Prediction Dr Sonja Hood AM

[Woolly Mammoth]

When the Clarkson story broke, I argued that the club should have washed their hands of him right then. Even if innocent, we were no longer getting the best version of Clarkson and there was too much baggage for him to be worth the contract.

Maybe the contract didn't allow for that. Doubtful. She took a risk on Clarkson and so far it has failed. We wasted two years while his head wasn't in the game, and who knows what impact it had on our recruitment.

Not a popular view but 100% agree. That was the one opportunity to do it and likely not cost ourselves millions of dollars in the process and we didnt take it. It f*cking kills me that THE ONE TIME we needed Sonja to be the wokiest wokey who ever woked in wokeville, and say "sorry, I dont care if you havent had your day in court, we are severing ties with you because its a vibe" OF COURSE she doesnt do it and instead acts like and old school footy administrator and backs him unequivocally despite what the rest of the industry thinks.

If North Melbourne 2020-2023 was detailed in a movie, people would dismiss it as too unbelievable and far fetched to be real.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

If true, then it's amateurish for the club to have given that indication.

It only takes one person with loose lips.

I have a great management team at work, but there's one woman who if she's involved in a conversation on something "juicy" like a firing, that it will get out to her friends shortly after.

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

That would be shithouse leadership imo. Throwing someone under the bus in those circumstances would justify players like JHF (and anyone else) leaving and then with the outcome of that whole thing we'd look even worse.

Clarkson specifically said he chose us because when he was young and ****ed up the club was there for him and without North his life could have gone to shit. He joined us at our lowest point to pay back some of that debt. (That was the story anyway, he obviously didn't do it for free.) Then we essentially throw him under the bus for what turn out to be allegations that were over exaggerated at best and flat out wrong at worst? That's not how you fix cultural issues related to toxic leadership.

I don't think that applies in this case, because the allegations came out before a single whistle had been blown on his first training session. Him talking about his history at North was nice, but at that point, he was an ex Hawks coach who had just been freshly signed, he didnt owe us anything and we didnt owe him anything. I don't think it would have made any difference to culture as he wasn't yet a part of the club. If we had parted ways, I think everyone associated with football, whether they thought it was justified or not, would on some level understand why it was done.

And its just shit behaviour. I'd be embarrassed to be a North member in those circumstances.

Gonna go out on a limb and say most of us feel that right now anyway, and have done for half a decade.

 

[chubbspeterson]

Of course they do.

They have the mandate as the chair of the board as oversight of the entire football department and can hold anyone to account.

Having the final sign off and approvals of significant major players contracts completely contradicts your statement.

Of course they approve and sign off on decisions made by the list team and are responsible for holding the list management team to account for the decisions they make.
The president should not be instructing the list team which players to give contracts to was my point.

 

[Mixed Results]

Gonna go out on a limb and say most of us feel that right now anyway, and have done for half a decade.

I was definitely embarrassed when Clarkson stepped down midseason and we lost 20 games in a row. Having our sixth worst season by percentage ever in 2024 as Clarkson continued to deal with the racism saga was also embarassing.

The entire AFL media would have had our back had we reversed the Clarkson decision.

We've beat only six of the seventeen other AFL teams since Sonja Hood was named president. I'd admire her a lot more if she took that stand to improve the footy club.

 

[chubbspeterson]

They should be holding the people that do accountable.

Rawlings is going into his sixth season. He has been demoted twice, and the club recently scaled back the list management department by not replacing Scott Clayton.

Rawlings is who he is. He shouldn't be a one man band maintaining our list, and any serious team wouldn't have put him in that position. You might argue that Viney is pitching in, but he isn't qualified for the role either.

Thursfield was a scout for five years, and is now in charge of our drafting without much senior support.

The football department is the blind leading the blind, and it's hard not to poke holes at anything within Hood's setup.

We've won eleven games in three years and what change to the football department has there been to show for it? Outside of Clayton taking another job, it's the same people in charge. It's a worrying setup because if it fails, we'll likely see those names depart the club within an 18-month period, which destroys any shred of continuity as we're forced to start again from scratch.

