WHEN Alastair Clarkson speaks about Hawthorn, he does so with passion and a hunger to succeed.

So when he speaks about his time at the helm – having coached his 200^th game on Friday night, it’s with a great deal of modesty as he reflects on a world he believes is much bigger than him.

Clarkson has been involved in football since 1987, when he was a midfielder at North Melbourne, coached then by Hawthorn Legend, John Kennedy Snr.

His playing days concluded at Melbourne in 1997, when he embarked on a career as a teacher at Melbourne’s Wesley College.

Little did he know at the time, however, he would be back inside the world that is AFL football in 2002, when he accepted an assistant coaching role at Port Adelaide.

It is there that he combined two of his great passions – football and teaching.

He accepted a role at Hawthorn as senior coach at the end of 2004 and nine years on, becomes just the third man to have coached the Club for 200 games, joining Kennedy Snr and Allan Jeans.

Immediately, he set about changing the culture at Hawthorn to that required of a professional football side capable of achieving the ultimate success.

Nine years and 200 games later, Hawthorn players speak fondly of the mateship and trust in which the Hawthorn culture is based.

A culture driven by Clarkson.

He is one of the AFL’s most respected and sought-after coaches because of his ability to nurture the talent of players both young and old and develop them into the best footballer and person they can be.

It is this combination of personal and football development that drives Clarkson's passion for coaching.

“I get a great kick out of helping people try to achieve their goals, particularly when it’s around a game that I love and they love,” he told hawthornfc.com.au

“Wherever there’s passion, I usually find there’s commitment and finding that passion and commitment in young people, then trying to nurture their talent to be the best footballer they can be is highly rewarding.

“I’ve also found that they can only become the best footballer they can be if they’re also the best person they can be.

“That’s why we work so heavily on the whole person, not just the fact they can play footy. We want them to be really good citizens, first and foremost.”

The Hawks coach knows though, there is no success without surrounding yourself with quality people who share and buy into the values that exist inside the inner sanctum of Hawthorn.

From long-time colleague and now Head of Coaching and Development Chris Fagan to Board Member Jason Dunstall, Clarkson knows the people of whom he has been surrounded have played a role in the success he has enjoyed as coach of the Hawks.

The support he has received he says, dates back to day one of his Hawthorn coaching career.

“There were some difficult and challenging times but I had some great support from some great Hawthorn people like Ian Dicker, Jason Dunstall, Ian Robson and the Board and the people we brought with us like Andrew Russell, Todd Viney and Damian Hardwick,” he said.

“They were people that were aligned to the same sort of philosophy for what we needed to do to get this club back on track again, particularly on field but also off field.

“We had so many people that believed in the fight and believed in the cause.”

Unsurprisingly, Clarkson is proud but modest in his reflections of the journey taken to becoming the third man to coach Hawthorn for 200 games.

But what he wants first and foremost, is an eleventh Hawthorn premiership.

“I’m enormously proud to have coached this club for the period of time that I have, but it’s just another game of footy for mine,” he said.

“It’s all about us on our pursuit of 2013 glory and this is just another game in that journey so we can have a decent crack at it at the end of the year.”