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

[Colby Cheer Squad]

All sounds like a great bunch of excuses… until we lose to Hawthorn, the next worst, by 7 goals. Try again.

Why would I need to make excuses for Laidley? Anyone who is old enough to remember can list off Laidley's shortcomings as a coach. One of them was relating to and communicating with the younger players. There is no chance Laidley would make this current team significantly better.

 

[Hatchy1992]

Robbo is actually correct for a change. Mabye he hasn't been drinking tonight.

Clarko has had the bulk of last season robbed thanks to sam's mates at hawthorn. We have the youngest list in the competition and on top of that the hardest start to the year playing against seasoned bodies.

 

[harper2bastinac]

It feels like there have been a few years of mass delistings and 2020 was just one of them but just for argument's sake, it's worth considering which of these 2020 listed players could still be playing for us and making us a better team:

Jamie Macmillan, Majak Daw, Jasper Pittard, Ben Jacobs, Paul Ahern, Mason Wood, Sam Durdin, Marley Williams, Joel Crocker, Lachie Hosie and Tom Murphy.

From that year they should have left one of jmac or pittard just for one more year, would have rather Tom Murphy for another 2 years then recruit lachie young, wood was awful in 2020 but has been good for the saints and they should have left him seeing Ben brown was on the way out. The rest were either finished or injury prone.
The 2021 list changes were just as bad

 

[Black Diamond]

Aside from the obligatory "effort" comments, Robbo was correct. This isn't Clarkson's doing or lack of doing.

We haven't stuck to a strategy since the first half of Scott's tenure. There was no plan with Shaw and we abandoned what Noble was doing 18 months in.

I did not agree with punting bulk players after 2020, but we are where we are and we need to play what is in front.

If you think the strategy is wrong, just say so and tell us what you would rather we do. Then take a look over to what West Coast are doing. They have resisted the noise and nonsense from the fans and media. All of the key pillars are completely aligned, they know where they're at, they aren't jumping at shadows, and will begin a slow climb up the ladder soon. They are our example.

Frankly, maybe we should shut the door to the media for a while? We've usually been pretty good with them but it doesn't stop them sinking the boots in. Might as well give them nothing while we aren't winning much.

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

I feel like the racism saga has burnt him. I worry that, even subconsciously, there’s a question mark over him in the minds of the players and because of the unknown/unresolved factor of that investigation and/or the way Clarko seems to be a husk of himself, they don’t fully trust or invest in his ideas or system. Even if it’s not on purpose, they don’t commit somehow.

Honestly, if his addresses are as uninspiring as his press conferences, I’m not running through a bit of crepe paper for him… let alone brick walls.

100% this. I truly think deep down the whole thing just broke him as a person, and from the outside it just completely and irreparably decimated the mastermind aura he once had. I would say no doubt he has addressed the whole saga with his playing group, but I'm sure no matter what they tell him, or tell other people at the club, the entire playing list are Gen Z kids and they live their entire lives in the vacuum sealed unreality of the online world and it would be extremely difficult to separate the Clarko they are being coached by from the Clarko involved in the stories that have come out about him. There is also not a single person on the entire playing list that would have the gumption to tell him about any reservations they have to his face, particularly given the intimidating, old-school hyper-masculine presence he has. It was delusional to think a guy in such a bad frame of mind that he needed 3 months off to get his head together could come back to coach and everything would be hunky dory.

I got smashed for saying this early last year, understandably so, but I think the club should have parted ways with him then and there when the racism allegations first broke, it was wishful thinking to believe he could go on and do the job with that hanging over him. I've recalibrated that opinion, and right now I think he should never have tried to take the job on, and now should step down, because he obviously won't be sacked.

He doesn't need the money, doesn't need to achieve anything else in football, it is clearly not working and he could bring the club to the brink of extinction if he stays.

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

At times we sucked to watch too, but I remember drawing against Brisbane in 2003 and making a prelim the year we lost Thommo and didn’t even know if we’d exist by the end of it.

Laidley had flaws. I will be forever angry at the way Harro was treated (reading Boomer’s book in one sitting didn’t help this). And I know we were never a true flag threat.