My biggest concern is that because people are so enamored with Hood and Watt, they'll be the ones to interview and hire replacements for Clarkson, Viney, and Rawlings, despite then having no qualifications to do so.

We haven't been run by football people for a decade now, and the people in charge have been hiring the wrong personnel for football roles over and over again. It's been the same mistakes on repeat for ten years.

Agree that the board should hold the list team to account for their decisions.
I'm not a great fan of Brady's list decisions and trade negotiations and Clayton wasn't much of a loss imo.
Shiels has likely just taken on the scouting role that Clayton was doing part time.
Recruiting managers are going to make some mistakes as they go along when they are fresh in the job.
Whether Will needs more senior support, I don't know, but he had some good mentors with Hartley and co. at Tigers.
There's been plenty of change in the footy dept. with Adams gone, the addition of Littlejohn, Hampson and Macpherson as development coaches, as well as a new VFL coach in Marcon. Barlow to midfield and Lynch as head of development.
Those same people put the right people in the right roles within the women's program and have given the footy department the scope to rebuild the footy department. It's up to the footy dept and players to make a jump.
If they don't deliver then jobs at all levels likely come under some form of scrutiny.

 

[Mixed Results]

Agree that the board should hold the list team to account for their decisions.
I'm not a great fan of Brady's list decisions and trade negotiations and Clayton wasn't much of a loss imo.
Shiels has likely just taken on the scouting role that Clayton was doing part time.
Recruiting managers are going to make some mistakes as they go along when they are fresh in the job.
Whether Will needs more senior support, I don't know, but he had some good mentors with Hartley and co. at Tigers.
There's been plenty of change in the footy dept. with Adams gone, the addition of Littlejohn, Hampson and Macpherson as development coaches, as well as a new VFL coach in Marcon. Barlow to midfield and Lynch as head of development.
Those same people put the right people in the right roles within the women's program and have given the footy department the scope to rebuild the footy department. It's up to the footy dept and players to make a jump.
If they don't deliver then jobs at all levels likely come under some form of scrutiny.

I know we've done some shuffling of assistant coaches and scouts, but the key decision makers and structure remain the same.

Sonja Hood effectively cleared house in her first year, and made a series of moves that granted complete control of our club to Clarkson and his right-hand man Viney.

Rawlings was demoted to a role beneath Viney, and by hiring Jen Watt, she put in a CEO who wouldn't meddle with the Clarko and Viney tandem. On the field, it's been Clarkson's club, and off the field, it's been Rawlings. So far I like Thursfield, but putting him in charge of the draft without meaningful senior support feels amateurish to me.

In my opinion, this structure is a repeated mistake of when Brad Scott was allowed too much power back when Cam Joyce was our GM. Brad wasn't held accountable, and the inexperienced Joyce made too many poor list decisions.

Littlejohn's recruitment piques my interest a little, but I'll wait and see how much influence he has over Clarkson. I think we'll know early on in the year what impact he has, and if it's still Clarkson running the show with a gameplan that appears outdated.

I think Barlow and Lynch are two great people to have around the club, but they are two of the few people who when you look around the club, you're comfortable that they're able to do their job to a decent standard.

That's ultimately my issue. Clarkson is the one name they've hired who has proven himself, but due to age, or the scandal, or who knows what else, we're now questioning if he is still the right fit. Nearly everyone else is inexperienced for the role they have, and there's no experience or mentorship to be found at the club for them to lean on.

 

[hilly]

Not a popular view but 100% agree. That was the one opportunity to do it and likely not cost ourselves millions of dollars in the process and we didnt take it. It f*cking kills me that THE ONE TIME we needed Sonja to be the wokiest wokey who ever woked in wokeville, and say "sorry, I dont care if you havent had your day in court, we are severing ties with you because its a vibe" OF COURSE she doesnt do it and instead acts like and old school footy administrator and backs him unequivocally despite what the rest of the industry thinks.

Would have cost us millions of dollars to sack him on the basis of unsubstantiated claims and probably more if we were taken to court for wrongful dismissal.

What did the rest of the industry think?

 

[Dinkers]

This is an article from 2022 after our recruiting department walked out. I had forgot how close it was to the Midseason Draft.

