Unfancied by the press and club legends. Handed a two-year contract on minimal money. In charge of a team that finished 15th the season before and would then finish 14th and 11th the next two years.

Now, of course, Clarkson is deservedly considered among the best coaches of the past 25 or 30 years. He might yet write his name into the history books with a fourth straight premiership.

How he got here is a story in itself. And one that might prove instructive to Ross Lyon and Fremantle as they look to build something out of a horror start to the season.

Clarkson had the good fortune to take over a Hawks side which was just about to grab Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin inside the first five picks of the draft.

He wove the young talent, which also included Jordan Lewis, Xavier Ellis, Grant Birchall and Cyril Rioli, into a nucleus of veterans and emerging stars like Shane Crawford, Trent Croad, Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell - and snuck a premiership ahead of schedule in 2008 (when Clarko's cluster became a buzzword and the Hawks upset the Cats' apple cart).

But it's what Hawthorn has done since under Clarkson that has set him apart. You couldn't say he's rebuilt - either tactically or personnel-wise - but the retooling has been of genius level.

The Hawks' amazing knack for extracting something extra out of recruits from other clubs started with Stuart Dew and Brent Guerra, continued with David Hale and Brian Lake and goes on with James Frawley, Jack Gunston,  Josh Gibson and Shaun Burgoyne.

Several of those guys were castoffs. None cost the Hawks much. And yet all of them have developed into better players in the brown-and-gold.

When Buddy Franklin left for Sydney, everyone figured Hawthorn was gone. But instead the Hawks adapted and have dropped off only very marginally in scoring since losing a three-time Coleman medallist (while winning two more flags).

With Roughead out now indefinitely, Hawthorn is 6-2 this season with a forward line built around a tall half-forward flanker (Gunston), a couple of regular-sized flankers (Luke Breust and James Sicily) and some skillful little blokes (Paul Puopolo and Rioli).

And Clarkson continues to tweak. I'm sure Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge took some convincing that they should move out of the midfield and spend some more time across half-back.

But the result is a team that is almost completely interchangeable. Birchall spends time in the centre, even Gibson is capable of going in there and contributing.

None of this can be put entirely down to Clarkson. Assistant coaches and recruiters play significant roles - and with regards to the latter, the Hawks have proved experts at getting one player for now and one for later.

But I'm a big believer of the buck starting and stopping with the coach.

Lyon and the Dockers have already shown their liking for the Hawthorn system with the recruitment of the retired Hale and Guerra as assistant coaches.

The jury remains out on that for now but there are plenty more lessons to be learned.

Fremantle's recruiting of tried players has been abysmal. Jack Anthony, Colin Sylvia and now Harley Bennell. When Zac Dawson and Danyle Pearce are your success stories, you're clearly not getting much from elsewhere.

As the Dockers continue to eye off key position prospects from elsewhere - and, by the way, if Richmond can be in for Michael Hurley, why shouldn't Freo have a dip? - they should take a look at how the Hawks have done it.

And if none of those prospects want to head west (as historically has been the case), Lyon should think about how he can build an effective forward line without a flagship big guy...as the Hawks are doing this year minus Roughead.

Matt Taberner clearly isn't the answer for Freo. Who knows if Michael Apeness could be? But can you develop a system that has Michael Walters and Hayden Ballantyne as focal points (a la Rioli and Puopolo), while finding and developing your own versions of a Breust, Sicily and Gunston?

One of the most pressing issues Lyon faces now is one that Clarkson had in his first two years at Hawthorn: how do you sell, to players, the board and supporters, a process that involves probably losing now to win later on?

This time last week I'd have bet on Fremantle getting its first win of the season against Richmond on Saturday. After the Tigers knocked off the Swans, I'm no longer so sure.

Lyon is lucky enough to have many more runs on the board than Clarkson when he first got the job. If he needs an example of how things can suddnely turn around for the better, he only has to look as far as another Hawthorn graduate Brendan Bolton at Carlton.

It's less than a month ago that the Blues came to Perth without a win and beat the Dockers against the odds.

They've since put together another three in a row to place some short-term joy on top of the kind of long-term hope that Fremantle fans must now embrace.

Heroes of the week:
Harking back to the famous triple deadheat in the Hotham Handicap, it's a three-way tie between Jason Day (absolutely flying in world golf), Max Verstappen (an F1 winner at just 18) and Sam Lloyd (every kid's dream to kick a winning goal after the siren).

Goats:
There are times late in a close game when you just have to make the percentage play and neither Port Adelaide or Justin Westhoff got it right on the weekend. There is no way the Power should surrender a 17-point lead with four minutes to play against Carlton. As for Westhoff - when you take a mark 50 metres out with a few minutes left and the roof on at Etihad (which is effectively 40 metres out anywhere else), you need to go back and kick the goal. Not chip it up to the top of the goal square when your teammates clearly aren't expecting it.

Things that make you hmmmmmm:
For all the controversy about Adam Scott pulling out of Olympic contention and debate about whether Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios even deserved to be considered - who really thinks either tennis or golf should be at Rio?

Brad Hardie will pen his weekly AFL column for WAtoday each Tuesday morning. You can also hear him on Radio 6PR Sports Today with Karl Langdon on weeknights from 6pm to 8pm