But dammit I was proud and I enjoyed those years (only 06 being the exception). We had soul.
Now we don’t.

Back then the team would die on its feet, now we are living on our knees

 

[Skarrz]

100% this. I truly think deep down the whole thing just broke him as a person, and from the outside it just completely and irreparably decimated the mastermind aura he once had. I would say no doubt he has addressed the whole saga with his playing group, but I'm sure no matter what they tell him, or tell other people at the club, the entire playing list are Gen Z kids and they live their entire lives in the vacuum sealed unreality of the online world and it would be extremely difficult to separate the Clarko they are being coached by from the Clarko involved in the stories that have come out about him. There is also not a single person on the entire playing list that would have the gumption to tell him about any reservations they have to his face, particularly given the intimidating, old-school hyper-masculine presence he has. It was delusional to think a guy in such a bad frame of mind that he needed 3 months off to get his head together could come back to coach and everything would be hunky dory.

I got smashed for saying this early last year, understandably so, but I think the club should have parted ways with him then and there when the racism allegations first broke, it was wishful thinking to believe he could go on and do the job with that hanging over him. I've recalibrated that opinion, and right now I think he should never have tried to take the job on, and now should step down, because he obviously won't be sacked.

He doesn't need the money, doesn't need to achieve anything else in football, it is clearly not working and he will bring the club to the brink of extinction if he stays.

Bit dramatic mate

 

[Spud11]

100% this. I truly think deep down the whole thing just broke him as a person, and from the outside it just completely and irreparably decimated the mastermind aura he once had. I would say no doubt he has addressed the whole saga with his playing group, but I'm sure no matter what they tell him, or tell other people at the club, the entire playing list are Gen Z kids and they live their entire lives in the vacuum sealed unreality of the online world and it would be extremely difficult to separate the Clarko they are being coached by from the Clarko involved in the stories that have come out about him. There is also not a single person on the entire playing list that would have the gumption to tell him about any reservations they have to his face, particularly given the intimidating, old-school hyper-masculine presence he has. It was delusional to think a guy in such a bad frame of mind that he needed 3 months off to get his head together could come back to coach and everything would be hunky dory.

I got smashed for saying this early last year, understandably so, but I think the club should have parted ways with him then and there when the racism allegations first broke, it was wishful thinking to believe he could go on and do the job with that hanging over him. I've recalibrated that opinion, and right now I think he should never have tried to take the job on, and now should step down, because he obviously won't be sacked.

He doesn't need the money, doesn't need to achieve anything else in football, it is clearly not working and he will bring the club to the brink of extinction if he stays.

Something isn’t working. It’s a pity - we needed Clarko to get a second wind of cyclone proportions for him to replicate even half of his Hawks achievements.. The saga of the investigation and the toll on him and the players might’ve made that impossible

 

[koshari]

The list is shockingly bad, but I'm not sure it'd be any better if we'd kept half the blokes we cut?

No one, apart from maybe the fella that went to Saints, has gone anywhere else and been successful.

We've replaced our drafted sh*trucks with recruited sh*trucks. They'll be cut at the end of their contracts and this time we won't have PP's forced to be used on mature age recruits (which could be a blessing).

Drafting and development has been a disaster back to about the year after we drafted JZ. Unfortunately we still need to nail 2-3 more drafts, while still keeping spirits up....

F*$k!

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we just have to stop awarding such long contrats to cats,

 

[Ischenko]

Bit dramatic mate

Yeah the whole "Gen z don't live in reality thing" is just nonsense. Hav you read the news lately? They're putting their bodies on the line – literally – against riot cops FFS. We could use a bit of that energy.

Clarkson is old school no doubt but he's also shown that he is very open to learning and improving – I don't think that's just limited to being a better coach. He has three gen z children. Idk, I too have concerns that he could be mentally shot but I've also seen him happy and relaxed, explaining why he didn't tag Neale etc.
Too early to call.

 

[FlyHigh18]

the last four years feels like such a waste.
we need the give the man time to do his thing but the pressure for shortcuts is mounting.

i don't know what's worse, going another couple years like this until breakthrough or getting some cheap wins now and building a list that won't go past 8th.

