North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has responded to a bombshell report by the ABC alleging shocking instances of Hawthorn’s treatment of Indigenous players during his time as coach.

Clarkson and Brisbane coach Chris Fagan, an assistant coach and general manager of football under Clarkson at the Hawks, were named in the article by journalist Russell Jackson, and accused of being involved in concerning details released in a club-wide external review.

The review reportedly found details of key figures at the club, including Clarkson and Fagan, bullying First Nations players, changing their phone numbers and pushing one player towards making his partner terminate a pregnancy, among other incidents.

Clarkson released a statement denying the allegations. However, he and North Melbourne have agree to delay his appointed start as senior coach until an AFL investigation concludes.

“The health, care and welfare of our players, staff and their families were always my highest priorities during my time at the Hawthorn Football Club,” the statement reads.

“I was therefore shocked by the extremely serious allegations reported in the media earlier today. I was not interviewed by the authors of the report commissioned by the Club, and nor have I been provided with a copy of the report.

“I was not afforded any due process and I refute any allegation of wrongdoing or misconduct and look forward to the opportunity to be heard as part of the AFL external investigation.

“I have today contacted the President of North Melbourne Football Club and we have mutually agreed that I will step back from my responsibilities at the Club so I can fully cooperate in the investigation.

“As the matters are now subject to an investigation, I will not make any further comment at this stage.”

The Lions released a statement on Wednesday afternoon confirming that Fagan will take a leave of absence while an official AFL investigation is undertaken.

“The Brisbane Lions are aware Senior Coach Chris Fagan will work with the AFL on an investigation into allegations concerning historical events at the Hawthorn Football Club, where he was a former employee,” the statement reads.

“Chris supports and welcomes the investigation. 

“He was not consulted during the Hawthorn sponsored review and looks forward to the opportunity to be heard as part of the AFL investigation.

“The Brisbane Lions and Chris have mutually agreed that he will take a leave of absence from the Club so he can fully cooperate in the investigation.

“As the matters are now with the AFL Integrity Unit, the Brisbane Lions won’t make any further comment at this stage.”

Speaking to media on Wednesday morning, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan described the allegations ‘challenging, harrowing and disturbing’.

“I acknowledge the hurt, the anger and the grief of people who have shared their experiences and told their stories and all of those impacted,” McLachlan said.

“I want to say to the women and the partners and also the players who have shared their stories that our first priority is to you, and to provide the care and the support that you need.

“You have been heard, and as a sport and a community, we will do our best to wrap our arms around you in support.

“It is important that we continue to communicate with you and to you.

“Your welfare is the most pressing priority for us because I know that sharing these stories is not easy, but it is important that you do, and they want to thank you all who have shared their experiences as part of this review.”

McLachlan went on to confirm the league will appoint an external panel to investigate the report’s findings, and ensure ‘natural justice’ is served.

“These are serious allegations. It is important that we treat them appropriately while also ensuring a formal process provides support to those impacted and also natural justice to those people who are accused,” he said.

“This is a process that is appropriate, that is held independent of a normal AFL integrity department response.

“As such, we are appointing an external independent panel that will be made up of four people, led by an eminent king’s counsel.

“The independent panel, that we will finalise over the next 24 hours, will be appropriately skilled, have the right mix of diversity and an approach that prioritises cultural safety for all those who have shared their experiences.

“We need to run a proper investigation to get to the bottom of it and this is important, out of respect for those making the allegations and out of respect for those being accused.

“We need to provide natural justice and allow the process to go on, but we will seek to have the panel in place and work with the Hawthorn football club to develop the report of the players and partners involved to engage with them, to expedite it and not extend the trauma.”

However, McLachlan also suggested the league would not look to stand down or suspend Clarkson, Fagan or the others accused by name in the report.

AFL Players Association president Paul Marsh said the organisation is ‘extremely concerned’ about the allegations.

“The AFL Players’ Association is extremely concerned about the details of the report relating to player and partner experiences while at the Hawthorn Football Club,” Marsh’s statement reads.

“We have spoken to the AFL and communicated our expectations that an independent investigation must be conducted. It should also be well-resourced and wide-ranging in scope.

“In the meantime, the affected players and partners will continue to have the full support of the AFLPA through our various programs and services. These services will also be reinforced to all members of the AFLPA.”

WARNING: This story contains details of intergenerational trauma for Indigenous people, incidents of pregnancy loss and self-harm.

During the period the review focused on, the Hawks had more than 20 First Nations players at the club, with many interviewed as part of the review.

Former great Cyril Rioli made allegations earlier this year that a string of racist incidents with officials at the Hawks, including president Jeff Kennett, saw him retire from the game at just 28.

One player, whose name has been changed to ‘Ian’, told ABC Sport that Clarkson had urged him to convince his partner to terminate her pregnancy and then break up with her, in an ‘intimidating, confusing and upsetting’ meeting.

“Clarkson just leaned over me and demanded that I needed to get rid of my unborn child and my partner,” Ian said.

“I was then manipulated and convinced to remove my SIM card from my phone, so there was no further contact between my family and me. They told me I’d be living with one of the other coaches from that night onwards.

“He told me to kill my unborn kid.”

Partner ‘Amy’ recounted a meeting between her and senior Hawks officials, including player development manager Jason Burt, during which she alleges their concerns stemmed from Amy’s father being ‘a threat’ to Ian, and refused to allow her to make contact with him.

