He also had some fantastic assistants in his time at Hawthorn, whereas he's taking the bulk of the soft cap payments now, so they can't seem do the same at North.
-
Mobile App Discontinued
Due to a number of factors, support for the current BigFooty mobile app has been discontinued. Your BigFooty login will no longer work on the Tapatalk or the BigFooty App - which is based on Tapatalk.
Apologies for any inconvenience. We will try to find a replacement.
Analysis North Melbourne
- Thread starter cybercrab
- Start date
- Tagged users None
🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.
‘Stay patient,’ he says — all while pocketing $1.5 million a season. He’s milking the AFL and NMFC on the back of a reputation that no longer holds up.
So what you're really saying is it wasn't Clarkson who masterminded Hawthorn's success - it was his assistants pulling the strings behind the scenes. Clarkson had a stable of future head coaches at Hawthorn: Hardwick, Fagan, Beveridge, Simpson
- the list goes on, and all of them went on to lead other clubs, winning flags themselves.
Now at North, Clarkson's still getting paid handsomely, has assistants, and let's not forget, a stockpile of first-round talent thanks to priority picks gifted by the AFL. Yet, despite all that, he's delivered absolutely nothing.
No finals, no genuine progress - just excuses. Maybe it's time to admit: without elite support staff, Clarkson isn't the genius everyone thinks he is.
Log in to remove this Banner Ad
I think 2026 is the season that they will have to elevate themselves upto finals contention and a 10-12 win season at the bare minimum will be required.
Horse is waiting in the wings and should have had enough of a holiday to get back into coaching
We were never gpoing to make finals in Clarkson's five years. The club was far too far gone for that. Thius year has been hoorible though, and a step backwards. I can't see finals as a possibility for a very long time now. I could see some hope toward the end of last year, not a skerrick now. Next year is bottom two for certain, spoon very much the most likely.
PrancingPony
Club Legend
- Aug 10, 2025
- 1,131
- 2,278
- AFL Club
- Fremantle
They'll need to show some remarkable improvement next year, they've been stuck in this cycle for ages.
Clarkson clearly isn't the coach he used to be either.
Clarkson clearly isn't the coach he used to be either.
Im a bit more confident in North than you i think
I see them getting better and have been good this year without winning and i had them winning 7-8 games this year and probably unlucky to fall short in 3-4 games this season and with experience these wins should happen
- Jun 22, 2015
- 4,897
- 6,290
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
- Other Teams
- Nuggets
Pot calling the kettle black
A stockpile of first-round talent thanks to priority picks gifted by the AFL????
You’re being silly.
Clearly Clarkson had nothing to do with any of those flags at Hawthorn, he just got lucky, anyone could of won those.
I think North did show improvement this season. Up to 5.5 wins and some very competitive losses.
From memory, they only had four dead-set shockers this season: Sydney where they didn't give a yelp, Carlton on GF, and the Hawthorn/Geelong games where they got belted. Every other loss they were in it until around 3/4 time before being over-run in the final term. A percentage jump from 63% in 2024 to 76% this year proves they were staying in games for longer and not getting blown off the park every second week.
Still a very young team with a few holes in the list and a few obvious 'stop gap' players, but there was improvement there too. They found a few guys like Trembath, O'Sullivan looked at home in AFL, McKercher took the next step, Comben looks like he can hold down KPD and stayed reasonably fit.
North fans will be annoyed they let a few wins slip, but can be pretty confident IMHO about doing much better in 2026.
From memory, they only had four dead-set shockers this season: Sydney where they didn't give a yelp, Carlton on GF, and the Hawthorn/Geelong games where they got belted. Every other loss they were in it until around 3/4 time before being over-run in the final term. A percentage jump from 63% in 2024 to 76% this year proves they were staying in games for longer and not getting blown off the park every second week.
Still a very young team with a few holes in the list and a few obvious 'stop gap' players, but there was improvement there too. They found a few guys like Trembath, O'Sullivan looked at home in AFL, McKercher took the next step, Comben looks like he can hold down KPD and stayed reasonably fit.
North fans will be annoyed they let a few wins slip, but can be pretty confident IMHO about doing much better in 2026.