 

[Sphynx]

the last four years feels like such a waste.
we need the give the man time to do his thing but the pressure for shortcuts is mounting.

i don't know what's worse, going another couple years like this until breakthrough or getting some cheap wins now and building a list that won't go past 8th.

He wont get the time. No chance. Not with the current results.


He either manages to right the ship in the remainder of this season or else the board (or the AFL may seriously step in and take control) will step in at the end of the year, I have no doubt.

He's about 3-4 weeks off losing the players completely with these sorts of performances. There's already signs of complete lack of effort and an appearance of confusion and apprehension.

At which point you will get an exodus of senior players heading for the hills during trade week (LDU, Zurhaar..) as theres ANOTHER coaching change.

The board can't let pride run itself into extinction.

I think we are in the most precarious position since the Vlad days at the moment, purely because of Fitzroy like results.

 

[Passmore]

the last four years feels like such a waste.
we need the give the man time to do his thing but the pressure for shortcuts is mounting.

i don't know what's worse, going another couple years like this until breakthrough or getting some cheap wins now and building a list that won't go past 8th.

Thankfully he's comfortable enough in his own skin to ignore the outside noise.

Last year was a write off, he was not fit mental state to be coaching an AFL team. He spent the off season restructuring the coaching set up, we've put a lot of resources into re building the club from the VFL up. Mick Barlow had options but chose us given what our vision is.

Six weeks into the season proper we want to wipe the whole thing and start again?

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[Event Horizon]

As much as I see the point David King is making, I think we absolutely have to give FULL trust to Clarkson. If nothing else he brings stability, quality assistants and some level of respect the club badly needs. If you think this noise is loud imagine what it would be like if we had anyone else coaching right now.

He’s definitely the best person we know for the job right now. Short if getting lucky with a McRae type of coach there isn’t anyone who could be guaranteed to do a better job in this position


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[B4Bear]

Thankfully he's comfortable enough in his own skin to ignore the outside noise.

Last year was a write off, he was not fit mental state to be coaching an AFL team. He spent the off season restructuring the coaching set up, we've put a lot of resources into re building the club from the VFL up. Mick Barlow had options but chose us given what our vision is.

Six weeks into the season proper we want to wipe the whole thing and start again?

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I hope the resilience of the playing group is stronger than the resilience of a large portion of the members and supporters.

 

[King Corey]

We have issues now for sure but comparing 2024 results to Laidley era results is flawed.

Laidley's senior group were all premiership players. Early draft picks were gambled for mature KPPs with mixed success. After a very youth oriented 2003 more 'quick fix' approaches were adopted after this.

A very capable group of understudies was being assembled who ultimately imo underachieved - Petrie, Harding, Spud, CJ, Hale, Wells, Hamish etc.

But most importantly Laidley was from 2004 playing for the "now". No real eye on the future, able to deploy the high quality premiership contingent to advantage. Total respect for Laidley as p especially withstanding the AFL political barrage in 2007.

But if Clarkson was tasked with winning at all costs right now I'm pretty sure he could come up with a dour game plan and mature player selections to bump up his odds considerably and probably do it better than Laidley would.

 

[muttley45]

Anyway we can do a Ben Jacobs with of our underperforming mid's and turn him into a weapon as a tagger ?

 

[koshari]

the last four years feels like such a waste.
we need the give the man time to do his thing but the pressure for shortcuts is mounting.

i don't know what's worse, going another couple years like this until breakthrough or getting some cheap wins now and building a list that won't go past 8th.

the cheap wins or plastering over the cracks was always the route that has been far tempting to follow, now it has all been peeled back and exposed for the house of cards it was its proven to be a little bit too unpalatable for some without the intestinal fortitude to go the distance, the patching stops and the rebuild continues,

the good thing is we don't have an old structure to patch up now so the easy path doesn't exist to tempt the admin now. its the long haul or nothing. and if anyone don't like it there's the door.

