NEXT time Clarko, take the team bus.

It might be a gorgeous walk from Adelaide Oval to the team hotel, across the new footbridge over the River Torrens, but late on a Saturday night, with the locals at fever pitch after a great night at the footy, it is not the time or place for Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson to take a gentle stroll.

You can understand why he and football manager Chris Fagan wanted time and space to talk things over.

At 2-2, the Hawks' season is teetering ever so slightly with four key defenders – Brian Lake, Matt Spangher, James Frawley and rookie Kaiden Brand – on the sidelines. They are getting beaten despite a 79-43 edge in inside 50s (an AFL record for a losing team) and their first quarters have been dreadful, so there is a bit to discuss.

But if you know the centre of Adelaide at all, the AFL-accredited hotel is located on North Terrace, almost across the road from the casino and just a few hundred metres from Adelaide Oval.

The joint would have been jumping with pumped-up and well-lubricated Power fans, and Clarkson's altercation with three Port supporters was an accident waiting to happen.

It's a complex situation. There is ample security for coaches at match venues, but should that extend to team hotels? And who pays?

We like the fact that our game still has a degree of accessibility. Go to the US or to Europe and you'd be lucky to get in the same area code as the hotels where professional sporting teams play.

Clarkson had plenty of support on social media on Sunday. The video that did him in in the first place served to garner him more sympathy and support.

But the problem for Clarkson is that he continues to get tarnished with the 'angry' brush. He is the best coach in the AFL but to some, there will always be the "yeah, but" rider. There was the argument at a junior footy match, punching the hole in the wall of the MCG coach's box, and run-ins with journalists including AFL Media colleague Matt Thompson.

Some of these episodes were of his own doing; others were not. But they are great fodder for tabloid, non-AFL journalists who don't give a fig about the countless hours he spends doing charity work and in game development. The 'Hawks in crisis' headlines were already out and about on Sunday afternoon.

Clarkson will put this behind him quickly enough. He and his club played it well on Sunday, getting on both the Fox Footy and Channel Seven match broadcasts and giving his version of events and he presented well in both instances.

But what was annoying for Clarkson is that he was forced to waste a day dealing with all this, rather than be where his footy club needed him to be – at Simonds Stadium running a careful eye over North Melbourne, the team the Hawks didn't beat last year and who they meet at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

And where, thankfully, he can park his car about 10 metres from the change rooms and not have to deal with any riff-raff on his way there.

There's a reason the Dockers are the last unbeaten team

Thanks to the staggered starting and finishing times by virtue of the Anzac Day fixture, those fortunate enough to have a TV and one of an AFL Live Pass or a Foxtel subscription were able to witness reasonable parts of two magnificent games of football.

Port Adelaide put the defending champs to the sword to lead by 51 points at half-time. The final margin? Seven points.

Fremantle led the Sydney Swans by eight goals at half-time, having held the visitors to 1.3 in the process. The final margin? A nervy 14 points after the Swans drew to within less than a kick midway through the final term.

We'll get to Port in a bit, but for the Dockers this was a massive result. They're 4-0 with wins over Port Adelaide, Geelong and the Swans already in the bank. They still have difficult games on the slate, particularly Adelaide and the Power both away and Hawthorn in Tasmania, but there is a fair argument that their most difficult stretch of the season is done for and they've come through in brilliant shape.

Ross Lyon took a punt this pre-season, using the extra time afforded by the delayed start to the season to flog his players through the summer. No player was spared in the push to start the season 4-0 and with the draw starting to open up (the Crows at Adelaide Oval in round nine shapes as its next toughest game) Freo now has a realistic shot of getting to the halfway mark of the season with 10 or so wins. That would leave it on track for two home finals and coach Ross Lyon in a position to start rotating his squad, particularly the evergreens Matthew Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands and Luke McPharlin through the second half of the year, perhaps spare them from a couple of road trips and have them cherry ripe for the finals.

Thank God for Carlton

Blues coach Mick Malthouse celebrates a pretty special milestone on Friday night when he breaks Jock McHale's record and coaches his 715th AFL game.

And thanks to Carlton's win over St Kilda on Saturday, it will be a celebration, rather than a referendum on whether he should remain coach of the Blues going forward.

If Mick embraces the excitement even just a little bit, then it should be a great week leading up to the clash with Collingwood, the opponent Malthouse hand-picked for this clash.

The lead-up to the first Blues-Magpies game of the season always carries some excitement. The Saints aren't much chop but there was a bit to like from the Blues, with Lachie Henderson's five goals, four from Tom Bell and the sublime form of Marc Murphy and Patrick Cripps.

And just quietly (if there is such a thing with the Magpies) Collingwood's season is taking shape nicely. Malthouse was famously attached to his player group at Collingwood, calling them "his boys" and there will still be some emotion on Friday night.

But by the week, it is becoming more apparent that Nathan Buckley is building a team that plays how he wants it – hard and team-oriented. The performances of Paul Seedsman, Jack Frost, Jack Crisp were superb given the occasion and the impression leaving the MCG afterwards remains that Collingwood's list build is fundamentally sound. Buckley is building depth in most parts of the ground and while there will be ebbs and flows this season given the inexperience in the squad, the foundations for success down the track appear to be in place.