Alastair Clarkson at a press conference on April 27, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

ALASTAIR Clarkson has called for Hawthorn to be investigated over the club's "shameful" handling of its report into the treatment of its First Nations players, saying reputations have been "scarred" by the long-running process.

The North Melbourne coach has also responded after Bernard Quinn KC, the chair of the independent panel that is investigating claims of mistreatment, released some details of the process to the media on Wednesday night.

Clarkson has slammed Quinn and authorities at Hawthorn, describing the game as a "victim" of the independent investigation, which was commissioned by the AFL in October.

The four-time Hawks premiership coach, Chris Fagan and Jason Burt were all named in an ABC report last September that detailed alleged mistreatment of Indigenous players at Hawthorn between 2008 and 2016.

All deny any wrongdoing.

The three men are yet to be given an official right to respond to the allegations, either through the initial review conducted at Hawthorn by Phil Egan or the independent review commissioned by the AFL.

"It's just extraordinary that we've waited eight months, the game is the victim of this," Clarkson said at Arden St on Thursday.

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"The game has been shamed, obviously myself, Fages and Jason, our families have been shamed.

"The Indigenous and First Nations families, they've been shamed.

"And there's one particular party out there that was the catalyst for all this that haven't been investigated at all; their governance and conduct in this whole thing, the Hawthorn Football Club, just shameful.

"Let's do an investigation on them and their practices and see how they go."

Clarkson questioned why Quinn, who chairs the panel commissioned by the AFL to investigate the bombshell claims, spoke to The Age this week.

The AFL initially hoped the independent investigation would report its findings last December, but Quinn has given no indication as to when that might happen.

"The guy (Quinn) who actually establishes the protocol around confidentiality actually breaches," Clarkson said.

"The damage is done, reputations have been scarred and we've got to somehow just claw our reputations back through this whole process.

Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan ahead of Hawthorn's clash with Brisbane in round 22, 2015. Picture: AFL Photos

"And all we want is a fair platform to be able to do that.

"Once we get that opportunity then we'll let the judge decide.

"That will either be a court of law or the court of public opinion.

"We've waited for eight months to get some sort of process going in terms of what you call procedural fairness in terms of the legal game, and the procedural fairness offered to myself, Fages and Jason has been next to zero and that's particularly frustrating."