I agree that improvement is clear when looking at
Wins
Ladder position
%
Clarkos stated goal of being in more games at 3qtr time
I’d also say that two areas of the ground showed clear improvement.
Midfield - one of the best stoppage sides in the comp with plenty of improvement to come. And also upped possession rates (which might not be that great a thing).
Forward line - if not for injury and suspension we’d have had 3 players kick 40 plus goals.
However there was zero improvement in the team for defence and restricting opposition ball movement.
Our own ball movement was tedious at times with way too much over possessing of the ball. It’s this over possession that cost us on turnovers imo. If a team applies the pressure we continually fall into the trap of not adjusting and turning over on half back or the wing with the whole team caught out of position. This has been an issue since before clarko started.
And our defence as a whole, still seems
Unable to execute what they are being told. They didn’t lose that much one vs one but get killed with unmanned opposition scoring when in the clear. Jeremy Cameron’s 10 goals were an example of this. Just ran around by himself for 4 qrts with no one going near him.
It will continue to be slow improvement unless we can fix these two issues
I've got a lot of sympathy for North because six consecutive years in the bottom 4 is a pretty rough experience. We (the Suns) spent five consecutive years in the bottom 4 after getting close to the finals in 2014 before Gaz did his shoulder. The following five years in the bottom 4 felt like an eternity! West Coast have also spent four consecutive years in the bottom 4 so they're verging on that teritory.
It's just very demoralising as a supporter to experience so much losing over half a decade and it's really difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You constantly hear things from others like 'you've got a bright future' or 'you'll be better for this in the long run' but that doesn't make it any easier. It possibly makes it even worse because you know that means they don't see you as any kind of threat in your current state and there are never any guarantees of future success in footy.
It's not until you start getting close to 10 wins a season that you really start to believe things are turning.
WesternSydneyHawk
Senior List
- Mar 19, 2023
- 157
- 315
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
At Hawthorn, he had Graham Wright as a list manager.
He had Damien Hardwick, Luke Beveridge, Adam Simpson, Leon Cameron, Brett Ratten, Brendon Bolton, and Chris Fagan as his assistant coaches.
He had a forward line that included the likes of Buddy Franklin, Jack Gunston, Luke Breust, Jarryd Roughead, Cyril Rioli, and Paul Puopolo.
He had a talented and versatile ruckman in Ben McEvoy, tapping to a midfield that included Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge, Jordan Lewis, Shaun Burgoyne, Isaac Smith, Brad Hill, and until 2008, Shane Crawford.
And he had the likes of Brian Lake, Josh Gibson, Ben Stratton, and Grant Birchall in his back line.
Most of the players I just mentioned would've been walk-up starts for best 22 at pretty much every other club at the time.
Now, noone is arguing Clarko didn't earn his success.
But at the same time, you look at the assistant coaches he was working with and the onfield talent he was working with.
It wasn't exactly all down to just Clarko being a gigabrain supergenius tactician either.
And here's the thing.
When Clarko hasn't had the same calibre of assistants and players, he's coached some pretty ordinary football. That's both in his later years at Hawthorn and now at North.
Now, if he can at least get North playing finals footy in the next two or three years, then his legacy is secure.
But until then, it's an open question on how much of the threepeat was Clarko, as opposed to the list and the assistant coaches he was working with.
Norths issues are self inflicted. I have no idea why anyone would be blaming the AFL in all of this.
I have started to see some unique problems that North do face that other clubs dont, the first one being is that they are a very unattractive club in the eyes of FAs or players looking to move sides, return back to Victoria etc.
From a FA and trade point of view, North have pretty much done all they can. They have offered big money to try and lure a big fish, yet none bit.
If they arnt able to attract these quality FAs or players then their chances of rising up the table are slimmer than otherwise would be.
They thought the lure of players wanting to play under Clarkson would be attractive, but that hasn't moved the needle, and maybe made it worse, as Clarkson has a pretty divided reputation with players, with a fair chunk of them not wanting to go under him.
They are soley relying on the draft and topping up with older, cheaper FAs who are on their last legs and no longer wanted by their current teams.
You are going to have real issues building a premiership side doing that.
Unless they have an amazing strike rate at the draft, nailing all their later picks and rookies, in all the positions they have a need for, its going to be a long haul. Shit, its already been a long haul, just how much longer is the question.
