The AFL has fined Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson for his comments about the umpiring on Saturday afternoon during the Hawks' clash with the Suns.

Clarkson has been fined $20,000 for his comments about the umpires, with $15,000 of the total sanction suspended until the end of the season and $5,000 is going to the FreezeMND.

Following the Hawks' narrow loss on Saturday, Clarkson described the umpiring as 'disgraceful' at his post-match media conference.

"I'm not allowed to comment on disgraceful umpiring, so i'm better off not saying anything," Clarkson said when asked about the umpiring.

"We didn't lose the game because of the umps, but there was a few dubious decisions... we hit a few roadblocks in that regard."

The four-time premiership coach apologised during Fox Footy's coverage of the GWS-Carlton clash on Sunday afternoon, but it was too little too late.

"It was probably a poor choice of words," Clarkson said on Fox Footy yesterday.

"I went to the press conference with the full intention of trying to educate our members and the football club on just where Hawthorn's at. I actually went in with the intention of not mentioning the umpires at all.

"In no way was I trying to tarnish the umpiring or the AFL, but I just got caught up in the emotion of the game. That decision had only happened 15 minutes earlier.

"I apologise to the umps and also to the AFL. It's a really emotional game and I just got caught up."