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

[blackshadow]

Huge improvement in our first game under Clarko.

Showed some solid foundations but a lot of scope for improvement.

 

[Engimal v3]

Oddsmakers are rushing to their computers to shorten North's odds for the flag

 

[E Shed]

Plenty of talented youngsters at North. Hawthorn too for that matter. I’m not sure either team is going to be the easybeats people are suggesting.
Great first outing from them today. Clarkson repulses me with his public persona but he can coach.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Angus Young]

1-0.

 

[peetoo]

Took 4 games to get a win at hawthorn

 

[The_Reaper]

Everything is easy in hindsight. I vividly remember driving home from uni in 2004, listening to SEN and a hawthorn supporter called in to talk to dermie about how they should have picked up David hale over hodge.

Then they recruited Hale, waited two years for him to get used to the club and proceeded to threepeat. He then retired and they haven't looked close since.

Imagine if they drafted him in 2002?

 

[peetoo]

Kangaroos grilled over 'frankly pathetic' Alastair Clarkson backflip
By Chris De Silva - 2 days ago

Caroline Wilson has revealed that several stakeholders around the AFL aren't happy with Alastair Clarkson's comments after a blow-up with a journalist
Veteran reporter Caroline Wilson has revealed there are fears around the AFL surrounding the pressure Alastair Clarkson is under, with questions raised over his level of power at North Melbourne.

The four-time premiership winner apologised to the 9News reporter involved in the confrontation, but followed it with a bizarre interview with Channel Seven in which he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't repeat the attack.

Wilson, who has been a vocal critic of Clarkson's behaviour, revealed that Nine had lodged an "official complaint" to North Melbourne after his interview with Seven.

"It's just extraordinary that this is still bubbling away," she told Nine's Footy Classified.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 04: Kangaroos head coach Alastair Clarkson looks on during the AFL Practice Match between the Western Bulldogs and the North Melbourne Kangaroos at Ikon Park on March 04, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )
Alastair Clarkson's start to life at North Melbourne has been rocky to say the least (Daniel Pockett via Getty Images)
"Alastair's apology was weird to say the least from what we can glean. There was an apology, but it was a very strange meeting here at Channel Nine.

"Why apologise if you're going to come out and say that a few days later? It was frankly pathetic and Channel Nine thought so, I gather, and have lodged an official complaint with the Kangaroos.

"Another meeting has taken place not involving Alastair Clarkson, but still we have nothing official from the Kangaroos. So I ask you: who is in control here?

"There are people in football who are very concerned, Alastair Clarkson, about the pressure he's under, about the resentment, bitterness and anger he feels ... and the frustration ongoing because he can't speak. But nothing excuses that tripe. What was 'unjust' and 'untoward' about a reporter doing her job?"

Wilson added that Clarkson's behaviour had angered several stakeholders around the league.

This is just scuttlebut

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

Imagine writing off arguably the GOAT coach because he didn't win premierships after 2015. Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

47

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

was given 10 years to get another flag, but Clarko was suppose to get another one for the Hawks by 2021?
Time will tell, but if I prefer not to bet against champions

The whole 'Clarko was terrible after 2015' thing is grossly exaggerated, and I am honestly friggin staggered so many Hawks supporters seem to be willing the throw him under the bus and go along with that narrative.
16-top 4
17- 10 wins one draw 4 losses under 20pts
18-top 4
19-11-11
21- 7 wins 2 draws 5 losses under 20 pts
Only 2020 was a true stinker, but given the disarray of Covid, he can be forgiven for that surely to Christ?

 

[SSSSSS]

The whole 'Clarko was terrible after 2015' thing is grossly exaggerated, and I am honestly friggin staggered so many Hawks supporters seem to be willing the throw him under the bus and go along with that narrative.
16-top 4
17- 10 wins one draw 4 losses under 20pts
18-top 4
19-11-11
21- 7 wins 2 draws 5 losses under 20 pts
Only 2020 was a true stinker, but given the disarray of Covid, he can be forgiven for that surely to Christ?