North Melbourne’s ‘disastrous day’ as shock walkouts open club up to list scrutiny

Inside North’s ‘disastrous day’ as shock exodus exposes whipping boys’ big issue

www.foxsports.com.au

Luff was very shit and the club knew it, who employed him.

 

[Rooboys Rool]

This is an article from 2022 after our recruiting department walked out. I had forgot how close it was to the Midseason Draft.

North Melbourne’s ‘disastrous day’ as shock walkouts open club up to list scrutiny

Inside North’s ‘disastrous day’ as shock exodus exposes whipping boys’ big issue

www.foxsports.com.au

If that article is accurate, it doesn’t really read as the recruiting department walking out. It reads as Luff walking out (and thank god he did). Finnigan looks like him reading the tea leaves that he wouldn’t get an extension so he looked for another job, and when he got one we said “thanks for your service“ (had no interest in trying to get him to stay). And Birthisel seems like a lower level position and we helped him get a new job.

 

[ferball]

I don't think that applies in this case, because the allegations came out before a single whistle had been blown on his first training session. Him talking about his history at North was nice, but at that point, he was an ex Hawks coach who had just been freshly signed, he didnt owe us anything and we didnt owe him anything. I don't think it would have made any difference to culture as he wasn't yet a part of the club. If we had parted ways, I think everyone associated with football, whether they thought it was justified or not, would on some level understand why it was done.

So at our lowest ebb and when we could barely find anyone to be associated with us we sack our recently signed "greatest of the modern era" new coach over allegations he strenuously denies, that seem almost unbelievable and suspiciously timed to completely **** up any momentum we'd get from the signing him. On top of all the other objections I have it just seems stupid to let ourselves be so ****ed over by another club. Especially that club.

Gonna go out on a limb and say most of us feel that right now anyway, and have done for half a decade.

Significantly more so if that happened. The men's team are embarrassing. Not so much the club.

 

[King Corey]

2020 - we lose sugar hit, emotional toddler Shitmen coach Rhyce Shaw

Rhyce Shaw

Age

44

Ht

182cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.8

4star

K

12.0

4star

HB

5.8

4star

M

4.3

4star

T

2.1

4star

MG

313.2

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.4

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

1.6

2star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.8

3star

.

Our candidates are perennial lieutenant Robert Harvey, too unproven Daniel Giansuracusa and an accomplished administrator in David Noble.

No well credentialed emerging assistant or proven senior coach wants a bar of our selection process.

Somehow 1.5 years later with a list now completely smashed by latter year Scott and Shaw/Noble tenures, Sonja meticulously stalks and sells a vision to the greatest coach in the modern era who just happens to have emotional roots in the club he played most of his career with.

He then hits a major unforeseen snag.

Do we:

a) clarify the situation with him and if we're satisfied, back the guy who just bought into us at rock bottom to the hilt

Or

b) go to a psychic, see we haven't climbed the ladder 3 years later and **** him off sight unseen, involving an accompanying payout after paying out our 3 previous senior coaches

Yeh I'm sure option B would've won us a huge level of support from AFL House and wider media landscape..

**** me.

I take it anyone suggesting we should've cut Alastair then posted this at the time the allegations broke?

Sonja has plenty to be accountable for but didn't realise she should be subject to Minority Report crime rules too.

 

[ferball]

2020 - we lose sugar hit, emotional toddler Shitmen coach Rhyce Shaw.

Our candidates are perennial lieutenant Robert Harvey, too unproven Daniel Giansuracusa and an accomplished administrator in David Noble.

No well credentialed emerging assistant or proven senior coach wants a bar of our selection process.

Somehow 1.5 years later with a list now completely smashed by latter year Scott and Shaw/Noble tenures, Sonja meticulously stalks and sells a vision to the greatest coach in the modern era who just happens to have emotional roots in the club he played most of his career with.

He then hits a major unforeseen snag.

Do we:

a) clarify the situation with him and if we're satisfied, back the guy who just bought into us at rock bottom to the hilt

Or

b) go to a psychic, see we haven't climbed the ladder 3 years later and **** him off sight unseen, involving an accompanying payout after paying out our 3 previous senior coaches

Yeh I'm sure option B would've won us a huge level of support from AFL House and wider media landscape..

