Fresh allegations of controlling behaviour have emerged against former Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson. But this time the accusations relate to non-Indigenous past players and notably the current coach Sam Mitchell.
The details surround Clarkson’s unsympathetic treatment of Mitchell during the 2011 season, the year Mitchell’s wife Lyndall gave birth to twin girls and the family was beset by a number of confronting health problems.
Alastair Clarkson and Sam Mitchell.Credit:The Age
Clarkson, who has already strenuously denied a number of devastating claims detailed in the cultural safety review commissioned by Hawthorn, is alleged to have:
*Told Mitchell to hand in his mobile phone – along with the rest of the team – on the eve of an interstate game against Sydney during a period in which one of his twin babies was being frequently admitted to hospital.
*Expressed surprise before the twins’ birth that Mitchell was having children so close together (the Mitchell’s son Smith was 11 months old when the twins were born) and wondered at the effect this might have upon his playing career.
*Publicly announced Mitchell was missing a game against Richmond due to personal reasons relating to the twins’ health without the player’s knowledge or consent.
*Ultimately agreed to treat Mitchell with more respect when the pair resolved their differences at the end of the season but again questioned the wisdom of the timing of the twins’ birth.
Mitchell detailed some elements of his fall-out with Clarkson in his autobiography Relentless, which was published after his playing retirement. He stated in the book that he came close to leaving Hawthorn for Collingwood so deep was his disappointment at the way he was treated by the senior coach.
However, more details surrounding Mitchell’s falling out with Clarkson emerged this week with former players and staff suggesting the allegations voiced by four Indigenous families relating to traumatic experiences during their time at the club had caused others to relive some experiences. One wife of a former player said Lyndall Mitchell was admonished by a club official (not Clarkson) for not showing enough emotion after the Hawks’ three-point preliminary final defeat in 2011.
The majority of the former players contacted stressed that Clarkson saw himself as a father figure at the club who, while at times overstepping the mark in interfering in their personal lives, firmly believed he was prioritising the best interests of his footballers.
Several cited the example of Clarkson flying to the US unannounced to meet Lance Franklin at a time he was considering leaving Hawthorn, a move that backfired and disappointed Franklin. One player said Clarkson’s advice to avoid some family and friends had made him a better player.
All the white players contacted said the allegations directed at the club by First Nation families had shocked them and that their own experiences should not be compared to those published in the cultural safety review. The most serious allegation detailed in the Phil Egan review is that Clarkson told an Indigenous player to terminate his partner’s pregnancy, among a series of allegations surrounding bullying players to choose between family and football.
Mitchell, who like Clarkson expressed unwillingness to work together in 2022 as part of a coaching succession plan, refused to comment on the allegations involving him and wife Lyndall when contacted on Friday. The AFL is aware of the Mitchell allegations.
Following complications surrounding the twins’ birth the Mitchells feared for twin Scarlett’s survival for several months. During that time Lyndall Mitchell’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s’ Disease. The family told teammates and friends at the time that Mitchell’s issues with the coach could have proved irreparable if not for the regular intervention of then football boss Mark Evans.
Evans reportedly intervened after the players’ mobile phones were confiscated and returned Mitchell’s so the couple could remain in communication while the football boss’ wife Lynne stayed with Lyndall Mitchell and her young family in Melbourne. He refused to comment when contacted.
Mitchell, who won the Peter Crimmins Medal in 2011 and received 30 Brownlow votes, likened that time to being lost in a thick fog. “I felt I didn’t get a lot of empathy from the powers that be at Hawthorn for what Lyndall and I were going through,” he wrote in Relentless. “I was always a little proud, I guess, and just didn’t complain enough.
“… It was almost a different time back then when new fathers weren’t cut a lot of slack within AFL clubs.”
Clarkson’s manager declined to comment.
Clarkson said in a statement this week: “The further recent publication of purported extracts from the report means I now have grave concerns that any chance of a fair process and a just outcome have been seriously undermined, if not irrevocably corrupted.
“… I have no option but to express publicly, in the strongest and most emphatic terms possible, that I did not behave in the manner claimed.”