I don't think any rational Hawthorn supporter would say Clarko was terrible after 2015. Boring. Yep. Stubborn. Yep. Still a great coach no doubt but his ideas were tired. All good things must come to an end and father time caught up with Clarko's tactics at the Hawks.

He could grind out results but he and Wright completely misread the situations and played the cards they were dealt horribly. His footy was also dour and downright depressing to watch, even when we won. Very stubborn to change and picked his favourites which resulted in plenty of kids not getting enough exposure to help expedite the rebuild.

It was clear that a new direction was needed. Clarko's was still playing a system stuck in the 2015 era (while having significantly less skill in the side to pull it off). Chipping the ball around looks great when you have 22 elite kicks in the side. Not so good when you have maybe 10.

Under Mitchell we are playing modern footy that focuses more on the corridor and less work along the boundary. We will have some teething issues as we lack the skill and maturity to pull it off consistently but we have periods where we look very dangerous.

The time off for Clarko has been good. He has no doubt now adapted to modern footy if we can base anything off North's Round 1 performance. Seems a completely different gameplan to what he was stubbornly trying to implement at Hawthorn.

 

[perplexed]

Carltons drafting in 1996-2001 was similar to Your mob North Melboune in 2013-16: Not focusing on the 18 or 19 year old kids, it was topping up for another tilt for the flag.

This is a bit of a myth. We used our first and second round picks throughout this period, and every year from 2006-2019. The older players we picked up in this time were free agents. The biggest problem was that we had a period from 2010-2016 where our drafting, with a few exceptions, was dreadful. As a result we have a big hole in our list of quality players in this age bracket. They should now be in the peak of their careers (25-31) but have mostly been delisted.

 

[ferball]

I don't think any rational Hawthorn supporter would say Clarko was terrible after 2015. Boring. Yep. Stubborn. Yep. Still a great coach no doubt but his ideas were tired. All good things must come to an end and father time caught up with Clarko's tactics at the Hawks.

He could grind out results but he and Wright completely misread the situations and played the cards they were dealt horribly. His footy was also dour and downright depressing to watch, even when we won. Very stubborn to change and picked his favourites which resulted in plenty of kids not getting enough exposure to help expedite the rebuild.

It was clear that a new direction was needed. Clarko's was still playing a system stuck in the 2015 era (while having significantly less skill in the side to pull it off). Chipping the ball around looks great when you have 22 elite kicks in the side. Not so good when you have maybe 10.

Under Mitchell we are playing modern footy that focuses more on the corridor and less work along the boundary. We will have some teething issues as we lack the skill and maturity to pull it off consistently but we have periods where we look very dangerous.

The time off for Clarko has been good. He has no doubt now adapted to modern footy if we can base anything off North's Round 1 performance. Seems a completely different gameplan to what he was stubbornly trying to implement at Hawthorn.

He said by the end of his time at Hawthorn he felt like a manager, not a coach, i think because of all the quality people he delegated stuff to. Said it made him stale basically, without using those exact words.

 

[speedy]

This is just scuttlebut

Caro making s**t up is what it is...and then other reporters reporting on what she said.

 

[SSSSSS]

He said by the end of his time at Hawthorn he felt like a manager, not a coach, i think because of all the quality people he delegated stuff to. Said it made him stale basically, without using those exact words.

I wonder if Sam was taking the reigns at that point. There was definitely a shift in our ball movement and selection after it was announced that Clarko was stepping down and Mitchell stepping up.

If there is one thing Clarko has definitely still got is finding and developing quality assistants. He's a great teacher.

 

[peetoo]

I don't think any rational Hawthorn supporter would say Clarko was terrible after 2015. Boring. Yep. Stubborn. Yep. Still a great coach no doubt but his ideas were tired. All good things must come to an end and father time caught up with Clarko's tactics at the Hawks.