**** me.

I take it anyone suggesting we should've cut Alastair then posted this at the time the allegations broke?

Sonja has plenty to be accountable for but didn't realise she should be subject to Minority Report crime rules too.

I've got a feeling some people did. Maybe Mixed Results was one of them.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

2020 - we lose sugar hit, emotional toddler Shitmen coach Rhyce Shaw.

Our candidates are perennial lieutenant Robert Harvey, too unproven Daniel Giansuracusa and an accomplished administrator in David Noble.

No well credentialed emerging assistant or proven senior coach wants a bar of our selection process.

Somehow 1.5 years later with a list now completely smashed by latter year Scott and Shaw/Noble tenures, Sonja meticulously stalks and sells a vision to the greatest coach in the modern era who just happens to have emotional roots in the club he played most of his career with.

He then hits a major unforeseen snag.

Do we:

a) clarify the situation with him and if we're satisfied, back the guy who just bought into us at rock bottom to the hilt

Or

b) go to a psychic, see we haven't climbed the ladder 3 years later and **** him off sight unseen, involving an accompanying payout after paying out our 3 previous senior coaches

Yeh I'm sure option B would've won us a huge level of support from AFL House and wider media landscape..

**** me.

I take it anyone suggesting we should've cut Alastair then posted this at the time the allegations broke?

Sonja has plenty to be accountable for but didn't realise she should be subject to Minority Report crime rules too.

I have been a Clarkson sceptic from mid 2024 when it was clear that his outlook was outdated and his set up no longer feasible in the modern game.

 

[Mixed Results]

I take it anyone suggesting we should've cut Alastair then posted this at the time the allegations broke?

You can check my post history, I was saying it back then as well.

I don't know how to quote locked threads, but among other things I said the following:

"Based on how the last 24 hours have unfolded, I'm assuming that these investigations will uncover insufficient evidence and life will go on. There will never be proof of these actions and if the AFL and North Melbourne wish to bury them then they will succeed quite easily. The other side of that coin is that there will never be evidence presented that Clarkson is innocent. These allegations have permanently clouded his reputation whether they are true or not.

Clarkson may be one of the greatest coaches of all time, but I don't know if his value offsets the fact that the playing group and supporters will never again be fully united and in full support of him. There is now a massive amount of risk in signing him up for a five-year contract when he may have permanently lost the respect of any present and future players.

There's also the risk on a five-year deal that other allegations may surface. We have a clear opportunity to separate ourselves right now and I think based on what's been presented it is the best option for us."

I made a few other posts at the time about wanting to cut ties with Clarkson. I failed to consider how the stress of this investigation would impact his ability to focus on such a demanding job, but that ended up being the most pivotal point.

Maybe it was too ruthless an opinion, but I absolutely believe that it was the right call. I don't agree we'd have been crucified for it by the media, as plenty were calling for him to be sacked at the time, and in this scenario I'd hope that there was some cooling off language in his contract.

We backed him in, so I'm happy for him to now see out his contract. The damage has been done anyway, and I don't trust this administration to find anybody better.

Sonja backed Clarkson in, and worst of all, gave him too much control by having his mate Todd Viney as his only source of governance. So far it has backfired.

There's a lot of expectation for improvement next year, but I see a backline with Toby Pink, Luke McDonald, Aidan Corr, and Caleb Daniel, and I'm expecting another year of conceding an uncompetitive amount of scores. I wish I'm wrong and that we can finally push up the ladder, but if not we need to start holding our leaders accountable.

 

[King Corey]

You can check my post history, I was saying it back then as well.

I don't know how to quote locked threads, but among other things I said the following:

"Based on how the last 24 hours have unfolded, I'm assuming that these investigations will uncover insufficient evidence and life will go on. There will never be proof of these actions and if the AFL and North Melbourne wish to bury them then they will succeed quite easily. The other side of that coin is that there will never be evidence presented that Clarkson is innocent. These allegations have permanently clouded his reputation whether they are true or not.

