New North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has returned to Melbourne and is looking forward to telling his side of the story in the AFL’s Hawthorn racism saga.
But the four-time Hawks premiership coach remains unclear when he will officially start at the Kangaroos.
Terms of reference for the independent investigation into the allegations by former Hawthorn players were released by the AFL last Thursday, with senior lawyer Bernard Quinn KC appointed on October 4 to lead the four-person panel.
Initial statements are due on November 4.
The investigation will include mediation if needed and the league is projecting it will end in December, with the resulting report to be made public.
Clarkson has just returned from Scotland, where he spent time with Celtic soccer boss Ange Postecoglou, and welcomed receiving more details on the investigation.
“Yeah, it’s taken a bit of time to get through that (finalising the terms of reference),” Clarkson told the Nine Network.
“At least we’ve got a platform now from which we can get a chance to tell our side of the story.”
The claims centre on Clarkson’s time at Hawthorn with his then-football manager Chris Fagan and former welfare manager Jason Burt also named in an ABC report alleging racist behaviour at the Hawks.
Clarkson, Burt and Fagan, who has taken leave from his role as the Brisbane Lions coach, deny any wrongdoing.
“Fages (Chris Fagan), myself and Jason (Burt) have been through a tough time over the last four weeks,” Clarkson said.
“I’m just pleased that they’ve been able to identify a platform in which we can reveal some of the truth behind this and then we get onto it.
“The bottom line is our most significant commitment that we need to address in the next little while is obviously the investigation.
“Fages, Jase and myself always said right from the get-go that we’d co-operate fully with whatever the AFL put in place.”
If the investigation finds anyone should be subject to a discipline process, that would be a separate process under AFL rules.
There is still doubt over whether the parties that contributed to Hawthorn’s cultural safety review will take part in the AFL’s investigation.
Clarkson’s initial start date at North Melbourne was November 1, but that was due to be pushed back and he wouldn’t be drawn on his next steps.
“I just need to speak with our lawyers and also the AFL and the club,” he said.
“If somewhere along the line we get the opportunity to return to work, then that would be great as well but our priority is to make sure that we co-operate fully with the investigation.”