He could grind out results but he and Wright completely misread the situations and played the cards they were dealt horribly. His footy was also dour and downright depressing to watch, even when we won. Very stubborn to change and picked his favourites which resulted in plenty of kids not getting enough exposure to help expedite the rebuild.

It was clear that a new direction was needed. Clarko's was still playing a system stuck in the 2015 era (while having significantly less skill in the side to pull it off). Chipping the ball around looks great when you have 22 elite kicks in the side. Not so good when you have maybe 10.

Under Mitchell we are playing modern footy that focuses more on the corridor and less work along the boundary. We will have some teething issues as we lack the skill and maturity to pull it off consistently but we have periods where we look very dangerous.

The time off for Clarko has been good. He has no doubt now adapted to modern footy if we can base anything off North's Round 1 performance. Seems a completely different gameplan to what he was stubbornly trying to implement at Hawthorn.

It has to be recounted that the whole club was behind the strategy = the five year plan

 

[Freomaniac]

This is a bit of a myth. We used our first and second round picks throughout this period, and every year from 2006-2019. The older players we picked up in this time were free agents. The biggest problem was that we had a period from 2010-2016 where our drafting, with a few exceptions, was dreadful. As a result we have a big hole in our list of quality players in this age bracket. They should now be in the peak of their careers (25-31) but have mostly been delisted.

Ok thats a fair enough view....

I could understand why your teams drafting from 2010-16 wasnt great. 2010-11 We that was different. Gold coast had most of the early picks in 2010 draft. Yet some teams got the occasional serviceable player past pick 20. GWS had most of the early picks in 2011.

As far as 2014-16 drafts. well your mob made finals. Your not getting a top 5 pick while playing finals unless a team made a deal with your team and traded their future 1st rounder.

Again... Freos I could tell you every 1st round pick from 2007-14. And most of them were either injury prone players, dud players or both.

But Looking at freos drafting from 2010-15, they didnt have access to early picks as they made finals in 2010, 2012-15. Equalization as its called.

Your team struggles, you have access to an early pick, a top 5 pick in some cases. Teams can either use a top 5 pick or trade it for a couple of mid to last 1st rounders and either get a couple of gun teenagers or trade a 1st rounder for a dcent 21-25 year old.

With expansion coming in Again.... Tassie as the 19th side and a possible 20th side, its common for teams to go through 5 or 6 years in a row of no finals. teams need to have that good batch of 21-25 year olds to contend for finals.


I still remember every non North Melbourne fan on big footy sinking the boots on North after their mass clean out at the end of 2021. Yeah they got rid of 12-14 players in one sitting. You could make a small argument of keeping 2 or 3 in the list for one more year. But in the end The North Board and Big Footy North melbourne fans were correct.

 

[perplexed]

Ok thats a fair enough view....

I could understand why your teams drafting from 2010-16 wasnt great. 2010-11 We that was different. Gold coast had most of the early picks in 2010 draft. Yet some teams got the occasional serviceable player past pick 20. GWS had most of the early picks in 2011.

As far as 2014-16 drafts. well your mob made finals. Your not getting a top 5 pick while playing finals unless a team made a deal with your team and traded their future 1st rounder.

Again... Freos I could tell you every 1st round pick from 2007-14. And most of them were either injury prone players, dud players or both.

But Looking at freos drafting from 2010-15, they didnt have access to early picks as they made finals in 2010, 2012-15. Equalization as its called.

Your team struggles, you have access to an early pick, a top 5 pick in some cases. Teams can either use a top 5 pick or trade it for a couple of mid to last 1st rounders and either get a couple of gun teenagers or trade a 1st rounder for a dcent 21-25 year old.

With expansion coming in Again.... Tassie as the 19th side and a possible 20th side, its common for teams to go through 5 or 6 years in a row of no finals. teams need to have that good batch of 21-25 year olds to contend for finals.


