Hawthorn have reached a final settlement with Alastair Clarkson, paying the four-time premiership coach the $450,000 that he was still owed for his last contract.
Sources familiar with the arrangement said Clarkson had been paid the outstanding amount – the second tranche of his 2022 contract to coach the club – in mid-November, as scheduled.
The Clarkson camp had been concerned that the allegations against Clarkson and fellow Hawthorn officials by First Nations players and their families might lead to the Hawks delaying or withholding his entitlement of $450,000 for the second portion of his $900,000 contract for 2022.
Alastair Clarkson is now at North Melbourne. Credit:Jason South
That $450,000 has been included in Hawthorn’s soft cap on football department spending this year, with the club avoiding spreading any further amount into next year’s soft cap. The club at one stage had looked to spread the $900,000 over three years, with about $300,000 counted in 2023’s soft cap, but the Hawks have found room to allocate the final $450,000 into 2022’s football budget.
This payment ends Clarkson’s formal business relationship with the Hawks. He left the club at the end of the 2021 season, as club and coach agreed to expedite his handover of the coaching position to Sam Mitchell 12 months earlier than first agreed.
Hawthorn’s head of legal Nick Holland had contacted Clarkson’s management shortly after his appointment at North, cautioning Clarkson about not violating his contractual obligations – which included not poaching players, staff or sponsors – in what was clearly a shot across the former coach’s bow.
Sources said the call from Hawthorn to Clarkson’s management had been prompted, in part, by Clarkson wearing North Melbourne gear, with the club’s major sponsor Mazda on the polo shirt, at the media conference announcing his appointment. Hawthorn did not object to Clarkson and North hiring Hawks staffer Cam Matthews in the football department.
Clarkson had been barred from beginning as coach at North Melbourne until November, under the terms of his arrangement with Hawthorn. He was subsequently engulfed in the allegations from ex-players and their partners that arose from the cultural safety review commissioned by the club, which is the subject of an AFL investigation.
Clarkson and ex-lieutenant and Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan will participate in the inquiry, along with former welfare manager at Hawthorn Jason Burt, the trio having strenuously denied the allegations and hired separate legal counsel. The AFL appointed a four-member panel, including two Indigenous panellists, to handle the inquiry, which will be chaired by King’s Counsel Bernard Quinn.
Clarkson, despite an initial decision to potentially delay his start as North Melbourne coach due to the AFL investigation, started as coach of the Kangaroos from November 1. He was secured by the Roos on a five-year contract, spurning a late bid from Essendon. The Kangaroos have just signed ex-Hawthorn premiership midfielder Liam Shiels after the veteran was not offered a contract by the Hawks.
