AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan has succumbed to Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson following a controversial meeting on Monday morning.
The meeting didn’t sit well with legends of the game or fellow AFL coach John Longmire, who labelled it “unusual and unnecessary”.
Clarkson blew up following his sides loss on Friday night at the hands of Longmire’s Sydney Swans and took aim at team’s using blocking tactics.
He used his post-game press conference to voice his concerns over perceived injustices and said Sydney were “very sophisticated with the way that they defend”, but also declared they got away with “blue murder” at times.
It led to Clarkson following up his concerns with McLachlan on Monday morning, a move that incensed former Carlton premiership great Robert Walls.
“I was disappointed in Alastair Clarkson commenting about Sydney Swans tactics publicly. I thought that was wrong,” Walls told Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight.
“To organise a meeting with the CEO of the AFL in a public place — I can’t believe that he’s done that. I think it’s outrageous to be honest.
“Why Gill McLachlan? Why not football operations boss Steve Hocking? That would be the appropriate person to go and talk to. Maybe Steve Hocking said ‘get lost’ — maybe he did.
“The other question that has to be asked: Has Alastair Clarkson done this in the past? Don’t forget, the operations boss a couple of years ago was Mark Evans — a former employee of the Hawthorn Football Club.
“Maybe this is something that Alastair Clarkson has been doing over the years.
“I’m really disappointed in him.”
Geelong coach Chris Scott also joined in the chorus of uproar, believing the meeting wasn’t an appropriate look for the competition.
“I think it’s put Gil in an awkward position,” Scott said on Fox Footy’s AFL360.
“There’s a number of people that you’d speak to before you spoke to Gil about specific issues within the game, especially two days post a loss.
“I think Gil’s been pretty clear that he’s not the go to on that sort of stuff.
“There’s an umpiring department and Steve Hocking is the head of football.
“I think Alastair is more comfortable doing that than most of the other coaches, but I think Gil’s been pretty clear that he doesn’t get involved in the day-to-day adjudication of the rules.
“To do it in a public place, I probably support Horse on this one, I’m not sure that it was an appropriate look.”
But despite all of the outrage over the controversial meeting, it appears Clarkson has escaped victorious with the AFL.
The reported email contains four subheadings relating to the tactic of players blocking to allow an uncontested mark for a teammate.
Listed are: Hands in the back, holding, blocking and umpiring. The league has also included a directive to umpires for them to implement the rules.
While it’s not exactly a new rule being implemented into the game, the memo being received less than 24 hours after the meeting with a current coach, won’t sit well with fellow coaches in the AFL.
Longmire was already unhappy with his former teammate Clarkson following his comments after the Friday night duel, this is sure to really grind his gears.
Clarkson’s biggest gripe came as the game went down to the wire and his star forward not being awarded a free kick at the top of the goal square.
But Longmire was quick to point out that Clarkson’s own team are also guilty of using the tactic which has now been placed under a microscope.
“When you just look at what Hawthorn do, they do exactly the same thing. There are plenty of examples of Hawthorn players if you have a look on the AFL’s own website today, they do exactly the same thing.
“In the end it’s an important part of the game and it’s just a bit unusual that he can comment on other teams and make assertions on other teams and what they do and think yourself and your team does everything absolutely perfectly right.”
Of course the blocking tactic wasn’t the only matter broached by the league as they also highlighted contact with umpires, which has become prevalent of late.
Tom Hawkins received a one-week ban after brushing away an umpires hand during round seven, while Curnow brothers (Ed & Charlie) from Carlton were both sent to the Tribunal following incidents in round eight.
While Charlie escaped with a fine, Ed was handed a one-game ban. Gold Coast skipper Steven May was also let off with just a fine.
The memo reiterated to all clubs just where umpires are supposed to run around the ground and following ball-ups.
But the biggest talking point out of the memo will be the highlighting of the blocking and just how it will be implementated by the umpires from the weekend onwards.
Clarkson in the end effectively gets his way, but when the action kicks off on the weekend it will be interesting to see how happy he is if his side loses to a late blocking free kick.
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