Jordan Lewis was the first to ask the question as to whether Alastair Clarkson is the man to rebuild Hawthorn going forward and has since been heavily criticised by club president Jeff Kennett.
Speaking on SEN Breakfast a few weeks ago, Lewis pondered whether Clarkson had the willpower to go through a total rebuild of the ageing Hawthorn list, taking it back to the draft over a few years before coming back to the top.
Kennett took a swipe at Lewis, questioning whether the four-time premiership Hawk had the standing to make such statements.
“He’s (Leigh Matthews) without a doubt one of the icons of the industry. Does it hurt me? No, but I take on board what he says more seriously than I would Jordan Lewis or someone like that who is just starting a career in the media and has got to make a name for themselves,” Kennett said.
Lewis admits he was a bit taken aback by Kennett’s decision to personally attack him.
“Once I saw it (my Clarkson comments) gain traction I really zoned away from it because a lot of the commentary around it I just didn’t need,” he told AFL Nation.
“Jeff and I will be mates, it’s not an issue with Jeff and I, just I suppose the way he came out the next day and probably attacked me personally was a bit surprising.”
Gerard Whateley defended the retired Hawk, saying that Kennett actually made his point accidentally when discussing Clarkson’s future on 3AW.
Before retracting his comments the next day, the Hawthorn president said that he anticipated Clarkson’s time at Hawthorn would come to and end at the conclusion of his contract – 2022.
“There were weird parts to it. I think when Jeff is losing the argument he plays the man if you go through history,” Whateley said.
“He actually made your point in the interview when he said (Clarkson) would probably move on at the end of his contract, that was (Lewis’) exact point because it’s two years down the track.
“He clearly had no cognition that that’s what you were saying. I doubt he’d heard (Lewis’ comments) in their entirety and then the next day when he was trying to clean up his own mess he just played the man.
“It was undignified given your (Lewis’) place at the football club.”
Lewis adds that Kennett’s comments didn’t concern him that much because he unintentionally agreed with him initially.
“That’s probably why it didn’t worry me as much because I listened to the interview on the Sunday which basically said what I was talking about and then the one on Monday was just a follow up to satisfy himself that he tried to rectify or detract from what he said on the Sunday,” he said.
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