Sportsbet's Rich Hummerston said former Docker Justin Longmuir was still the best backed to coach Fremantle in 2020 but a flood of money had come for Clarkson. "We had 'Clarko' at $34 on August 22 but since then a steady flow of cash," he said. The signs are there that Alastair Clarkson could be coming west to coach the Dockers from 2020. Credit:Joe Armao Fremantle pulled off the biggest coaching coup in recent AFL history when it lured Ross Lyon from St Kilda at the end of 2011, when the former coach used a get-out clause in his Saints contract. It stunned the football world then but was a game-changer in AFL loyalty for coaches and players pondering greener pastures.

The regime may be different now at the Dockers, with chief executive Steve Rosich and Lyon gone, but in their place is Peter Bell, the football operations boss who is a clever and crafty operator. So let's indulge for a minute in why we think the scuttlebutt is not beyond the realms of possibility. Ruthless Fremantle

Fremantle kept Lyon's appointment under wraps until they announced it to a stunned press conference in Perth. Ditto his sacking. Rare feats indeed these days. They are masters of secrecy. Port Coogee

The plush new oceanside suburb is only a few drop punts from Fremantle's purpose-built training base in Cockburn. Enough said. Brendon Bolton

Bolton was sacked by Carlton this year after serving as Clarkson's right-hand man at the Hawks from 2009-2015. He took the senior reins in 2014 for five unbeaten games when the coach fell ill and just two weeks ago was appointed director of coaching, back at Hawthorn, an odd appointment given Clarkson's seniority and stature, unless a rookie is waiting in the wings to coach the Hawks....

Sam Mitchell

... and that rookie would be Mitchell, Hawks premiership captain and legend, AFL coach-in-waiting. Bolton's new role suggests he's there to mentor a first-year coach. Favourite son Mitchell played 305 games for the Hawks. He cut short a four-year contract as an assistant coach with West Coast two years early to return home at the end of 2018, when he was in high demand before accepting an assistant coaching role from Clarkson at Hawthorn. Loading Jeff Kennett

The outspoken Hawthorn president (and ex-Victorian premier) clashes often with Alastair Clarkson. In 2013 he called for him to be sacked, despite the latter taking the Hawks to the premiership that season and in 2008 (under Kennett's presidency). In 2017, he questioned if Clarkson was the right man to coach the Hawks. In 2018, while president again, he went on record saying "a leadership position should be occupied between between six and nine years" in relation to Clarkson's tenure at the club. A "happy team" these two indeed are not at Hawthorn. Reinventing himself

Clarkson joined Hawthorn in 2005, developing a list in quick time that won a shock premiership by 2008. Two relatively lean years followed, but Clarkson reinvigorated the squad and by 2011 had the Hawks primed, coaching them to four consecutive grand finals from 2012-2015. An end-of-an-era rebuild loomed but Clarko steered the Hawks back to fourth in 2018 and had his contract extended by three years until the end of 2022. Sound familiar?

He guided Hawthorn to the brink of finals again this season after defeating West Coast in Perth in a barnstorming finish to 2019. But another source within the Dockers told us this week good AFL coaches often want to reinvent themselves. Ross Lyon did the very same thing when he left St Kilda - as its most successful coach ever - to take on the challenge of leading Fremantle, and there's been countless others before and since. Clarkson is a driven and determined coach, always analysing changes in the modern game, from playing styles to personnel. A reinvention at the Fremantle Football Club is a perfect fit for the mastermind coach. And so is this Christmas for Freo fans? We know what Clarkson has done for the culture at Hawthorn. They are widely and proudly known as the "family club". We know Dockers president Dale Alcock craves a culture change at the club. He said as much at the press conference announcing the departure of Lyon and Rosich. We know Clarkson can squeeze every last bit of talent, and then some, from every one of the 44-odd players on an AFL list. We know Fremantle have struggled to do this, even on a much smaller scale.