Can Alistair Clarkson lead North to a premiership? Or has footy gone past him?

[Red Bull]

We’ll never know …

 

[The Warlord]

He likely needed a refresh and a year away was good for him. I say yes. This is a young list and he will have two early picks. Perfect reset

He'll also be able to attract free agents and trades too.

 

[The Warlord]

Any club can win a flag eventually. There's a big job there and still years of rebuilding to do. Come back in 5 years, minimum.

I don't think he'll need anywhere near that to have us very competitive.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

He'll also be able to attract free agents and trades too.

That’s literally why his top up strategy failed, because he couldn’t land Lynch or Coniglio.

 

[juss]

I don't think he'll need anywhere near that to have us very competitive.

There's a big gap to competitive and winning a flag though. He might have North competitive, but the thread is about a premiership.

 

[The Warlord]

That’s literally why his top up strategy failed, because he couldn’t land Lynch or Coniglio.

He's already been tghe difference in getting Logue, exactly the kind of B-B plus role player he excellled in recruiting at Hawthorn.

He won't need to attract the top end talent at North fdor this build, its here or coming through the draft.

He will be able to focus on developing Will Phillips rather than getting players in.

 

[The Warlord]

There's a big gap to competitive and winning a flag though. He might have North competitive, but the thread is about a premiership.

True, but I see no reason why towards the end of the contract we're not vying for flags.

 

[HairyO]

That’s literally why his top up strategy failed, because he couldn’t land Lynch or Coniglio.

Was also the policy of not offering crazy big or crazy long contracts.

Will see if that changes.

 

[PenfoldsFan]

Nah, took him 5yrs to get a flag at Hawthorn with Hodge, Mitchell, Roughead and Buddy at his disposal, none of which quality is at North and wheres he going to jag another Dew out of retirement for a winning 10 minute GF performance.
His contribution will be structuring the football department.

 

[La Dispute]

That’s literally why his top up strategy failed, because he couldn’t land Lynch or Coniglio.

That has as much to do with players and their managers reading the situation and recognising the Hawks were trending downward and the list no longer had the capability of contending for flags.

After 2019 all bets were off.

Suspect North need to start making finals for decent FA's to start wanting to join, but they have enough of a framework that can build internally to compete for a spot in the final 8, adding some decent role players along the way to round out their squad and create competition for spots, eg Logue and Tucker. The last few years they've had far too many players running around in the best 22 who haven't earned games and are not up to scratch.

 

[rye]

He's already been tghe difference in getting Logue, exactly the kind of B-B plus role player he excellled in recruiting at Hawthorn.

He won't need to attract the top end talent at North fdor this build, its here or coming through the draft.

He will be able to focus on developing Will Phillips rather than getting players in.

the difference in getting logue was offering him 200-300k more per year than fremantle. reportedly 700-800k a year. also reportedly with an additional year to what fremantle was offering - he will be close to a guaranteed $2M better off under the north deal at high end estimates than he would be if he stayed at freo

logue is going to get paid in a similar range (and possible more) with players the likes of harris andrews and steven may - AA quality defenders.

with respect to logue, he would have accepted such an inflated contract if mark neeld was the coach of north melbourne

 

[La Dispute]

Nah, took him 5yrs to get a flag at Hawthorn with Hodge, Mitchell, Roughead and Buddy at his disposal, none of which quality is at North and wheres he going to jag another Dew out of retirement for a winning 10 minute GF performance.
His contribution will be structuring the football department.

Very few coaches are going to be gifted that much talent. I don't see a single side in this era, for example, that matches up to the kind of squad the Hawks were rolling out.

The core is there though. Larkey and McKay are very good bookends. The midfield should be reasonably strong with LDU, Simpkin and Thomas - if Clarko can turn him around.

Clarko doesn't necessarily need to win a flag for his tenure to be a success. A couple of finals wins and he's probably done his job.

 

[Spirit Level]

He's got a list with lots of young talent

Hate to break it to you....

 

[#gosaintas]

He'll also be able to attract free agents and trades too.

the days of anyone decent leaving their club to play under Clarko are well gone

 

[The Warlord]

the days of anyone decent leaving their club to play under Clarko are well gone

Hunter Clark walked out on you a few weeks ago to come and play for us, the only reason he's not here is St KIlda were in shambles and we had nobody to negotiate with as you were sacking the coach.

