Dear Hawthorn members and supporters,

On behalf of our Club, Alastair and his family, we have been overwhelmed with the messages of support we have received in regards to Clarko's wellbeing and we would like to thank you for your well wishes.

Your response has demonstrated that we are truly the family club.

Firstly, I would like to reiterate that we are very fortunate that Clarko's condition has been detected early, and he has responded well to initial treatment.

Alastair is under the care of very experienced specialists and is in the best place to receive treatment for what is a rare condition. I'd like to make special mention of the doctors who are treating him and wish them good luck keeping Alastair in his hospital bed!

When I spoke to Clarko yesterday he was in good spirits, and I relayed that the thoughts of all the Hawthorn family were with him and his family.

As CEO Stuart Fox said, our primary concern is for Alastair's health and we want him to concentrate all his energies on recovery before he considers returning to the coaches' box.

Circumstances like this certainly put the game we play into perspective. There is nothing more important than our health, and the health of our families and friends, and that is why our Club will give Clarko as long as he needs to fully recover.

A timeline for Alastair's return to coaching is not something we are considering at this stage, and in the meantime, we have asked experienced assistant coach Brendon Bolton to step into the senior coaching role temporarily.

From our Club's perspective, it will be business as usual. Brendon has worked alongside Alastair for six years; four as assistant coach and two prior to that as Box Hill Hawks' senior coach.

Brendon shares similar coaching philosophies to Alastair, and was a teacher prior to his move into full-time football coaching. Anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting 'Bolts' will no doubt be able to tell you what an outstanding communicator, engaging teacher and passionate coach he is.

Importantly, he shares our vision and values and personally speaking I am certain he will do a fantastic job.

Our philosophy across the Club has always been to develop our staff, and over the past few years Alastair has given all the assistant coaches a role coaching on game-day in the pre-season competition, in addition to more responsibilities during the week.

While I am certain Brendon's transition will be seamless, we can all take confidence knowing he will receive a great deal of support from our outstanding assistant and development coaches, leadership group, players and administration staff in Clarko's absence. As is always the case at Hawthorn, it will be a team effort.

As Alastair often says, "you lose a soldier and you replace him with another one" and while we see this as a big challenge for our Club, I can assure you it is one we confront head on.

Lastly, I know I speak for all of you when I wish Clarko a speedy recovery and again say, our thoughts are with him and his family.

Yours faithfully,


Andrew Newbold
President