'Fully committed': Manager reveals Alastair Clarkson's plan for 2022
Alastair Clarkson's manager has revealed the outgoing Hawthorn coach has turned down approaches from a number clubs and will take a break from the AFL next year.
Clarkson has been heavily linked to Collingwood and Carlton after finishing his tenure at Hawthorn after 17 years.
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Collingwood need a replacement for Nathan Buckley, while Carlton were expected to sack David Teague if Clarkson wanted the Blues job.
But Clarkson's manager James Henderson has officially put an end to any speculation that the 53-year-old will land at another club in 2022.
"He (Clarkson) is fully committed to taking the year off to spend time with his family and to undertake further study and personal development opportunities," a statement read.
Henderson confirmed that he had received approaches from some AFL clubs this week but had not advanced any of those discussions.
Clarkson has always indicated that he would take a break next year, but there was a belief among those who knew him best that he he would struggle to be out of the competitive AFL environment for too long.
The four-time premiership winner coached his final game at Hawthorn last Saturday, a year earlier than initially planned after the Hawks' botched succession plan to Sam Mitchell.
Clarkson said that so much had changed over the last few weeks around his handover to Mitchell.
Alastair Clarkson looking forward to year away from AFL
But his comments over the weekend also made it clear that it will take the mother of all pitches from an AFL club to change his mind.
"Unfortunately, whatever's been said in the last three or four weeks, it hasn't ended up materialising in the following couple of days," he said.
"It's difficult to say.
"But ... my intention is to have a spell from the game."
Clarkson said is keen to spend time weighing up his options about what comes next.
"To be fair, I'd like to just spend the next 12 months working out what the next chapter is," he said.
"I've said all along, that chapter might be inside of footy, outside of footy, inside the AFL or outside the AFL.
"It might be inside Australia or outside Australia - I don't really know.
"This affords me a great opportunity to have a look at what else is out there and we're going to take the time to do that."
Clarkson and Richmond counterpart Damien Hardwick also endorsed assistant coaches Craig McRae and Adam Kingsley as candidates for the Collingwood senior coaching role.
with AAP
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