Has Clarkson (potentially) cost Westhoff a premiership... again?

The 2014 preliminary final was a thriller.

Alastair Clarkson’s Hawthorn held off a fast-finishing, young Port Adelaide side by just three points.

Hawthorn went on to demolish Sydney in the Grand Final the following week, claiming back-to-back titles.

Playing in that preliminary final for Port Adelaide was a quietly spoken, 27-year-old with a bushy beard called Justin Westhoff.

As his hands grasped his head as the final siren blew to signal the end of the preliminary final, little did Westhoff know that this may NOT be the only time Clarkson might cost him the premiership that cruelly eluded him throughout his 14-year AFL career.

Clarkson’s stunning power over the AFL has been exposed again this week after he floated the medical sub idea in a coaches meeting with the AFL just last Thursday. A meeting where four of the 18 coahes were absent. Luke Beveridge, Damien Hardwick, Adam Simpson and Justin Longmuir couldn’t attend.

Even still, the AFL, just as they did last year when Clarkson whinged about the holding the ball adjudication, bowed to his demands and changed another rule.

There is no way Westhoff would have been encouraged to retire at the end of last season had Port Adelaide known the 23rd man medical sub would be introduced for the 2021 the season.

Westhoff is the ideal sub.

He is one of the most versatile players the game has ever seen, he’s played every position on the ground.

What a luxury it would have been for Ken Hinkley to call upon Westhoff to cover an injury knowing he is equally adept forward, back, on the wing or even in the ruck.

With many experts tipping Port Adelaide to win the premiership this year, Clarkson may have cost Westhoff a final shot at a premiership dream, again.

But it’s not only Westhoff.

Which other players, who were forced to quit last year, might have also gone on had they known what we know now?

I'm sure Geelong coach Chris Scott would have loved to inject Garry Ablett Junior with fresh legs late into the third quarter of a big game.

Would Carlton’s Kade Simpson have gone around again? Surely, he would have.

Heath Shaw made no secret of his desire to continue at the Giants? Would this have been the avenue for him to do so?

The introduction of a dramatic rule change the day before the season may have cost some players an extension on their careers and even worse, a premiership.