HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson moved last week to smooth over any tensions surrounding the future of Hawks captain Jarryd Roughead.

Clarkson said he and Roughead were on “exactly the same page” after earlier telling Fox Footy the 31-year-old had “about six options in front of him” for 2019 including retiring or playing on at another club.

Herald Sun reporter Jay Clark isn’t so sure the coach and captain are seeing eye-to-eye — and has queried the timing of Clarkson’s comments in the lead-up to a qualifying final against Richmond.

“The big story here for me is Jarryd Roughead. Is there some unease around his security and his future at Hawthorn?” Clark said on this week’s episode of the SuperFooty Podcast.

“I just get the feeling that really if Roughie wants to explore a move to another club then he would have the club’s support. Now that’s sort of saying like Jordan Lewis, like Sam Mitchell, like Luke Hodge, you’re free to a good home. My gut feel is that doesn’t sit all that comfortably with Jarryd Roughead on the eve of a finals series.”

Co-host Michael Warner noted similar conversations with Lewis, Mitchell and Hodge happened after the season or when the Hawks were out of the finals race.

“Why now? Couldn’t this awkwardness have happened after they were out of the finals or have won a premiership?” he said. “It’s unusual.”

Clark said “it wouldn’t shock me” if Roughead was playing for Carlton in 2019.