THE Hawthorn of 2004 couldn’t be any more different to the Hawks of 2014.

Ten years ago, the Hawks finished fifteenth and had just appointed a new coach after another disappointing season both on the field and off it.

Today, the Hawks coming off a premiership and that newly appointed coach of 2004, Alastair Clarkson, has signed a two-year contract extension to take his tenure to twelve years.

When he was announced as the new coach of the Hawks by then CEO Jason Dunstall, Clarkson was viewed as a bit of a left-field choice – he was the first man without links to Hawthorn to coach the Club since Allan Jeans in 1981.

But as other candidates for the Hawks coaching job like Rodney Eade (who went to the Bulldogs) and Terry Wallace (Richmond) have moved on from the path they took in 2004, Clarkson has invented and then re-invented his team again and again on the path to becoming one of the most sought-after and respected coaches in the competition.

“We’ve had to change a fair bit (since 2004),” Clarkson told hawthornfc.com.au

“We’ve become a respected football club again, which has been really important for us.

“This Club has a very proud history and is enormously respected for its achievements over the last 50 years in particular. A key part of that was re-gathering that respect because we lost it there for a period of time as the game moved to being fully professional and became a national competition.

“We just lost a little bit of respect as a footy club and we’ve worked really hard to get that back but now that we do have it back, we want to keep it for a long period of time.”

But Dunstall and the coaching selection committee at the time probably didn’t realise just how perfect a fit Clarkson was for Hawthorn.

His resume included coaching stints at Port Adelaide, St Kilda, VFL side Werribee and SANFL club Central Districts - he was well and truly ready to step into the senior coach’s chair.

Perhaps more though, it is the credentials he possesses that aren’t included on a resume that have been invaluable to his position.

Clarkson as a person and as a coach lives and breathes the values and culture of Hawthorn.

He is constantly searching for ways to innovate and stay ahead of the game. He invented ‘Clarko’s Cluster’, which took the Hawks to a flag in 2008 and has since then, been adapted in some way by opposition clubs.

He is a master strategist, dynamic in his approach to coaching and has instilled in his players and coaches a one for all mindset.

But above all, he lives and breathes family, the core concept on which Hawthorn is built.

He cares and takes great pride in the achievement of people associated, both directly and indirectly with the football club.

“Footy clubs are about its people – perhaps initially I thought it was just about the players but in recent times it’s been about our coaches, our administrators who have got greater opportunities elsewhere because of the experience they’ve had at our club,” he said.

“I speak of (Damian) Hardwick, (Leon) Cameron, (Adam) Simpson who have all gone on to coach other clubs and Mark Evans has gone on to be AFL Football Operations Manager.

“While they didn’t come under my direct control all of those guys, you feel great that you can assist along the way of people achieving their goals and ambitions.”

It is his desire to teach and help young men to achieve their dreams though, that gives him the greatest satisfaction.

As his players grow and achieve their AFL dreams so does the success he has seen at Hawthorn.

“There’s a new crop of young players coming in each year who have great hopes and aspirations and I find it just as rewarding today as what I did 10 years ago when I first commenced, helping those lads try play AFL footy and live their dream,” he said.

Clarkson has coached the Hawks to two flags and six finals appearances and aims to build on that record in his tenth, eleventh and twelfth seasons in charge.

With Round 1 on the doorstep, his ambitions for Hawthorn in 2014 and beyond are clear.

“We’ve got an exciting group but what the game has shown with the draft and the salary cap over the years is that they like to have clubs have their moment in the sun and then perhaps drop away to give another club an opportunity,” he explained.

“Our big challenge having just won the flag is giving ourselves the chance to win it again.

“We just want to try and finish top four and then at the end of each year, give ourselves the best chance to go deep into September.

“We’ve got a great group of players, a terrific group of coaches and a really strong board and administration so while we’ve got that stability, it’s really important we try and make the most of our chances.”

And there’s no end date in sight.

“It’s an enormous privilege to coach this great club and I’m looking forward to the next few years, we’ve still got some things we want to achieve,” he said.

“I’ll probably pull up stumps when I either get sick of this place or they get sick of me.”