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

[HairyO]

Okay mate.

Stick your membership card in the microwave and be sure to give SEN a call

I said when we dumped Clarko I wouldnt be a member while Jeff was there and Im stil unhappy at how Mitchell was brought in and still not a member.

Im not at all surprised at how we are going. He has taken a huge risk by rebuilding so savagely.

 

[ferball]

Pies must be pretty happy the Hawks execs and board dropped everything to sign up Mitchell to stop him going to the Pies.

Roos too I guess.

Shiels is a gun. Perfect for a rebuilding side like us. And probably you mob as well. Tho maybe he needed a change of scenery to buy into it properly.

But he definitely has bought in with us. His commitment is unreal and honestly I knew he was a good player but he is alot harder than I ever would have given him credit for. I guess you pick up more watching your own players cos you watch them carefully and regularly.

 

[the big lebowski]

Rubbish. Mitchell chose to throw everything away and start again from scratch. Which literally everyone other than a few rusted ons said went too far.

I mentioned late last year that I’d spoken to some afl players that live and breath footy, that it was common perception and opinion around afl circles that some clubs were looking at tassie19 coming in with the view load up on high end draft picks now to get ahead of the inevitable draft concessions they will receive.

Hawthorn seems to be an extreme example of that.

Personally I wouldn’t be worried about it if I supported the hawks. But having lived through 2021 and especially 2022, I know how heard it is to accept.

 

[the big lebowski]

So I’m not really familiar with clarko as a coach at hawthorn. Obviously he is completely and historically successful as a coach, has a firm personality, and has anger issues, but I haven’t followed his career particularly closely. Until now of course.

In his second coaching stint at north, he’s equaled our success last year in round 2 and from afar has physically, emotionally, tactically turned the club around. I’m not commenting on his long term success potential at north, but some interesting onfield changes he’s made are

1: turned our second best forward match winner into a midfielder getting career best disposal and clearance numbers.

2: got older players playing footy the defies even supporter expectations

3: played plenty of youth whilst still making young players have to earn games

4: seemingly revolutionising how a coach coaches on game day. He’s clearly walking the boundary like a soccer coach. It’s so jarring that it has drawn criticism from people that can only criticise. He also brought Brett ratten

Brett Ratten

Age

52

Ht

184cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.4

5star

K

12.1

4star

HB

10.3

5star

M

2.9

3star

T

3.0

5star

No current season stats available

D

26.4

5star

K

13.8

5star

HB

12.6

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

1.6

4star

in to be match day coach in the box.

5: turned out forward match winner no 1 draft pick into a half back flanker, getting historically all time stats, despite never playing there.

6: cherry picked a retired senior player he used to coach to add to the group making a very strong contribution.

Pretty good start.m

Edit: all while dealing with a life changing set of allegations, uncertainty etc

 

[Bojan KantKick]

Too early to tell if Clarko can lead North to a flag but it is pretty clear that footy hasn't gone past him.

 

[Xtreme]

Clarko is the GOAT coach for a reason

 

[The Nostradamus]

Clarko is the GOAT coach for a reason

Yep Will finish with more than 4 flags

 

[boncer34]

Happy smiling Clarko on the bench seems to have vanished.

 

[T2B_]

Clarko is the GOAT coach for a reason

He is but even the greatest coaches of all time have an expiry date.

 

[Xtreme]

He is but even the greatest coaches of all time have an expiry date.

Sheedy had 32ish years as a coach

Clarko has a few more years yet before his expiry date

 

[Ambrosia]

I know North are trying to make their young players earn their spots but would the young guys really do much worse?

North fielded plenty of plus 30 year olds and list cloggers against Brisbane.

 

[The acurate one]

al clarko isn’t a dill he knows we have massive gaps in our list
Will be interesting how he manages that at seasons end.

 

[Redline]

Too early to tell if Clarko can lead North to a flag but it is pretty clear that footy hasn't gone past him.

Agreed, I think there was always going to be a level of improvement with a better coach and that generally leads to better effort.

 

[boncer34]

Sheedy had 32ish years as a coach

Clarko has a few more years yet before his expiry date

Sheedy expired after 23

 

[Xtreme]

Sheedy expired after 23

If that were true he'd have been axed way earlier

 

[Elite Master]

If that were true he'd have been axed way earlier

Not necessarily.

 

[boncer34]

If that were true he'd have been axed way earlier

At Essendon?

Ha!

 

[BG32]

It's still too early to come to conclusions North do have some decent young players and should draw in some good free agents

 

[Engimal v3]

Happy smiling Clarko on the bench seems to have vanished.

Clarko is happy when he wins, not happy when he loses?

It's a bold theory, but I acknowledge the courage you have to come forward with it

 

[fnerd]

The new coach honeymoon well and truly over.
Were back to their abysmal best yesterday

 

[boncer34]

The messiah is having trouble.

 

[SSSSSS]

Stubbornly persisting with the likes of Howe, Tucker, Turner and Shiels. Don't say we didn't warn you North, while their pick 3 midfielder languishes in the 2s.

Don't say we didn't warn you North.

No semblance of a game plan yesterday. Same David Noble headless chook stuff.

 

[the harry]

 

[Rich01]

Stubbornly persisting with the likes of Howe, Tucker, Turner and Shiels. Don't say we didn't warn you North, while their pick 3 midfielder languishes in the 2s.

Don't say we didn't warn you North.

No semblance of a game plan yesterday. Same David Noble headless chook stuff.

Yep, games they are giving to these guys shouldn’t be at the expense of young talent.

They have Wardlaw in the twos. Not sure who else is pushing for selection though.

 

[HairyO]

Stubbornly persisting with the likes of Howe, Tucker, Turner and Shiels. Don't say we didn't warn you North, while their pick 3 midfielder languishes in the 2s.

So which 4 players come in for those 4, and what have they been achieving in the VFL ?