“For the whole week Jason had repeatedly told me that Ian had made these decisions on his own, but I knew there was more to it,” Amy said.

“Burt actually confirmed my thoughts when he said Hawthorn had decided it was better for Ian’s footy career if he didn’t become a father. He was already a father!

“I had asked for Ian to be present at this meeting because this was about something that would affect his whole life, not just his footy career but they kept him away. I knew then that the club had something to do with Ian’s phone call to me.

“They didn’t care. They just wanted him to move on from his family and focus on football. Burt said that from then on, I needed to contact him with anything relating to the pregnancy. I felt so alone.

“These people had no idea who he was, who I was, what sort of family we were. They just judged us and broke us apart.”

With Ian only permitted by the club to reunite with his family after five months, during which his mental health had withered, Amy alleges the Hawks forced the pair to move to a suburb ‘more in keeping with Hawthorn’s image’.

“I just wanted to keep my family together and for Ian to live his dream of playing AFL footy. But it meant moving away from family support at a very stressful time,” she said.

While the couple would have their child, when Amy fell pregnant again six months later, she made the heartbreaking decision to terminate the pregnancy.

“Hawthorn says it‘s the family club. Yet they tore ours apart,” she said.

The ABC report also features the accounts of two other players, referred to as ‘Zac’ and ‘Liam’, who were also forced by the Hawks to sever ties with their families.

‘Zac’ alleges the club told him that partner Kylie was ‘holding him back from progressing his career’ and urged him to end the relationship. Kylie was seven weeks pregnant at the time.

A meeting with the pair and Clarkson, Fagan and Burt at the couple’s house then ensued, during which Clarkson informed Kylie the relationship was over and Zac would be collecting his belonging and leaving.

Clarkson then ‘ordered Zac out of the house empty-handed’, then told Zac ‘Great work mate, you’ve done the right thing’.

A few weeks later, Kylie would suffer a miscarriage. Burt would flippantly tell Zac the news at training.

Zac would depart Hawthorn and reunite with Kylie at the end of the year.

Liam recounts that the Hawks would only allow partner Jacqui and their young child to visit him in Melbourne after four months. When he told the club that they would be permanently relocating, the club would first only allow her to stay for ten days, and then told Liam he had ‘failed a test’ by putting his family before his footballing career.

Former Hawks great Luke Hodge, who captained the club under Clarkson from 2010-2016, said the allegations ‘dampen… what we went through as a group’ in winning four premierships.

“I’ve only had [the story] for about an hour. I’m still a bit unsure of my thought process,” Hodge said on SEN. It’s a shock to the system reading some of the things that were alleged in that.

“It’s shocking. Terrible. But you sit back and does it dampen… what we went through as a group.

“We had a lot of successful years, but at this stage that’s irrelevant because of what young blokes were told or what they were put through.

“When you get drafted by a football club, it’s supposed to be an exciting time of your life. It’s supposed to be ‘my life has changed, now I have a pathway for the next 10 to 15 years hopefully’. That’s not what happened with these young kids.”

Hodge claimed he never knew about the ‘terrible stuff’ detailed in the report, but admitted he had been involved in conversations with young players at the club concerning their professionalism and adjustment to the highest level.

“When you have 18, 19, 20-year-old kids getting drafted, you always hear about break ups and whether it’s the right thing,” he said.

“Personally, I’ve had a lot of private conversations with those guys, especially early on… it was ‘is it the right thing for me to go back and see family and friends in Colac because of catching up, and my diet wasn’t great, and is it the best thing for my football’.

“So those conversations are had every day in big groups and small groups and conversations, but I’ve never heard anything to the extent of what was written in the article.”

Hodge said he hopes the players involved feel ‘supported’ after coming forward.

“The first thing is ‘who are the players, can you touch base with them’, but the reason they were put under aliases was because they want to be protected,” Hodge said.

“They don’t want everyone talking about them or going up to them. They’re hurting in private.

“At least now they’ve got a voice out there and hopefully a few people can chat with them and they can feel that they are supported.”

The Hawks are alleged to have only offered some of the families affected by the report assistance after discovering the ABC’s investigation.

It took until the morning the findings were published that the Hawks finally made public comment.

“Earlier this year the Hawthorn Football Club engaged external First Nations consultants to liaise with current and former First Nations players and staff to learn more about their experience at the club,” the statement reads.

“This important work has raised disturbing historical allegations that require further investigation. Upon learning of these allegations, the club immediately engaged AFL Integrity as is appropriate.

“The club will continue to provide support to those who have participated in this process, and their wellbeing remains our priority.

“While the process indicated the current environment at the club is culturally safe, it also recommended that some of the club’s current First Nations training and development programs should continue to be strengthened.

“The club places the best interests and welfare of our players and staff as our number one priority. 

“Given the matters raised are confidential, the club will not provide any further comment at this time.”

The report comes after Hawks great Rioli’s claim earlier this year that a series of racist incidents during his time at the club, including an encounter with president Jeff Kennett, ended his relationship with the club at which he won four premierships and the 2015 Norm Smith Medal.

“I wouldn’t go back to Hawthorn after what’s gone on,” Rioli told The Age.

“It’s the only club I wouldn’t put my hand up for right now.”