HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has been lauded as one of the country’s leading sports figures, winning the top coaching award at the Sports Performer Awards.

The awards are voted by the readers of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

The award caps off a memorable year for Clarkson, who took Hawthorn to its first premiership since 1991.

Among those he beat for the honour was NRL coach Des Hasler who also achieved premiership success with the Manly Sea Eagles.

Other notable contenders included Australian netball coach Norma Plummer, Adelaide United Soccer coach Aurelio Vidmar and pole vault coach Alex Parnov, who coached Steve Hooker to a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Clarkson was one of three Hawthorn nominations at the awards night but the only winner.

The Hawks were nominated for the team performance of the year and forward Lance Franklin was nominated for the sports performer of the year.

Clarkson was modest and self-deprecating when accepting his award. “This is the first surprise of the night,” he said.

“There’s some players sitting on table 20 saying: ‘God, strewth, he’s the coach of the year!’”