Nearing the business end of the season, Hawthorn’s brains trust will soon be tasked with a number of tough calls regarding the club’s list and senior players.
A series of experienced heads will be coming out of contract at year’s end, including Shaun Burgoyne, James Frawley, Ricky Henderson, Paul Puopolo and Ryan Schoenmakers.
While several of these players have celebrated their 30th birthdays (which, in Shaun Burgoyne’s case, occurred nearly seven years ago), Clarkson confirmed that "birth certificates" wouldn’t impact any decisions.
"We, as a footy club, never treat (these decisions) in isolation,” he said during his press conference on Thursday morning.
“We treat them in terms of the overall balance of our list.
"We take in a heap of factors about the individual, of course.
"But it's more about how many half-back flankers have we got, who's coming through for us, how many draft picks do we want to have at the end of the year, what were we able to secure in trade [etc].
“None of that stuff happens until we've reviewed our whole season, we've done a total review of all our players medically, we've sat down with the players and that won’t happen until a week or two weeks after our last home and away game, or finals.”
While a ninth finals campaign in 10 years is looking unlikely at present, the Hawks are still holding out hope.
They will have to win all three of their final games, starting with GWS in Canberra on Friday night, in predicted icy conditions.
“We need to play some really really good footy and if we can do that we give ourselves a chance,” Clarkson said.
“We’ll have to have our mittens on, our hats and beanies and scarfs, and get out there and do our best.”
