Alastair Clarkson's behavioural slips over the journey have always been a backroom issue for the Hawthorn Football Club. Now it is the responsibility of both coach and club to ensure they do not become a front of mind blemish on his legacy.
On the day that followed the Hawks' first win of 2017 and only their second in nine outings, the hot topic was not the victory nor West Coast's horror run on the MCG, but instead an unedifying attack on Wayne Carey.
Clarkson's friends say Carey's radio comments on Cyril Rioli were the straw that broke the camel's back for him after so many negative articles in recent times and notably one over the weekend concerning recruit Jaeger O'Meara. But how many straws, Alastair? How many camels?
Dare we say this once again, but Clarkson is a statesman of the game, a towering figure who reduces himself when he turns to petty attacks like the personal post-match Carey barbs. Anyone who operates in an arena as public as Clarkson's has to deal with misinformation at times - and we have no idea as to the strength of Carey's Rioli mail - but that attack on Carey was not the way to handle it.
And do not for a minute believe that Clarkson was simply going into bat simply for Rioli nor for O'Meara, for that matter. The coach's public performances over the weekend were more akin to an angry cowboy wandering around a saloon in an old western, settling personal scores from his holster. By lashing out he drew attention to the negative topics and normally he would be smart enough to see that. Or at least in the past, someone close to him would have told him.
No one contacted on Monday who knew the pair as North teammates can recall any specific history between Clarkson and Carey, except to say they are very different personalities. Their skeletons are entirely different in size and subject but Clarkson does have one and it does come back to haunt him every time he's in a pickle - or behaving like one.
Clarkson is not new to targeting in a nasty way radio or TV commentators. Just ask Tom Harley - back when he was at Channel Seven and the Hawthorn coach had been incorrectly briefed - or Cameron Ling.
Even though Clarkson did not handle certain aspects of last year's trade period well - even Hawthorn colleagues believe Jordan Lewis was mismanaged by the coach - his behaviour publicly until the weekend has been impressive given he has been the one true off-field authority figure at a club bereft of true off-field leadership.
Club president Richard Garvey does not have the relationship with his coach that his predecessor Andrew Newbold did, nor the public presence, nor the firm hand. Interim CEO Tim Silvers is just that - interim - and Jason Burt could not hope to have the authority and strong support for Clarkson that came with football boss Chris Fagan's tough love. It is not being too brutal to say the club right now is largely leaderless and Clarkson is feeling a little lost. Newbold, Stuart Fox and Fagan all left before their time, all saw opportunities elsewhere and none had succession plans in place. This is not necessarily a criticism but a fact.
Perhaps it is a good thing all left when they did. Together they oversaw three straight premierships but managing Clarkson was burdensome at times and certainly took its occasional toll on Fox and Fagan. Calling time so soon after the premierships will preserve the relationships and ultimately the reunions.
But all three departures came within a 12-month period as Hawthorn works towards a highly risky and costly move to a currently soulless satellite patch of land at Dingley along with the rebuilding of a playing list now looming as a draft and trade obstacle course.
Even allowing for the above challenges, however, what candidates sounded out for the role of chief executive have been struck by most is the focus on Clarkson and how they would handle him. The leaderless Hawks have stuck to their guns in their process for a new CEO and have insisted a replacement for Fox will be installed or at least selected this week.
That is close to five months after Fox told the board he was quitting to oversee the Melbourne Cricket Club. And two months after they could not guarantee Mark Evans the job and lost him to the Gold Coast. What Clarkson and Hawthorn would give for Evans' counsel right now. And in turn the experienced premiership players in the team desperately searching to regain their hunger.
Clarkson needed someone wise at his side on Sunday to counsel him not to concern himself with the peripheral nature of the AFL merry-go-round. To tell him his players didn't need it and it would be a selfish and unattractive thing to do. Someone who would have read the signs he was warming up for one of his semi-regular tilts at a windmill.
