Sam Mitchell would rather take over as head coach of Hawthorn next year rather than seeing out the agreed succession plan, according to a Caroline Wilson report.
Speaking on Footy Classified on Monday night, Wilson stated a “mediation session” took place featuring Mitchell, incumbent coach Alastair Clarkson, Head of Football Rob McCartney and Leading Teams boss Ray McLean.
The current plan sees the four-time premiership Hawk taking over at the end of 2023, with Clarkson in charge next season – who has also been adamant he will see out the terms of the plan.
“Those at the meeting felt Sam Mitchell made it clear he wanted to be the coach next year and he would prefer to be there without Alastair Clarkson,” Wilson said.
“Depending on who you talk to, there are several versions of why this meeting was held.
“There is a version which says that there was concerns that Alastair had gone into his shell to a degree, was not coping with the announcement and was not necessarily happy about working with Sam. There’s another version which says they just needed to sort things out and perhaps Sam wasn‘t particularly happy.
“I’m told that during that meeting it became clear that Sam Mitchell would rather have clean air, to have a fresh start next year without Alastair Clarkson by his side.
“When this meeting took place, and this happened after a pretty flattening loss against the Fremantle footy club, I think Alastair went along with this, according to some sources at the Hawthorn Football Club, and it was put to Rob McCartney or Ray McLean to report this back to the footy subcommittee – a subcommittee that is chaired by Richie Vandenberg.”
Wilson adds: “(Clarkson has) never been more engaged this year than he was after that (draw) and he is now digging in and is not prepared necessarily to leave, despite Sam Mitchell‘s wishes”.
Hawthorn CEO Justin Reeves provided a statement to Footy Classified regarding the mediation.
“We’re happy with the way things are going. They are working well together. To be honest, they’re actually working together better than we expected,” the statement read.
Wilson believes if Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett had full say, the succession plan would have been brought forward a year.
“Justin Reeves tells me he wants the succession plan as they have announced it. I personally believe that if Jeff Kennett had his way and it wasn’t going to cost him more than $1 million, Sam Mitchell would be the senior coach of the Hawthorn Football Club next year,” she said.
“My view is it’s a mess and I don’t think it was a good idea.”