Coach Alastair Clarkson - NMFC Senior Coach - Coaching & Football Discussion

[Spud11]

The Clarko signing was more exciting as i thought he'd be able to entice some players in their prime - not superstars, but good reliable role players that did their jobs each week.

Turns out, he has only attracted a bunch of crabs and a couple of 32 year olds with coaching/list management aspirations.

I'm not saying it's all on Clarko as we are an unprecedented basket case, but i thought he'd turn the heads of a couple of players that would make us better quicker.

I felt like players like Ziebell would thrive for a couple years as sort of on-field coaches. Also thought the bit-players with potential like Sleevo would get closer to their ceiling under a real coach.

But nah, none of that happened. And we looked underwhelming. If we’re not measuring wins anymore, but honourable losses, the best we looked seemed to be under Ratten.

Who left.

And went to Hawthorn, of all teams.

And here we sit, beneath Richmond, about to give them an even better pick than even the most pessimistic fan wouldn’t have thought possible.

For.

F*cks.

Sake.

 

[LB2Snake]

It’s training standards. No way in hell do we train with match intensity. No way.

 

[Spud11]

It’s training standards. No way in hell do we train with match intensity. No way.

Yeah but 4 year contracts, nicknames and back pats.

 

[pupstar]

It’s training standards. No way in hell do we train with match intensity. No way.

D o you go and watch us train.

 

[Samsquanch]

Waite, Higgins, Dal Santo, B Davis*, Rantall*, and Wade* all went ok

Dal Santo?

One or two good games (OK, one was a final which I'm not complaining about). A few cameos. Went at least one season too long.

 

[Samsquanch]

None of those are needle movers in the way that Dangerfield, Cameron, Franklin, Judd were. That quality of player in that stage of their career has never, and likely will never come to North Melbourne. People talking about Butters coming to North is an absolute pipe dream.

Doug Wade. Not a needle shifter?

Kicked 220 goals for North in 3 seasons and played in a premiership team. He and Mopsy Rantall, who along with Barry Davis was an extremely significant contributor to North's rise from a similar doldrum as the team is today to Grand Final runners up, then Premiers in just a few seasons. That is the very definition of needle shifting. Chris Judd on the other hand, a good player but did not deliver ultimate success at Carlton.

 

[TruRoo]

I felt like players like Ziebell would thrive for a couple years

Ziebell gets remembered a little too fondly here.

Hard at the ball? Yes.

As mobile as Xerri with the kicking ability of Lmac on Lmac’s bad days? Absolutely.

Good leader? Nope.

 

[backtothedraft]

Doug Wade. Not a needle shifter?

Kicked 220 goals for North in 3 seasons and played in a premiership team. He and Mopsy Rantall, who along with Barry Davis was an extremely significant contributor to North's rise from a similar doldrum as the team is today to Grand Final runners up, then Premiers in just a few seasons. That is the very definition of needle shifting. Chris Judd on the other hand, a good player but did not deliver ultimate success at Carlton.

That was 40 years ago it’s time to move on. The league, the club and the game itself have changed drastically in that time. If you’re holding a mirror up to the 70s and saying that should be the standard by which our club should be judged today you’ll never be happy.

 

[Passmore]

That was 40 years ago it’s time to move on. The league, the club and the game itself have changed drastically in that time. If you’re holding a mirror up to the 70s and saying that should be the standard by which our club should be judged today you’ll never be happy.

It would be good if we could go back 50 odd years and (literally) throw bags of cash at champion footballers who were paid a pittance.

That would be a sure fire way to move up the ladder.

 

[Passmore]

Ziebell gets remembered a little too fondly here.

Hard at the ball? Yes.

As mobile as Xerri with the kicking ability of Lmac on Lmac’s bad days? Absolutely.

Good leader? Nope.

Not sure he's remembered fondly enough. He had his shortcomings, but the campaigner sacrificed himself physically for this footy club.

Maybe it's just me, but if someone was prepared to put their body on the line like he did, I'd follow that leader unequivocally.

 

[Samsquanch]

That was 40 years ago it’s time to move on. The league, the club and the game itself have changed drastically in that time. If you’re holding a mirror up to the 70s and saying that should be the standard by which our club should be judged today you’ll never be happy.