Clarkson may be one of the greatest coaches of all time, but I don't know if his value offsets the fact that the playing group and supporters will never again be fully united and in full support of him. There is now a massive amount of risk in signing him up for a five-year contract when he may have permanently lost the respect of any present and future players.

There's also the risk on a five-year deal that other allegations may surface. We have a clear opportunity to separate ourselves right now and I think based on what's been presented it is the best option for us."

I made a few other posts at the time about wanting to cut ties with Clarkson. I failed to consider how the stress of this investigation would impact his ability to focus on such a demanding job, but that ended up being the most pivotal point.

Maybe it was too ruthless an opinion, but I absolutely believe that it was the right call. I don't agree we'd have been crucified for it by the media, as plenty were calling for him to be sacked at the time, and in this scenario I'd hope that there was some cooling off language in his contract.

We backed him in, so I'm happy for him to now see out his contract. The damage has been done anyway, and I don't trust this administration to find anybody better.

Sonja backed Clarkson in, and worst of all, gave him too much control by having his mate Todd Viney as his only source of governance. So far it has backfired.

There's a lot of expectation for improvement next year, but I see a backline with Toby Pink, Luke McDonald, Aidan Corr, and Caleb Daniel, and I'm expecting another year of conceding an uncompetitive amount of scores. I wish I'm wrong and that we can finally push up the ladder, but if not we need to start holding our leaders accountable.

Kudos that you posted such at the time. Fair enough.

Can't say I agree with that view, the guy was subject to a judicial process albeit a kangaroo court (presumed innocent yada yada) and it would've 10/10 been wrong to cut him at the time imo.

As rabbley (that's a word yeh?) as we are now, in the 2020-22 stretch we were even worse.

In no world do I think we should've cut and run based on the facts at the time and I'm confident we would've left ourselves even more devoid of identity and open to attrition and unsavoury interests if we killed our new stability just as it started.

Scott-Shaw-Noble + Clarkson for 2 months.

We'd have been lucky to get Heath Younie to interview for the role after that.

Partly agree on Viney but it was no doubt somewhat something of a package deal to bring in a dream coach.

 

[Mixed Results]

Kudos that you posted such at the time. Fair enough.

Can't say I agree with that view, the guy was subject to a judicial process albeit a kangaroo court (presumed innocent yada yada) and it would've 10/10 been wrong to cut him at the time imo.

As rabbley (that's a word yeh?) as we are now, in the 2020-22 stretch we were even worse.

In no world do I think we should've cut and run based on the facts at the time and I'm confident we would've left ourselves even more devoid of identity and open to attrition and unsavoury interests if we killed our new stability just as it started.

Scott-Shaw-Noble + Clarkson for 2 months.

We'd have been lucky to get Heath Younie to interview for the role after that.

Partly agree on Viney but it was no doubt somewhat something of a package deal to bring in a dream coach.

We'll never know if it was the right answer or not. For all we know, we sack Clarkson and then we go on to win three straight wooden spoons after hiring an under 9s coach because he was the only person to submit his resume on seek.

Sonja Hood may have been in a lose-lose situation, but we have to judge her on the path she took and so far that path has been full of misery. She took on a tough job, and kudos to her for that, but that doesn't absolve her of expectation.

I really, really, hope things turn onfield this year and that this conversation is moot.

 

[King Corey]

We'll never know if it was the right answer or not. For all we know, we sack Clarkson and then we go on to win three straight wooden spoons after hiring an under 9s coach because he was the only person to submit his resume on seek.

Sonja Hood may have been in a lose-lose situation, but we have to judge her on the path she took and so far that path has been full of misery. She took on a tough job, and kudos to her for that, but that doesn't absolve her of expectation.

I really, really, hope things turn onfield this year and that this conversation is moot.

Can't argue with much of that.

Thanks for keeping it respectful.

As you suggest, hopefully we break into finals this year and we're not applying 40 degrees of spin to prove our year wasn't a failure in 12 months time.

 

[Mixed Results]

"I am -- bullishly optimistic about season 2026"

"Next year, we need to see more."

"we're ready to start seeing results."

From Hood's letter today. For the first time in four years, there's an expectation on this squad to do more. It's about time.