 

[Orange Peanut]

100% this. I truly think deep down the whole thing just broke him as a person, and from the outside it just completely and irreparably decimated the mastermind aura he once had. I would say no doubt he has addressed the whole saga with his playing group, but I'm sure no matter what they tell him, or tell other people at the club, the entire playing list are Gen Z kids and they live their entire lives in the vacuum sealed unreality of the online world and it would be extremely difficult to separate the Clarko they are being coached by from the Clarko involved in the stories that have come out about him. There is also not a single person on the entire playing list that would have the gumption to tell him about any reservations they have to his face, particularly given the intimidating, old-school hyper-masculine presence he has. It was delusional to think a guy in such a bad frame of mind that he needed 3 months off to get his head together could come back to coach and everything would be hunky dory.

I got smashed for saying this early last year, understandably so, but I think the club should have parted ways with him then and there when the racism allegations first broke, it was wishful thinking to believe he could go on and do the job with that hanging over him. I've recalibrated that opinion, and right now I think he should never have tried to take the job on, and now should step down, because he obviously won't be sacked.

He doesn't need the money, doesn't need to achieve anything else in football, it is clearly not working and he could bring the club to the brink of extinction if he stays.

I don't agree but get your point.

None of us can be sure of his mental state, and i don't think it's fair to make assumptions from afar.

The guy has a history of being a student of sporting tactics and psychology. he has implemented this to win 4 flags including a fricken threepeat.

Sunday was horrible but it came on the back of multiple games against much more physically developed opponents. I'm not at the point yet where a stinker like that has me shelving my confidence in what he is building.

I do understand why some are getting nervous, but the whole push to get rid of him and start again (again) is mind bogglingly short- sighted I reckon.

 

[Black Diamond]

Two dangers with the long haul approach (which I support):

1. Players getting used to losing. Melbourne and Brisbane dragged themselves out of that mindset though; and

2. The suspicion that our playing group is very soft and unable to take the heat. If so, get ready for tears.

 

[DrZaius]

the last four years feels like such a waste.
we need the give the man time to do his thing but the pressure for shortcuts is mounting.

i don't know what's worse, going another couple years like this until breakthrough or getting some cheap wins now and building a list that won't go past 8th.

So winning (or even being competitive against) the only other winless team in the competition would be nothing more than a cheap sugar hit indicative of a list that doesn't have the potential to be anything more than mid table?

* me dead things aren't that black and white.

If we continue to lose in this manner we aren't just going to magically wake up one day and start challenging and we'll just be having the exact same conversations on this forum over and over about some mythical time 2-3 years in the future when things suddenly click.

 

[King Corey]

Anyway we can do a Ben Jacobs with of our underperforming mid's and turn him into a weapon as a tagger ?

Tucker was my nomination for this. Seems a no brainer- has the fitness, size and discipline.

 

[DrZaius]

He wont get the time. No chance. Not with the current results.


He either manages to right the ship in the remainder of this season or else the board (or the AFL may seriously step in and take control) will step in at the end of the year, I have no doubt.

He's about 3-4 weeks off losing the players completely with these sorts of performances. There's already signs of complete lack of effort and an appearance of confusion and apprehension.

At which point you will get an exodus of senior players heading for the hills during trade week (LDU, Zurhaar..) as theres ANOTHER coaching change.

The board can't let pride run itself into extinction.

I think we are in the most precarious position since the Vlad days at the moment, purely because of Fitzroy like results.

I don't think there's any danger of Clarko not coaching us in 2025 (and FWIW I think he absolutely should be our coach), but you just know if players like LDU & Zurhaar do start to leave we will get the chorus of coping mechanisms on this forum of how we are "better off without them" because they "aren't prepared for the journey" etc. which will then turn to mockery and dismissal of those who do not share that opinion.

Already the tone in this thread has shifted back to thinly veiled swipes and derision of anyone questioning the process. Imagine suggesting to anyone on here who has sat through the last 5 (or really 25) years of this club that they lack resilience? Spare me.

 

[Horizons_00]

Anyway we can do a Ben Jacobs with of our underperforming mid's and turn him into a weapon as a tagger ?

I don’t think Clarko wants a tagger

 

[giantroo]