WHILE remorseful following his part in an episode that has again brought his fiery temper to the fore, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has spoken of a coaching life lived close to the edge.

Speaking at Waverley Park on Friday ahead of Saturday's clash with Richmond, Clarkson admitted that he can be easily riled, even with Australian batsman Usman Khawaja's incorrect dismissal in the Ashes test overnight.

Clarkson was forced to apologise to Port Melbourne VFL players John Baird and Toby Pinwill after verbally clashing with them at quarter-time of last Sunday's clash with the Box Hill Hawks.

"It's part of my character that gets me into trouble from time to time," he said.

"If you'd been at my place around 11 o'clock last night, when Khawaja got out for that snick, you'd have seen another rant and rave," he said.

"I am a little bit regretful of getting involved in an on-field incident but there are times you have to protect the welfare of our players and our club and there are times I get embroiled in that."

Clarkson was angry after Box Hill's Sam Iles was felled behind play.

"I walk the line a lot closer than 17 other coaches so I have to take my own coat and I live and learn the hard way. Sometimes I get a bit uptight.

"If you're in the game a long time the rap sheet is going to grow. Mick Malthouse and Kevin Sheedy have been in the game a lot longer than me and they have a rap sheet that goes back a long way too," he said.

Clarkson added that the episodes he becomes embroiled in are on the minor scale, "particularly in light of what's going on in the game at the moment."

And he said there were no problems in making the phone calls to the Port Melbourne players.

"They're ripper blokes, Johnny Baird and Toby Pinwill, so with a phone call like that, there's no worries.