Footy's most-renowned spy Dave Dunbar has opened up on an altercation with Alastair Clarkson, alleging the coaching legend threw a punch at him.
In a wide-ranging interview on Zero Hanger's Hangin' Out podcast, Dunbar also recalled trembling with fear in a pie van as a Richmond staffer patrolled the outer in search of him.
Dunbar made his name as an "innovations coach", effectively the James Bond of footy, spying on clubs' training and gleaning information ahead of games.
His run in with Clarkson in 2008, as the Hawks were reinventing themselves, will go down in footy folklore.
"There was a punch thrown," Dunbar said.
"There was a punch that he pulled and I didn't flinch, probably because my reflexes were too slow.
"He took off and I had a set of sunglasses on my head and so he took the sunglasses off my head and stormed off.
"I said 'Clarko, I'll send you the bill for those' ... they were pretty expensive.
"Next thing he shoves the sunglasses into my chest and storms off."
Dunbar also spied on the Hawks from an apartment overlooking Waverley Park, the club's training venue.
"I parked a chair ... had a panoramic view of it all," Dunbar said.
He is adamant he saw the start of "Clarko's Cluster", a ploy the coach would become famous for. The Hawks went on to win the flag that year.
"You could see what was going on ... they'd do a little bit of match play and you'd see all these numbers behind the ball as it went into the forward line. You'd start to get the gist of what was going on," Dunbar said.
"Then going into the practice games ... I remember taking some photos, players behind the ball and how that zone started to operate. As we know, that was a massive thing for them that season.
"That's why they were so wary of anybody coming in there and trying to get an idea of what they were doing."
Watch the full episode of Hangin' Out on Zero Hanger's YouTube channel or on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
