players and one made up of Irish Gaelic footballers at the end of each of their seasons. It is played alternately in Ireland and Australia. The 2014 game was the first time in the competition's 30-year history that just one game decided the series winner.
During the 2014 season in May 2014, Clarkson was admitted to hospital after a back injury which was later diagnosed as Guillain–Barré syndrome. [20] Assistant coach Brendon Bolton became the interim senior coach for five matches, winning every game in Clarkson's absence. [21] Clarkson returned in July after his absence of five matches, after Clarkson received an endorsement from his doctors to resume his role as senior coach. [22] and coached Hawthorn to their 12th premiership win when they defeated Sydney Swans 21.11 (137) to 11.8 (74) in the 2014 AFL Grand Final. [14] [23] This placed him alongside Allan Jeans and John Kennedy Sr as Hawthorn's most successful premiership winning coaches, with three premierships each. [3]
In the 2015 season, Clarkson coached Hawthorn to their third straight flag in the 2015 AFL Grand Final, when Hawthorn defeated West Coast Eagles 16.11 (107) to 8.13 (61). [14] [24] [25] This made Clarkson Hawthorn's most successful coach, and tying Leigh Matthews as the only coaches to win three straight premierships in the 21st century.
In the 2016 season, the Hawks under Clarkson finished third on the ladder and again made the finals. But Hawthorn under Clarkson were eliminated by the eventual premiers the Western Bulldogs in the semi-final. [14] In the 2017 season, Hawthorn under Clarkson fell back with the club's on-field performance and finished twelve on the ladder, therefore missing out of the finals. [14] In the 2018 season, The Hawks under Clarkson returned to the finals when they finished fourth on the ladder, but were eliminated by Melbourne in the semi-final. [14] In the 2019 season, the Hawks under Clarkson finished ninth on the ladder and therefore just missed out of the finals. [14] In the 2020 season, the Hawks under Clarkson fell back with a disastrous deterioration in the club's on-field performance and finished fifteenth place (fourth-last) placed position on the ladder with five wins and twelve losses. [14]
On 6 July 2021, the Hawthorn Football Club announced that it will implement a succession plan which will see Clarkson coach out his current contract, before being succeeded as senior coach by assistant coach Sam Mitchell from 2023. [26] [27] [28] However, on 30 July 2021, it was announced that Clarkson would leave Hawthorn at the conclusion of the 2021 AFL season, with Mitchell immediately succeeding him. [29] [30] [31] [32]
In Clarkson's final season as senior coach of Hawthorn Football Club in the 2021 season, the Hawks under Clarkson finished fourteenth on the ladder (fifth-last) position on the ladder. [14]
Clarkson coached Hawthorn Football Club from 2005 until 2021, for a total of 17 seasons, with a record of 390 games with 228 wins, 158 losses and 4 draws with a winning percentage of 60 percent. [33] Clarkson also coached the club to a total of four premierships in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2015 as well as when the club finished as runners-up in 2012. [14]
In September 2022, following his departure from the club, he was alleged to have been involved in the isolation and separation of indigenous players from their partners and families, allegations which came to light as part of an external review into historical racism commissioned by Hawthorn. Investigations into the allegations are ongoing. [34]