Not at all.

My reply was to a post that stated Doug Wade was not somebody who would have moved the needle.

And by my calculations, the early 1970s was about 50 years ago FYI.

 

[Samsquanch]

It would be good if we could go back 50 odd years and (literally) throw bags of cash at champion footballers who were paid a pittance.

That would be a sure fire way to move up the ladder.

You mean, adopt the Geelong recruitment model?

 

[Horizons_00]

It’s training standards. No way in hell do we train with match intensity. No way.

This has been an issue for years. Again, we are a nice and safe team.

 

[Passmore]

You mean, adopt the Geelong recruitment model?

Instead of bundles of cash, you arrange a 3rd party sponsorship or gift them a farm.

 

[Psicosis]

What happens if we are 2-10 at the bye next year? 4th consecutive bottom 2 (at best 3) all but locked up if that’s the case.

The perception in the market is that we as a club are too gutless to do anything because then what? Probably a fair perception given how poorly the place has been run for a decade.

 

[The Nostradamus]

What happens if we are 2-10 at the bye next year? 4th consecutive bottom 2 (at best 3) all but locked up if that’s the case.

The perception in the market is that we as a club are too gutless to do anything because then what? Probably a fair perception given how poorly the place has been run for a decade.

Then he goes and horse or simmo replace him

This preseason is huge for him to get everything humming

 

[Event Horizon]

The Clarko signing was more exciting as i thought he'd be able to entice some players in their prime - not superstars, but good reliable role players that did their jobs each week.

Turns out, he has only attracted a bunch of crabs and a couple of 32 year olds with coaching/list management aspirations.

I'm not saying it's all on Clarko as we are an unprecedented basket case, but i thought he'd turn the heads of a couple of players that would make us better quicker.

The chance for that to happen was in his first year when I think some were tempted. But by the second year when it was clear we aren't going anywhere fast coupled with the Racism saga, that pull was gone once and for all. It can be reignited only if and when we make the jump up the ladder. And we're gonna have to do it with our own players

 

[Samsquanch]

Instead of bundles of cash, you arrange a 3rd party sponsorship or gift them a farm.

Yes, I cottoned on to that.

 

[Heaps of fun]

What happens if we are 2-10 at the bye next year? 4th consecutive bottom 2 (at best 3) all but locked up if that’s the case.

That would be bad. I hope we win more games than that.

 

[Gasometer]

It’s training standards. No way in hell do we train with match intensity. No way.

I know someone who went to Gather Round and watched the Suns Train (professional, sharp and intense) and then North and it was shits and giggles and they “played the way they trained”

This person is neutral fwiw

 

[Gasometer]

What happens if we are 2-10 at the bye next year? 4th consecutive bottom 2 (at best 3) all but locked up if that’s the case.

The perception in the market is that we as a club are too gutless to do anything because then what? Probably a fair perception given how poorly the place has been run for a decade.

So much of this is determined by the unknown Draw

 

[TruRoo]

Maybe it's just me, but if someone was prepared to put their body on the line like he did, I'd follow that leader unequivocally.

Then why was he unequivocally one of the worst captains in the league during his tenure?

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

It took Melbourne 20 years. Hawthorn still have premiership players under Clarko in their side.

Not quite, Melbourne went from the runner up (behind us) sh*ttest professional sports organisation of the 21st century at the end of 2013 to 10 wins in 2016 and then a prelim in 2018 with really only Nathan Jones and Bernie Vince as their "senior leaders".

 

[Passmore]

Then why was he unequivocally one of the worst captains in the league during his tenure?

Says who?

 

[TruRoo]

Says who?

The fact this is your response suggests you would dismiss anything I put up as evidence anyway. That makes you seem like a kool aid drinker looking back with rose coloured glasses You only have to search “ziebell poor captain” and there’s plenty of debate.

Ziebell cracked in hard but he was a limited footballer made captain by default at the start of our poor era because goldy and Cunnington wouldn’t do it. He was a sign of things to come and helped nurture the mediocrity jy and lmac, and now jy alone, have carried.