Alastair Clarkson
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Alastair Clarkson

Personal information
Birth	27 April 1968 (1968-04-27) (age 40)
Recruited from	Kaniva
Height and weight	177 cm / 79 kg
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 15, 1987, North Melbourne vs. Melbourne, at MCG
Team(s)	134 games 85 goals North Melbourne (1987-1995) 93 games 61 goals Melbourne Demons (1996-1997) 41 games 24 goals
Coaching career¹
Team(s)	Hawthorn Hawks (2005-) 93 games, 48 wins, 45 losses
¹ Statistics to end of End of the 2008 Season season
Career highlights
AFL Premiership coach 2008

Alastair Clarkson (born 27 April 1968 ¹) is a former Australian rules footballer and current coach of the Hawthorn Football Club.

Playing career

North Melbourne

Clarkson was recruited from Kaniva, Victoria to the North Melbourne Football Club, where he made his VFL debut in 1987, kicking the winning goal after the siren. He played mainly as a half-forward and stood at 177cms, before moving into the midfield. In 1995, he was made captain of the reserves side, with chances of senior selection unlikely due to the presence of midfielders such as Schwass, Stevens and Rock. He played just 93 games with the Roos for 61 goals in his 9 seasons there until '95.

Move to Melbourne

With limited opportunity at the Roos, Clarkson was picked up by the Melbourne Football Club where he debuted in 1996. He was a solid player and averaged 23.5 disposals in his 22 games that year. He played a further 19 games in 1997, taking his tally with the Demons up to 41 games, before retiring at the end of the season.

Coaching career

Clarkson moved into coaching, first with Werribee in the VFL, followed by roles at St Kilda and Central Districts where he was a premiership coach in 2001. In 2003 he became the midfield coach at Port Adelaide (and forward coach in 2004).

He was appointed his first senior AFL coaching role at the Hawthorn Football Club for the 2005 season, The Hawthorn Football Club appointed Clarkson to lead their rebuilding phase. While his side could only manage 5 wins in his debut season finishing 14th, 2006 saw the side improve, winning their last 4 games in a row, and taking them 11th spot on the ladder. The Hawks continued to improve in 2007, winning 13 games and finishing fifth on the premiership table. This took them into the finals, where they eliminated Adelaide in the first elimination final, before being eliminated themselves in the second semi-final against the Kangaroos. On 13 May 2008 the Hawthorn Football Club announced that Clarkson had signed a contract until the end of 2011. In 2008 Clarkson took the Hawks to second place on the ladder in the home and away season, behind Geelong, a team who lost only a single game during that period. After defeating the Western Bulldogs and then St Kilda in post-season football to qualify for the Grand Final, he then coached the Hawks to what many believed was impossible - a Grand Final win over the dominant 2008 Geelong Cats. The 2008 Premiership is the pinnacle of his career, completing a meteoric rise in his tenure as coach at Hawthorn.

Personal information

Clarkson holds a Master of Business Administration from Monash University.²

External links

• Alastair Clarkson's statistics from AFL Tables

References

1. ^ Holmesby, R. and Main, J. (2005). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. ISBN 1-86350-243-2
2. ^ World leaders, Monash Magazine, issue 21, 2008

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