 

[La Dispute]

Hunter Clark walked out on you a few weeks ago to come and play for us, the only reason he's not here is St KIlda were in shambles and we had nobody to negotiate with as you were sacking the coach.

Big difference between walking out and requesting a trade away from the club under contract. Clark would have been aware there was every possibility he’d have to remain at the Saints if a trade couldn’t be facilitated.

North rightfully didn’t want to lose access to a premium talent eg Sheezal and that was the reason the negotiations collapsed.

Senior coaches don’t get involved in trades - that’s the realm of the list management team.

 

[gbatman]

A good coach can go to a poor club and the results will guarantee to be poor.

Doubt the game has gone past him but the club may not be able to come together as a whole to make north great again. As seen with my club over the last 20 years.

 

[La Dispute]

A good coach can go to a poor club and the results will guarantee to be poor.

Doubt the game has gone past him but the club may not be able to come together as a whole to make north great again. As seen with my club over the last 20 years.

Who was the last ‘good coach’ to go to a poor club?

Eade and Malthouse were cooked when they took up positions at bad clubs.

Roos had some decent success at rebuilding the Dees.

Seems the trend the past decade has been to back in a first time coach, but there’s no reason Clarko can’t have a moderate degree of success at the Roos if their development improves and they keep building their list to be baseline competitive most weeks.

 

[gbatman]

Who was the last ‘good coach’ to go to a poor club?

Eade and Malthouse were cooked when they took up positions at bad clubs.

Roos had some decent success at rebuilding the Dees.

Seems the trend the past decade has been to back in a first time coach, but there’s no reason Clarko can’t have a moderate degree of success at the Roos if their development improves and they keep building their list to be baseline competitive most weeks.

You're a Carlton supporter, you've seen this first hand. Coaches not cooked, just s**t clubs.

 

[La Dispute]

You're a Carlton supporter, you've seen this first hand. Coaches not cooked, just s**t clubs.

Melbourne looked completely cooked when Roos took over.

It’s not just the head coach that needs to change, but there’s a lot of moving parts in clubs and it’s easy to call them poor while they’re down.

Still a lot of work to do, but at least off the field the Roos are in a decent position. They need to translate this into wins on the field and find some more stability in a couple of other departments, especially their footy program and with their list management.

 

[PenfoldsFan]

Very few coaches are going to be gifted that much talent. I don't see a single side in this era, for example, that matches up to the kind of squad the Hawks were rolling out.

The core is there though. Larkey and McKay are very good bookends. The midfield should be reasonably strong with LDU, Simpkin and Thomas - if Clarko can turn him around.

Clarko doesn't necessarily need to win a flag for his tenure to be a success. A couple of finals wins and he's probably done his job.

Which underlines my point, Clarko had the success he did from a list that was unbelievably good, so its a chicken or the egg scenario, did Clarko really develop them into a premiership team or could any half decent coach with that list oversee their rise?
People give Clarko a lot of credit for being a master Coach but in reality, during his time as a senior Coach he inherited a Premiership list at Central district that then went on to win many more after he left under Roy Laird, a rise and fall which coincided with the arrival and departure of the Gowans twins and I believe that had a greater impact on the group than who spun the magnets.
He had Generals on every line in that Hawks side and again the rise and fall coincided with their arrival and eventual departure.

North have gone all in with Clarko and the faithful are fully committed to believing he will bring them to the promised land, an awful lot of pressure to just win a few finals.

 

[_jrtp09_]

I can’t see Clarkson winning a premiership at North

 

[The 747]

There's a big gap to competitive and winning a flag though. He might have North competitive, but the thread is about a premiership.

Premierships are hard to win, my club has spent a decade sniffing around the top 4 for one flag.

A lot needs to go right, the better question is how competitive can he make them?

 

[The Warlord]

Big difference between walking out and requesting a trade away from the club under contract. Clark would have been aware there was every possibility he’d have to remain at the Saints if a trade couldn’t be facilitated.

North rightfully didn’t want to lose access to a premium talent eg Sheezal and that was the reason the negotiations collapsed.

Senior coaches don’t get involved in trades - that’s the realm of the list management team.

Clark was ... is? ... coming to play for Clarkson.

 

[The Warlord]

No, he can't. You have to have the cattle. Op what timeframe have you put on this?

Within his first contract.