A PROVOCATIVE article from former Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams suggesting Alastair Clarkson leave Hawthorn was brushed aside by the Hawks mastermind at Waverley on Sunday.
Williams wrote a column in News Corporation newspapers last Thursday advising Clarkson to move from Hawthorn before the club moved on from him.
His reign is into its 13th season and with four flags, Clarkson has numerous credits in the bank, however his decisions are being queried in the media as the club sits at the foot of the ladder, just months after premiership stars Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis were traded for lowly draft selections.
Clarkson said any commentary was a result of the 0-3 record, and he drew a parallel with a song from a superstar American musician.
"I haven't read the article, but a friend of mine relayed the content of it. Whenever your side is going through a tough patch, there's going to be external noise and opinion. That's the game that we're in," Clarkson said.
"All we need to do is bunker down with a collective effort at our footy club. It's not about any one person. We've worked our way through tough positions before.
"Bruce Springsteen's got a great song (with the lyrics) 'hard times come, hard times go'. We're going through a hard time at the minute, but we're really, really strong in our resolve to pull ourselves out of this pickle that we're in and get ourselves back on the winning list."
Hawthorn suffered an 86-point drubbing against Gold Coast last Sunday and Clarkson pointed to the Suns as an example of a team being able to change its fortunes.
Rodney Eade's side itself came off a 102-point loss to Greater Western Sydney before it demolished the Hawks.
"As we've seen, it's clearly been demonstrated by a couple of sides in the last couple of weeks in Gold Coast and Fremantle, who have turned their seasons around very, very quickly," Clarkson said.
"It can happen, as long as we continue to have faith in the processes we've got in place here and the people that we've got in place here.
"That has been the case for a long period of time and I don't expect anything to be any different in our approach over the next few weeks."
Hawthorn will be without midfielder Jaeger O'Meara after the club said he copped a knock to the right knee that gave him trouble in his time at the Suns.
Teia Miles and Brendan Whitecross were dropped while Billy Hartung, Tim O'Brien and Blake Hardwick were recalled to the side that will face Geelong at the MCG on Easter Monday.