Hood's life will be a lot easier should we start winning, but if we don't it'll be interesting to see what her reaction is.

 

[shimaburnsgrieg]

Quite a reasonable end of year letter from Sonja.

Puts expectations clearly on need to be better next year - and not a just few more wins against Richmond and WC - but a significant improvement in team performance across the board. It's Time!

 

[amaz199]

Quite a reasonable end of year letter from Sonja.

Puts expectations clearly on need to be better next year - and not a just few more wins against Richmond and WC - but a significant improvement in team performance across the board. It's Time!

In b4 5 wins again.

 

[SnowyontheTram]

Not overly impressed by this but guess she is being honest: "we haven't lost yet"

 

[RightWingRoo]

Punting Clarko would've been an even bigger disaster, than anything we've been through since. With Kingsley already signed and sealed to the Giants, Ross and St Kilda were well down the track of whispering sweet nothings to each other. The options available to us were pretty dire, with the potential to get even worse should some of the better credentialed assistants like Yze have declined to apply.
The new coach was taking on a side that should've gone winless in 2022, we would likely have chewed up and spat out whatever untried assistant we hired.

There's no timeline anywhere where we wouldn't been able to turn our situation around quickly. We were always set for more pain as we effectively rest the rebuild from scratch.

I think we're ultimately 12 months behind where we would've liked to be. I believe we'll win 8-9 games next year, which we would've been hoping for this year. I think we would've thought 3-4 wins in 23, 5-6 in 24, 8-9 in 25, 10-12 in 26 and finals in 27. I think we're tracking a year behind those figures. Not great but ok if we genuinely progress over the next few years, stalling or going backwards would be a disaster and lead to significant change at the club.

As bad as it's been, sacking Clarko would've been worse. It's hard enough for us to attract players and coaches now, what hope would an untried assistant have. A past his prime Clarko, is still better than the vast majority of alternatives on the market.

I see him as a Paul Roos at Melbourne like figure. Get the club together, stop the bleeding and start to put in place a solid program that can lead to success down the track. Think he'll hand over to Barlow or Littlejohn in 2028 and they'll hopefully reap the benefits from the hard work done.

 

[ChopChopDigDig]

Not overly impressed by this but guess she is being honest: "we haven't lost yet"
View attachment 2497683

 

[GoRoos2023]

You can check my post history, I was saying it back then as well.

I don't know how to quote locked threads, but among other things I said the following:

"Based on how the last 24 hours have unfolded, I'm assuming that these investigations will uncover insufficient evidence and life will go on. There will never be proof of these actions and if the AFL and North Melbourne wish to bury them then they will succeed quite easily. The other side of that coin is that there will never be evidence presented that Clarkson is innocent. These allegations have permanently clouded his reputation whether they are true or not.

Clarkson may be one of the greatest coaches of all time, but I don't know if his value offsets the fact that the playing group and supporters will never again be fully united and in full support of him. There is now a massive amount of risk in signing him up for a five-year contract when he may have permanently lost the respect of any present and future players.

There's also the risk on a five-year deal that other allegations may surface. We have a clear opportunity to separate ourselves right now and I think based on what's been presented it is the best option for us."

I made a few other posts at the time about wanting to cut ties with Clarkson. I failed to consider how the stress of this investigation would impact his ability to focus on such a demanding job, but that ended up being the most pivotal point.

Maybe it was too ruthless an opinion, but I absolutely believe that it was the right call. I don't agree we'd have been crucified for it by the media, as plenty were calling for him to be sacked at the time, and in this scenario I'd hope that there was some cooling off language in his contract.

We backed him in, so I'm happy for him to now see out his contract. The damage has been done anyway, and I don't trust this administration to find anybody better.

Sonja backed Clarkson in, and worst of all, gave him too much control by having his mate Todd Viney as his only source of governance. So far it has backfired.

There's a lot of expectation for improvement next year, but I see a backline with Toby Pink, Luke McDonald, Aidan Corr, and Caleb Daniel, and I'm expecting another year of conceding an uncompetitive amount of scores. I wish I'm wrong and that we can finally push up the ladder, but if not we need to start holding our leaders accountable.

Fair call especially at the time.