Luke Hodge remembers it like it was yesterday. The search for answers. The initial shock. The acknowledgement that change was needed.

In the tourist hotspot of Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Hawthorn players were attempting to dissect the club’s 2012 AFL grand final loss to Sydney, a result that came just a year after an agonising three-point preliminary final defeat to Collingwood.

Hodge, as fiercely proud as he is competitive, said the “chokers tag” attached to the club was burning inside him.

Coach Alastair Clarkson was seeking answers, too, and called in ‘Leading Teams’, the football industry-popular organisation focused on leadership and high performance, for what co-founder Ray McLean called an “audit”.

McLean, who has worked with sporting teams across every major code in Australia, had spent time with the Hawks before.

But as he always does, he started with a series of what he calls “pivotal early questions”, asking players how they think they are viewed by opposition sides, how they want to be perceived and what behaviours are accepted by the group that shouldn’t be.

Anyhow,if this bloke needs a whole batch of new assistants,he needs to find another job.It all flows from the senior coach,not the other way round......................puttin' the horse before the cart.

The professional AFL era demands a quality off field set up which includes the assistant coaches. Implementing player and game systems requires a team approach. Otherwise, you will get found out. Too difficult for a senior coach to carry that sort of load. Although, doesn’t mean the senior coach does not have the most important role in that set up.