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Four-time AFL premiership coach Alastair Clarkson has released a second statement addressing Hawthorn's alleged mistreatment of First Nations players during his time in charge of the club.
- Clarkson first released a statement last Wednesday
- He says he is "shocked and deeply distressed" by the allegations
- The AFL is yet to announce the independent panel that will carry out the investigation
An external review commissioned by Hawthorn has alleged that Clarkson was among key figures at the club who demanded the separation of young First Nations players from their partners, and that he pressured one couple to terminate a pregnancy.
Clarkson said he would cooperate with an AFL investigation, but he was concerned that News Corp's publication of extracts from the review had undermined any chance of a fair process.
He said he wanted to emphatically express he did not behave in the manner claimed in the review.
"Since learning of the allegations first reported in the media last Wednesday I have been shocked and deeply distressed," Clarkson said in the statement.
"It remains profoundly disappointing that these matters are now being widely canvassed in the public domain without the opportunity being given to me or others to give our accounts or even read the Hawthorn report, which to this day I have not seen.
"The further recent publication of purported extracts from the report means I now have grave concerns that any chance of a fair process and just outcome have been seriously undermined, if not irrevocably corrupted.
"The failure to maintain the confidentiality of the review and further damaging public speculation means I have no option but to express publicly, in the strongest and most emphatic terms possible, that I did not behave in the manner claimed."
Clarkson said he had "always appreciated and respected the unique journeys of First Nations players into the highest echelons of Australian rules football".
"I have been committed to acknowledging and understanding their many varied experiences and brought all my efforts to ensuring these players are given the opportunity to realise their dreams," he said.
"But not at any cost, and never at the cost of their families as has been alleged. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and deeply offensive."
Clarkson said the allegations against him had been "spread widely and sometimes presented as indisputable matters of fact.
"I must state that my clear memory of the matters reported is very different."
The AFL is yet to confirm the make-up of the independent panel that will carry out the investigation.