Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has once again found himself in the headlines after his jibe at St Kilda counterpart and former colleague Brett Ratten.
Clarkson and Ratten exchanged barbs after Sunday’s match with the four-time premiership coach questioning the Saints’ possession tactics which enabled them to wrestle the momentum back off the Hawks after quarter-time.
Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes says Clarkson is coming across as a “whinger” and is “almost out of control” with his comments this season.
“Speaking of being gracious and humble, I didn’t see any of that,” Cornes told SEN’s Whateley.
“Firstly, St Kilda had 25 scoring shots on the day in a season where games are shortened.
“Secondly, Clarko is almost out of control with his comments at the moment.
“Every week we seem to be speaking about it from staging, being critical of opposition players, to the AFL with the holding the ball (interpretation).
“I just think, and you speak to people that know Alastair Clarkson like Luke Hodge, they would say it’s a complete deflection from the struggles of his own team and his own players.
“People are onto it - I just think it’s a terrible look for Clarko who is just coming across as a whinger.”
St Kilda got the better of the Hawks in a scrappy contest, winning by 14 points to maintain their charge towards a first finals appearance since 2011.
Gerard Whateley believes Clarkson’s criticism of Ratten and the Saints was unwarranted, given they are one of the highest scoring teams in the competition.
“He is coming across as a bad loser in the fifth quarter,” Whateley said.
“He doesn’t like losing and instead of acknowledging that it was a tight game … he was probably Brett Ratten’s biggest booster to get the St Kilda job.
“That was the curiosity, it was probably a moment to acknowledge Ratten and that they’d won their ninth (game) … and St Kilda have played one of the most attractive brands of footy holistically for the season.
“They had to win yesterday (Sunday), they did what they needed to, but they didn’t put up a miserable score, they scored 80 points.”
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