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If the rise of West Coast and the Western Bulldogs this year has taught us anything, it’s that an Alastair Clarkson apprenticeship is the best in the business.
As such, Carlton simply cannot overlook Brendon Bolton for the senior coaching position at the club for 2016.
The Blues need only look to the success of the Clarkson alumni.
Adam Simpson and Luke Beveridge are arguably the front-runners for coach of the year, despite Ross Lyon’s Fremantle sitting two games clear of the pack.
Why? Fremantle has been building for years. The Bulldogs and Eagles, however, have taken us all by surprise.
The former was a basket-case in the off-season. The Dogs lost their captain and their coach in the same week, sparking talk of disharmony among the playing group. And their chief executive, Simon Garlick, didn’t waste much time in following Brendan McCartney and Ryan Griffen out the door.
While the Eagles’ off-season was less tumultuous, few punters considered them a realistic finals prospect after they finished ninth in 2014. This sentiment was compounded early on in the season, after a string of season-ending injuries decimated their back-line.
But with finals just over a month away, both teams from their respective ‘wests’ are not only in the finals hunt, but loom as dark horses for the premiership.
So how have two supposedly mediocre teams not only taken the competition by storm, but now look like certainties to bat deep into September?
The common denominator is Alastair Clarkson.
Clarkson is currently producing as much talent as the IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy.
Is it any wonder Brendon Bolton was so seamlessly able to replace his mentor at the helm when Clarkson fell ill last year? Bolton’s ability to lead Hawthorn at such short notice was symptomatic of the Clarkson philosophy of one man in, one man out.
For Clarkson, personnel is important, but over-reliance on one person is not.
That’s one reason West Coast, in the absence of best and fairest winner Eric MacKenzie and fellow defender Mitch Brown, has been so successful this year. And they’re not alone.
The Western Bulldogs, too, have shown they are more than capable of taking on the Clarkson blueprint. The spread of goal-kickers at the Dogs over the fortnight has shown up even that of Hawthorn.
Apprentice turned master? Perhaps not yet, but Beverdige has certainly stamped his own authority on the Clarkson game plan.
It would be folly for Carlton to rush into a decision on hiring their new coach. But it would be worse to overlook Bolton, a ready-made coach who has attended the best coaching academy of the last decade.
Clarkson’s success has bred success, manifested in the rise of the Eagles and the Western Bulldogs this year. We only need look at the recent Clarkson alumni to see why.
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