Hawthorn Team of the Century forward pocket Jason Dunstall has stated he vehemently disagrees with his former club's decision to enact a coaching succession plan that will see Alastair Clarkson depart Waverley at the end of next year.
Dunstall's comments come in the wake of the Tuesday's news that Clarkson, 53, will see hand over the coaching reigns to his former lieutenant Sam Mitchell at the cessation of the 2022 season.
The comments made by the man who booted 1,254 goals in a brown and gold guernsey hold extra weight considering that it was Dunstall who selected Clarkson as the club's head coach in 2004.
Speaking on AFL360 on the Tuesday night, the 56-year-old forward-come-pundit was bemused by Hawthorn's desire to move the four-time premiership coach on.
“I was gobsmacked. I didn’t know it was coming. I was very, very surprised,” Dunstall said.
“Hindsight will tell us (if it’s the right decision). It’s a bold decision is what it is."
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Dunstall, a 12-time leading goalkicker for the Hawks, also continued by stating the move had the potential to place an unnecessary burden on the incoming Mitchell.
"Knowing you‘re giving up the best coach of the modern era and who I think still has plenty of currency - gee you‘re placing a lot of faith and pressure on Sam Mitchell," he said.
“Only time will tell whether it’s the right decision or not.”
Despite the notion of succession plans not being a new one in AFL circles, the man affectionately known as 'The Chief' pointed to the fact, that in his opinion, the decision to move on from a successful coach rarely ever produces bumper yields.
“They never work. That‘s the only thing. In theory they sound great but in practice they just don’t work,” he said.
“I‘m not against the decision, but it’s not a decision I would’ve made. It’s a brave, bold decision and it’s probably not one I would’ve made.”
In addition to this, the three-time Coleman medalist claimed he was confused about the mechanics of the proposed deal.
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“I’m a little bit confused as to how the handover works, because the ones we’ve seen in recent years haven’t worked, have they?”, Dunstall said.
“It’s just 12 months of bad press, that’s what normally happens. We saw with (Mick) Malthouse and (Nathan) Buckley, same thing happened with Worsfold and Rutten. Does Sam Mitchell want some clean air? He probably does.”
Although Clarkson is reported to have a track record of honouring deals and seeing out contracts, Dunstall held the belief that this change of tact by the Hawks could see Clarkson fly the nest earlier than expected.
“I think the landscape’s changed now," he said.
"He’s always honoured his contracts and he’s always been upfront about that and it’s actually annoyed him when people have linked him to other jobs. But now that there is a finite term coming up where the club has actually said it. It’s the club that said it, it’s not Clarko that said ‘I’m done’.
“I think the landscape’s changed now so if the right offer came along, I don’t know if it’s Collingwood or if it’s another club, I don’t know who it might be, but if you’re not knocking his door down there’s something wrong.”
With the Magpies still to name a full-time head coach, and other pedagogues across the league reportedly under pressure, one would imagine that Clarkson's phone will be ringing hot at the present.
Clarkson, the owner of a career win-rate of 58.82%, will lead the Hawks for the 358th time on Saturday afternoon when they do battle with the Dockers in Launceston.