I still remember every non North Melbourne fan on big footy sinking the boots on North after their mass clean out at the end of 2021. Yeah they got rid of 12-14 players in one sitting. You could make a small argument of keeping 2 or 3 in the list for one more year. But in the end The North Board and Big Footy North melbourne fans were correct.

Sorry to debunk another popularly held myth, but the story of North gutting its team in 2020 is grossly exaggerated. That was the year of the drop in list sizes and every team cut hard. Overall 201 players were delisted or traded out at an average of 11 per club.

Retirements, delistings, trades - AFL.com.au

The biggest list cuts of 2020 were North and Essendon at 15, followed by Brisbane, Hawthorn, Collingwood and St. Kilda at 13.

Of the players delisted by North, only Mason Wood and Majak Daw got picked up by other clubs.

Whilst our cut was equal largest, you could argue that Brisbane cut the same as us and both Collingwood and Essendon cut harder as we traded in four established players and those teams didn’t bring in as many. Compared to other teams, our list cut was nowhere near as large as claimed by many. We just chose to cut eleven at once immediately after our season ended which created much media excitement at the time and created a faulty narrative has come to be treated as a fact.

 

[ferball]

It has to be recounted that the whole club was behind the strategy = the five year plan

That's one thing Clarkson constantly says - everyone needs to be on board with the plan or direction to make it work.

 

[Freomaniac]

That's one thing Clarkson constantly says - everyone needs to be on board with the plan or direction to make it work.

Well its already one game into Clarksons coaching at North and he is already having North in the right direction.

I wont be shocked if you beat my mob in perth this round. Especially in current form.

 

[Le Grille]

Well its already one game into Clarksons coaching at North and he is already having North in the right direction.

I wont be shocked if you beat my mob in perth this round. Especially in current form.

It’ll be tough but you gotta be in it to win it

 

[Freomaniac]

It’ll be tough but you gotta be in it to win it

you have Always been one of the Better North Melbourne posters on Big Footy.

You never went crazy or searched for blood or become bloodthirsty when someone sinks the boots in on North.

 

[ferball]

Well its already one game into Clarksons coaching at North and he is already having North in the right direction.

I wont be shocked if you beat my mob in perth this round. Especially in current form.

I think you guys are vulnerable.

I reckon Clarko will too.

It seems unlikely on the face of it but you just never know.

Alot of North supporters would think our list is better than our performances and our new footy department should fix that. There'll be at least one ex Freo player wanting to make a point too. I'd still have you guys favorites but not hot favorites.

 

[shintemaster]

Took 4 games to get a win at hawthorn

So, basic maths ... 16 premierships to come? ******* sweet.

 

[Freomaniac]

I think you guys are vulnerable.

I reckon Clarko will too.

It seems unlikely on the face of it but you just never know.

Alot of North supporters would think our list is better than our performances and our new footy department should fix that. There'll be at least one ex Freo player wanting to make a point too. I'd still have you guys favorites but not hot favorites.

yeah griffin Logue had a solid debut game for North.

I got no animosity towards Darcy Tucker. He had 7 solid years at the dockers. It sucked both of those blokes spent most of their years help rebuilding the dockers

 

[ferball]

yeah griffin Logue had a solid debut game for North.

I got no animosity towards Darcy Tucker. He had 7 solid years at the dockers. It sucked both of those blokes spent most of their years help rebuilding the dockers

Logue was too good to be waiting for a spot on a spot on your backline.

Dunno much about Tucker - its a bit different when guys commit to a side for years then move on tho. Instead of deserting a year after being drafted.

 

[HairyO]

I don't think any rational Hawthorn supporter would say Clarko was terrible after 2015. Boring. Yep. Stubborn. Yep. Still a great coach no doubt but his ideas were tired. All good things must come to an end and father time caught up with Clarko's tactics at the Hawks.

He could grind out results but he and Wright completely misread the situations and played the cards they were dealt horribly.

He should have known that Rough would get cancer, Cyril would retire early, Mitchell would miss an entire season with a broken leg, etc.