Angry Clarkson Goes Too Far In Defence Of His Skipper
The Age
Wednesday May 30, 2007
SOME weeks ago, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson stomped out of a post-match media interview taking a swipe at a journalist and throwing a four-letter word in his direction.
Clarkson was probably feeling pretty happy at the time. He had just won a game after all, something he is making a happy habit of at the moment.Channel Nine's Footy Classified replayed the petulant Hawks' coach and his swearing stunt on Monday night towards the end of a near-as-anything-to-live interview with Clarkson.Clarkson laughed as it was played and to my eternal regret, I said nothing, despite having criticised him publicly at the time for his language and his performance. Hawthorn, it is believed, was not happy with the coach's language nor his cocky demeanour and hopefully told him as much.The club then would have been horrified to watch the transformation in the Nine studio when the cameras stopped and the off-camera Clarkson took over. Or at least, hopefully it would have.Filthy, although he saved his best for off-air, at the treatment afforded his injured captain Richie Vandenberg two days earlier, Clarkson turned on Footy Classified's Craig Hutchison, one of the commentators he felt was responsible he for ambushing Vandenberg.In a pre-game interview last Saturday, Vandenberg, who some commentators believe will struggle to regain his place in the team, was left to listen without warning to some harsh words regarding his position by Age columnist and 3AW's former Collingwood premiership captain Tony Shaw.Vandenberg was insulted and many harsh words between the Hawks and the media were passed - appropriately - behind the scenes on Monday.Then came Clarkson's pre-arranged interview on Footy Classified that night. Some critics believe the show is contrived. This is incorrect. Love it or hate it, it is not contrived. Certainly, no one was expecting Clarkson's demeanour to turn so violently nasty after the on-air interview was complete.But I suspect Clarkson's off-camera attack on Hutchison was just that - a ridiculously aggressive attempt to show a group of commentators how far he was prepared to go to defend his captain.That he launched such a vigorous defence was admirable. Hawthorn had a case to argue that Vandenberg had been treated with disrespect by the 3AW team last Saturday. He claimed that another journalist involved in the interview had called the club to apologise.Hutchison himself had spoken to Vandenberg - who interestingly revealed in the now controversial radio interview a more serious hamstring injury than the club had been prepared to admit to - on Monday and told Clarkson as much, but the coach just kept on attacking and and swearing.The forum he chose was inappropriate and the language he used - in the words of his chairman last week - was appalling. I stopped counting after he had thrown in the f-word five times for good measure and that was nowhere near the end of it.Two other women in the room, trying to do their jobs in the concentrated running of a one-hour television show, stood still and uncomfortable with the rest of the camera, sound and production crew as Clarkson continued his attack.After the show, I questioned Garry Lyon about Clarkson, his old Melbourne teammate. Lyon, too, seemed taken aback by the Jekyll and Hyde star turn but stressed that Clarkson had been an excellent teammate and colleague.Earlier, on air, we had wondered aloud whether Clarkson, as a coach, was a work in progress or the full package.Wayne Carey said he did not need to be the full package because his young team was exciting enough to sell the club on its own.By the end of the interview, Clarkson had presented himself as a copybook young coach: cheerful, adept at the odd one-liner and even more skilled at avoiding answering the odd direct question.Given Clarkson's change of mood the instant the cameras stopped rolling and the fact that he launched on Hutchison in a room full of people including journalists, producers, commentators and directors, I feel quite comfortable writing that he is a work in progress.
© 2007 The Age