A COMBINATION of wanting to help people and having a love for football has inspired Brendon Bolton on his journey to being the interim coach of the reigning AFL premiers.
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The self-described ``country boy from Tassie'' and qualified teacher will be in the Hawthorn hot seat for the next few weeks after two-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson was struck down with Guillain-Barr?aacé syndrome, an inflammation of the nerves around the spinal cord.
Speaking 24 hours after his sudden appointment, the 35-year-old former Northern Bomber premiership player said he believed the fact that he had started coaching at the age of 24 at North Hobart would hold him good stead.
Originally from Pipers River near George Town, Bolton is Hawthorn's longest-serving assistant, having been at the club for six years, and usually looks after the forwards.
He has also coached Clarence, was the interim boss at the Tassie Devils and was in control of Box Hill, Hawthorn's VFL affiliate.
Bolton said the experience in the Hawks' coaching group of Luke Beveridge, former Carlton coach Brett Ratten and Cameron Bruce would ensure that the only difference would be that there was one less person present.
Another experienced head, his mentor and former Tassie Mariners coach, Hawthorn football operations manager Chris Fagan, will also be on hand to offer support.
``Adam Yze has been our development coach this year and has worked with our forwards a little this year and last year, so he can step into my position quite easily.
``Ultimately you just need someone who can have the final say on some on the decisions that we throw around, and that will be my role in the coming weeks.
``We (myself and the players) will share each other's expectations of what they want from me and what I expect from them and that won't be too complex - more about making sure we keep the processes we've got in place running smoothly.
``I was running training a lot and looking at the review processes with the team, so they are familiar with my voice.
``All it will really be will be different voices filling different timeslots.''
But he wants it to be a short stint, hopeful Clarkson will be back on deck sooner rather than later.
Having had a taste of it against North Melbourne at Aurora Stadium in the NAB Challenge, Bolton's next assignment will be against Greater Western Sydney at the MCG on Sunday, before returning to Launceston to take on West Coast the following Saturday.
