Alastair Clarkson has confirmed he has spoken personally with Stephen Coniglio, while stressing Hawthorn do not know the AFL free agent’s intentions.
The gun GWS midfielder will be one of the post-season’s big stories, with Hawthorn and Carlton vying for his signature if he decides to leave the Giants.
Amid the rampant speculation over Coniglio’s future, Clarkson said he has no problem with waiting until the Giants have ended their season before the onballer decides.
“I’ve spoken to him, yeah, but not as much as Graham Wright and our (recruiting) group have,” Clarkson told AFL360.
“I genuinely don’t know.
“This sounds peculiar, but the preference of all coaches is that players would stay at their club.
“Our only attitude to it is if he decides to leave GWS, we’d like to be at the front of the queue … but we’re not trying to actually get a crowbar and pull him out.”
Clarkson feels there is no need for a star such as Coniglio to confirm his future now.
“It’s disrespectful to their clubs and teammates and that sort of stuff,” he said.
“There’s plenty of time post-season … we can all wait.”
While Clarkson was in Sydney on Monday morning, he said it was on a recruiting mission for off-field staff and not to lure Coniglio.
“It’s feverish what goes on behind the scenes – the poaching of staff is significant,” Clarkson said.
The day after Jarryd Roughead kicked six goals against Gold Coast in what was billed as his farewell game, Clarkson said he is unsure whether the former captain will go around again in the Saturday night game against West Coast.
Complicating the issue fellow key forward Mitch Lewis missed the Suns game with a shoulder injury.
“We’ll see how that all unfolds this week,” Clarkson said.
“We need to speak to Rough too, because after (Sunday) … he said ‘I’m cooked, I’m done, this is the best way to finish’.
“So he might not want to play either – we need to have that discussion and we’ll have that tomorrow.
“We’re still a very, very faint chance of getting there (top eight), so all that will come into the mix.”