Short term its really hard to see how North can do what's needed to make the club more attractive.
Players want to play in front of big crowds, and North have one of the smaller supporter bases. The less successful you are on field, the less people want to go and watch you play.
The reputation of the club is one of them being on the bones of their arse, with training facilities not matching up with the best in the league. Training facilities is one of the big selling points clubs use to try and lure players.
How North can change that perception, Wether real or not, in a short period of time is the issue.
To me, these are the issues North have
I have started to see some unique problems that North do face that other clubs dont, the first one being is that they are a very unattractive club in the eyes of FAs or players looking to move sides, return back to Victoria etc.
From a FA and trade point of view, North have pretty much done all they can. They have offered big money to try and lure a big fish, yet none bit.
If they arnt able to attract these quality FAs or players then their chances of rising up the table are slimmer than otherwise would be.
They thought the lure of players wanting to play under Clarkson would be attractive, but that hasn't moved the needle, and maybe made it worse, as Clarkson has a pretty divided reputation with players, with a fair chunk of them not wanting to go under him.
They are soley relying on the draft and topping up with older, cheaper FAs who are on their last legs and no longer wanted by their current teams.
You are going to have real issues building a premiership side doing that.
Unless they have an amazing strike rate at the draft, nailing all their later picks and rookies, in all the positions they have a need for, its going to be a long haul. Shit, its already been a long haul, just how much longer is the question.
Short term its really hard to see how North can do what's needed to make the club more attractive.
Players want to play in front of big crowds, and North have one of the smaller supporter bases. The less successful you are on field, the less people want to go and watch you play.
The reputation of the club is one of them being on the bones of their arse, with training facilities not matching up with the best in the league. Training facilities is one of the big selling points clubs use to try and lure players.
How North can change that perception, Wether real or not, in a short period of time is the issue.
To me, these are the issues North have
CURVE
Formally DEVO
- Sep 8, 2000
- 22,228
- 27,773
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
- Other Teams
- Eels, Cumbrians, Staggies & La Coruna
I read that I thought I was reading a Caroline Wilson article from 2005.
CURVE
Formally DEVO
- Sep 8, 2000
- 22,228
- 27,773
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
- Other Teams
- Eels, Cumbrians, Staggies & La Coruna
A lot has changed, the fact you don't know that says more about you and why any opinion you may have about the NMFC is not worth the toilet paper I wipe my arse with.
🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.
It seems you’re not across what self inflicted means
I kinda am.
All the issues North have are internal ones. Its nothing the AFL or anyone has done that has them where they are.
A clubs image is something the club can improve. Club finances are something a club can improve.
Training facilities is something a club can improve.
Supporter base increases with on field success and engagement with the local area.
Nailing draft picks, late and early is something the club is in charge of.
The common thread with North supporters seems to be that the AFL has let them down, or the academies and FS is the reason they havent nailed their draft picks, the AFL has given them a poor draw and not enough good time zones etc etc etc.
I will give North credit for a couple of things.
They did go out and get who was considered the best AFL coach to lead their team. Now, Wether that will turn out a success or not will be determined further down the road.
They have also tried to get high quality players to come to their club with big financial offers. Clubs have to be prepared to do that to get players in.
Let’s be clear, north have made a heap of mistakes
But let’s not pretend that the environment the club operates in isn’t a limiting factor
But we are on the same page. The only way out of this is via draft and maybe some moneyball type trading.
Maybe when the club is clearly on the up fee agency/larger trades might be an option. Until then it’s a hard road to hoe.
But the limiting factor is something only the club can change. The AFL cant do anything about Norths image for instance.
The Western Bulldogs along with North were considered the two smallest Victorian sides, and the two under the most pressure to survive.
The Bulldogs have a very talented team, they have a good image now, and top level players and FAs dont look down their nose at them as a potential home.
Sure, the fact they are in a window to compete in finals helps, but again that's something the club had to change to be there.
Oh please list all the gun free agents the dogs have got
I didnt say they had a heap, I said they dont get looked down on. Theres rumours that the Bulldogs are the favourites if Butters leaves Port.
The Bulldogs are said to be up to their eyeballs for Silvagni.
Im not sure North have the same possibilities in the near future.
Similar threads
