Australian Football League Hawthorn Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson "has called for sweeping reforms to the AFL coaching ranks to block any repeat of the Essendon supplements scandal which he said had been allowed to 'ambush' the game," according to Caroline Wilson of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.
Revealing his "severe disappointment at Essendon and regretting that he and other senior coaches had not communicated their dismay to James Hird when it could have made a difference," Clarkson said that "it was wrong to assume that other senior coaches felt Hird had been harshly treated by the AFL." Clarkson: "We need to ensure [the Essendon supplements scandal] never happens in our game again. What have we learned? What have coaches learned about their obligations and responsibilities to young men? What have clubs learned? What have junior coaches learned? Hirdy [James Hird] needs accreditation to coach under nines but not an AFL footy team. It really concerns me that the game doesn't protect itself in the way, say, the teaching industry does" (SMH, 2/18).
