Clarkson has no concerns about Buddy

HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has defended his under fire star forward Lance “Buddy” Franklin saying Hawthorn fans have no need to worry about the future of the 21-year-old off the field.

Clarkson was speaking on SEN Radio in the wake of an alleged incident involving Franklin in a Melbourne night club over the weekend.

“Unfortunately he’s under an enormous amount of scrutiny,” Clarkson said.

“Just like I have to pull my head in, in terms of the things that I say, Buddy’s got to be very careful with where he goes and what he does. That’s just a harsh reality of having his profile. It’s an enormously difficult environment to have the profile that he does.”

Clarkson said that while some sectors of the media had been critical of his desire to play down Buddy’s star quality, he’ll be sticking to that policy.

“I don’t want to make him into a megastar. I just want him to be a player within our side that plays his role and contributes enormously because as he knows we’ve got a lot of very talented players.

“(Luke) Hodge and (Sam) Mitchell are outstanding players and we don’t try and talk those guys up any more than necessary either because it’s a team game and it always has been. Teams win premierships not individuals.”

Clarkson insisted that the club is content with the manner in which they manage their young playing group.

“I’m very, very confident that our footy club is doing everything possible for its playing group to get on field results but also manage those guys as well as we can in terms of their off field stuff.”