Alistair Clarkson is officially entering the twilight of his coaching career. That is at Hawthorn at least.
Clarkson will hand over the keys to assistant coach and former player Sam Mitchell at the end of 2022. No future role has been identified for Clarkson beyond that point.
The master coach has long been linked with a move to Carlton who are currently conducting an external review of their entire football department including the position of head coach David Teague.
North Melbourne offered Clarkson a monster deal at the end of 2020 but he declined. There also remains a vacancy at Collingwood should Clarko want to take a new head coaching role before 2023.
Clarkson has reiterated that he will be remaining at Hawthorn until his contract expires but we have seen this move before. Mick Malthouse said he'd be a coaching director when succeeded by Nathan Buckley at the end of 2011 before he walked away from the role.
With that in mind we take a look at some of the best possible landing spots for the four-time premiership coach.
The Blues may or may not part with David Teague at the end of the external review being undertaken at the club. If they don't, you feel that Alistair Clarkson being available may be the straw that breaks the back on Teague's tenure.
Carlton have long been prone to bringing in the "Godfather" figure to fix everything. Look no further than Mick Malthouse, Chris Judd, Dennis Pagan and Ron Barassi.
Some of these have been complete disasters, none more so than Malthouse who came to the Blues after being on the exiting end of a succession plan, just like Clarkson. However, Clarkson won't have the point to prove Malthouse did.
Clarkson is widely acknowledged as the greatest coach of the modern era and him going to Carlton to essentially finish the build and return them to their past glories would be very nice cherry on top of the cake.
If he takes them to flag 17 he could leave as the greatest coach of the modern era at the most successful team in league history.
Could the AFL ask a favour? Would they dare meddle? The Suns are developing but doing so slower than expected and probably slower than the AFL would like.
Could Clarkson head North and lend a hand another one of his past premiership players in Stuart Dew? It would probably take an AFL nudge but Clarkson could be the tonic many of the young Gold Coast kids need to take the next step.
He would be well suited to taking up a coaching director role and giving guidance to Dew and given he has family commitments in Melbourne he could do the role part-time. Paul Roos currently undertakes a similar role at North Melbourne.
His youngest child will still be in school in 2022 meaning the part-time schedule may be perfect for he and his family should he want to make the move.
Clarkson could help get the Suns flying while enjoying the twilight of his career between the Gold Coast and Melbourne.
The Magpies are seeking a new head-coach. And while there are no shortage of possible candidates they would be remiss not to ask the question of Clarkson. It's called doing your due diligence.
Clarkson could be tempted by the opportunity to take over the countries biggest club and turn it around after what has been a really poor 12 months both on and off-field. The board dram isn't ideal but Clarkson is no stranger to dealing with complicated boards.
He has dealt well enough with Jeff Kennett at the Hawks and while it seems apparent the duo won't be sharing a beer once Clarkson leaves Waverley Park, he never let it get in the way of him doing his job in the coaches box.
Clarkson signing for the Pies would be a great way for the Collingwood board to garner the support of the fans and members again as well.
What if, now bare with me a minute here... What if Clarko doesn't want to work anywhere else? What's to say he isn't completely happy and fulfilled with everything he has achieved in the brown and gold and wants to pursue other interests?
Footy history tells us that is rarely the case, Kevin Sheedy's run as GWS coach tells us that. But Clarkson may be happy to hand the reigns over to Mitchell and walk away into the sunset.
Or maybe Hawthorn retain him in one way or another. Coaching director is a possibility but seems unlikely to work out for all involved. But he could easily be an ambassador of the club.
It would be unlikely that if Clarko wanted to hang around in some capacity outside of the football department (or even perhaps within it) that the club wouldn't find a way to make it work.
Leon Cameron is under just a slight bit of pressure and while the club will tell you he is going no where, would that be the case if Clarkson was keen to find a new club.
GWS seemingly have a good enough list to be playing finals for the upcoming years and a new coach could be the boost a player like skipper Stephen Coniglio needs to find his best again.
However, what if Cameron is their man? That doesn't mean there isn't a place for Clarko. The master-coach could work along-side his former assistant in the heralded coaching director role which again would be well-suited to Clarkson should he not wish to move from Melbourne on a full-time basis.
Could he help Cameron take that next step and help him become a premiership coach? The Giants seem set with their current set-up but Clarkson could command plenty of attention.