HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has moved quickly to try to avert a potential rift with Port Adelaide after the Hawks’ Mark Williams made a gesture ridiculing Power coach Mark Williams late in Saturday’s match.
Williams’ first and only goal of the contest proved to be the sealer in Launceston, but he earned the wrath of his coach when he celebrated the goal by mimicking the ‘hangman’s noose’ choking gesture that the Port coach famously made after his side’s maiden premiership win in 2004.
“Before we start on the game can I make an apology to the Port Adelaide footy club?” Clarkson said at the start of his post-match media conference following the 15-point win.
“The gesture that our Mark Williams made at the end of the game was not in line with the way that we like to go about our footy; he knows that, our players know that.
“We like to be humble and gracious in victory and certainly not put on performances like that. It’s the quickest way to find the exit door at our footy club, so could I make an apology to Mark Williams of Port Adelaide and the Port Adelaide footy club because we don’t accept that sort of behaviour at our club.
“I’ll be expecting that our Mark Williams gives Mark Williams from the Port side a call throughout the course of this week if he’ll indeed accept the call because if I was Choco Williams from Port Adelaide I don’t even know if I’d want a call; we look at it pretty dimly, that sort of behaviour.”
The Hawk forward, who was unsighted for much of the contest and finished with just 10 possessions, did indeed put in a call soon after his coach had finished speaking to the press and it is understood he left a message on the Port coach’s phone.
Clarkson said he had spoken with his player directly after the match, but would not be imposing any sanctions.
For his part, the Port Adelaide coach was clearly unimpressed, but wasn’t about to become embroiled in a war of words on the issue.
“I saw it, but …he hadn’t touched the ball all day so I’m not sure exactly what he was getting at,” Williams said.
“[But] I don’t need his call … I couldn’t care less. Footballers do strange things; it doesn’t help us win the game or lose the game.”
