THE AFL will wait until a police investigation concludes before determining whether it takes action in relation to a weekend incident involving Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson.

Clarkson was involved in an altercation with a person in Adelaide as he returned to his hotel from Adelaide Oval following the team's loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday night.

AFL football operations boss Mark Evans said he was restricted in what he could say because the South Australian police had received a complaint in relation to the matter.

He said Hawthorn had been in contact with police to offer witnesses to the incident.

Evans said prevention was always better than remedy and a review of the security available to teams in and around hotels was likely as a result of the incident.

He said he had seen footage of Clarkson engaging with the man and said it was a difficult position for a coach or player to be placed.

"It's not normal for a person to react this way and it's not something we'd like to see, and (it is) probably regrettable," Evans said.

He said the most advisable action for coaches or players when confronted with such people was to remove themselves from the situation.

"I'm not sure that we would like to see that sort of reaction but my first view was that it was a reaction to try to escape the situation, but let's see how this plays out," he said.

When asked whether there was a possibility the AFL would take action against Clarkson once the police investigation was concluded, Evans was direct.

"We won't get to that one today," Evans said.