It has been an eventful off-season at Hawthorn to say the least.
Jon Patton was stood down for allegedly sending lewd photos to women on social media before being admitted to hospital to manage his mental health.
Tom Scully stepped away from the club to address his own personal problems before announcing his retirement earlier this week.
Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson has spoken out on both players' situations on SEN radio, stating Scully was "cooked" and simply had nothing left to give to the game at the highest level.
โAs I was thinking about it this morning knowing I was probably going to get asked that question by you two this morning, your journey struck me as one that was pretty similar to Tomโs, Tim (Watson),โ he told SEN Breakfastย this morning.
โYou both started your footy journey in terms of professionalism at a young age.
โTom didnโt get drafted until he was 18, but if you actually know the lad and his family, youโd probably know he started preparing to be an AFL footballer when he was about 10 or 12 years of age.
โMost players in terms of the professionalism of the game really crank it up when theyโre 17 or 18, so by the time (Scully) gets to 29, a little bit similar to by the time you (Watson) got to 30 or thereabouts, heโs just cooked.
โCooked in terms of, whether he comes back like (Watson) did Iโm not too sure, I donโt think that would be the case, but he just got to the end of last year, now last year for all of us was a time of reflection and perspective and talk about that slogan โexpect the unexpectedโ โฆ youโve just got to work your way through these challenges and come out the other side better people, but it certainly has been a time of reflection just to work out what are the important priorities in life.
โTom has gone through that process and weโve worked with him closely over the last six to eight weeks to come to the conclusion that his passion just isnโt in it.
โIn this caper you have to be 100 per cent (in) and especially Tom, heโs all-in or all-out and unfortunately it had to be all-out because he couldnโt commit himself to what was required to continue on with the game.โ
On Patton, the four-time premiership coach said the outcome of the investigation into him sending inappropriate messages to women on dating apps would be chief.
However, Clarkson said it was important to take allow Paton to step back and for all the information to be gathered before jumping to conclusions.
โ(His future,) thatโll be determined by the result of the investigation. All we would say is these situations from time to time pop up and when thereโs an investigation that takes place, we just let that unfold,โ Clarkson said.
โIn the meantime, because these are young men and because of AFL football, theyโre sheltered from the real world, and what they have to endure as young men, theyโre not equipped with the coping strategies and thatโs been the case with Patton, whoโs found himself on the front page of the paper.
โNow the investigation will determine right or wrong, but the scrutiny that some of these footballers are under, heโs found himself in a space where he just needed some time away to reflect.
โThe investigation will unfold and weโre working with Paul Connors and his management just to make sure his wellbeing because when the scrutiny comes like this, I remember when Luke Hodge got done for a DUI right on the eve of the 2015 finals series, the calls from the football public that he should get sacked as captain and should be stood down and all sorts of things, youโve just got to slow down and take a breath.
โLetโs absorb all the information coming our way, let the authorities make the decision and in Hodgeโs decision it was the law, we didnโt need to impose any other penalties, it was the law that imposed the penalty.
โThen thereโs the public scrutiny and in a lot of instances, I think thatโs enough punishment for anyone. With the Patton situation, itโs the public scrutiny that gets them more than anything else.โ
The Hawks will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2020 season where they finished with just five wins to sit 15th on the ladder.
They face North Melbourne at UTAS Stadium on Saturday March 6 in their sole pre-season game.
