show me:

McVeigh backs Giants bid to lure Clarkson

3 minute read

GWS caretaker coach Mark McVeigh says he fully supports the AFL club's chase of Alastair Clarkson to become their next head coach.

MARK MCVEIGH. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images

GWS caretaker Mark McVeigh fully supports the Giants' aggressive pitch to lure Alastair Clarkson as the next coach of the AFL club.

McVeigh covets the Giant's head coaching position but understands the job is Clarkson's - if he wants it.

GWS hierarchy have met with the four-time Hawthorn premiership coach about taking over but Clarkson is yet to signal his intentions.

"I know and I understand that if Alastair Clarkson says I want to come to the Giants, I know I am up against it," McVeigh told reporters on Thursday.

"That's the way it should be. He has been an incredible coach for a long period of time and I respect that.

"I look at Alastair Clarkson from afar, you respect him so much because of what he has been able to do.

"And ultimately it will come down to, I suggest, what he would like to do, where he wants to go. And he has earnt that right."

McVeigh said GWS officials had kept him abreast of their meeting with Clarkson, who is currently spending a year away from the AFL.

"The communication has been absolutely upfront with me," McVeigh said.

"I knew this was happening and so they should - why would you not go and talk to Alastair Clarkson about coaching your footy club?

"That's the kind of stuff that our club needs to do and I fully support that.

"I am just another coach trying to win the role ... but also respect the process of what the club needs to do going forward and talking to the best possible person out there to come in and help this club.

"I fully support that. I am not kept in the dark ... it's just the process the club will go through and they absolutely have to do it."

McVeigh has overseen three wins and three losses since taking over as interim coach following Leon Cameron's departure in May.

He has yet to make his formal presentation to the Giants.

"I bring my own set of values, they would be different to his (Clarkson's), they're different to Leon Cameron's, they're different to other assistant coaches that will go for that role," he said.

" ... But we also need to have a really strong game plan that stands up against the best teams in the competition.

"And that needs to shift and I think I can provide that, I have got my own ideas around that.

"I will present to the footy club and I will talk to them about that, whether that is good enough, we will wait and see."