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

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Did I hear correctly that an AFL matchday staffer who was on the ground near the dugouts said “Clarko’s comment WAS directed at the umpires” and this f*ing c* is also another ex North staffer the AFL has poached from us?
For those wondering, as Toes has confirmed it’s not Jamie (before we rip into him hes been confirmed as not being in Hobart on Saturday)
 
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No. Someone else who has a role overseeing operations on ground, unlike JMac who’s very much a suit in AFL Corporate world.
We’re going down a very slippery slope here.
This isn’t even AFL only related.

If you are this fragile that hearing an f-bomb causes you to react in this way and waste so many people’s time, not only will you not last in this industry, you won’t last in many.

That saying, I think the employee was urged to come forward and the AFL insisted upon a report being made.
Which backs up what has been a massive which hunt and enormous attempt at deflecting from their own embarassing issues re the umpires.

If Clarko was truly guilty, the AFL would have made sure of it before going public to Tom Morris.

Imagine if this precedent is established. No one is going to be left working in this game.
People swear all the time and I can guarantee you, none of it is ever directed personally at an individual or in a derogatory manner.

Emotion is a big part of life. If the AFL is going to suppress everyone involved in the game then they’re going to cook the competition.
 
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We’re going down a very slippery slope here.
This isn’t even AFL only related.

If you are this fragile that hearing an f-bomb causes you to react in this way and waste so many people’s time, not only will you not last in this industry, you won’t last in many.

That saying, I think the employee was urged to come forward and the AFL insisted upon a report being made.
Which backs up what has been a massive which hunt and enormous attempt at deflecting from their own embarassing issues re the umpires.

If Clarko was truly guilty, the AFL would have made sure of it before going public to Tom Morris.

Imagine if this precedent is established. No one is going to be left working in this game.
People swear all the time and I can guarantee you, none of it is ever directed personally at an individual or in a derogatory manner.

Emotion is a big part of life. If the AFL is going to suppress everyone involved in the game then they’re going to cook the competition.

Players are being banned for swear words so unfortunately we are already on the path of cooking the comp. Eliminating the emotion out of the game for the sake of being sensitive or politically correct.

Laura Kane and the staff around her are overreaching imo.
 
Did I hear correctly that an AFL matchday staffer who was on the ground near the dugouts said “Clarko’s comment WAS directed at the umpires” and this f*ing c* is also another ex North staffer the AFL has poached from us?

Who was it?

Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk

was one of the security guards
 
I don’t think there is a more overdone thing in society than ‘won’t somebody think of the children’ when it comes to swearing.

Truly ludicrous that there is anything made about it.

They’re just ****ing words.
 
Players are being banned for swear words so unfortunately we are already on the path of cooking the comp. Eliminating the emotion out of the game for the sake of being sensitive or politically correct.

Laura Kane and the staff around her are overreaching imo.

They are just banning the ones that are homophobic, rascist or sexist in nature.

I don't think anyone should have an issue with that happening.
 

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As someone who has lived overseas for most of the last 20 years, I’ve definitely noticed on visits home that swearing has gradually become less common and far more frowned upon. In Melbourne in particular.

Just my experience. Personally, I don’t give two ****s how campaigners want to talk.
 

Honestly, these people have no idea.

The AFL changes a few years ago protect the clubs re: payouts (whether that's fair or not). We need some stability and whether or not Clarkson is around when the whips are cracking his time will be valuable.
 

Why Clarkson is in danger of becoming North’s greatest liability​

By Caroline Wilson​

June 1, 2024 — 5.30am
Clarkson has placed North Melbourne between a rock and a hard place. The Kangaroos’ biggest individual investment looks in danger of becoming their greatest liability, and it is difficult to envisage at this mid-season juncture just how this relationship between club and coach can last for the next three-and-a-half years.
For Clarkson, the job is paramount. The prospect of not coaching or being suspended for a period would prove untenable for him given the scars of the past 21 months. So he needs North’s protection and support at a time when the club rightly remains worried about the impact of what the coach has endured upon his workplace and upon his own performance.
North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson.

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson.CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
To date, the Arden Street workplace has shown no signs of strain despite Clarkson’s mental struggles being reinforced by the failure of a resolution between Hawthorn and the First Nation families and staff, which attempted to achieve closure during the gruelling days in the lead-up to Easter at the Human Rights Commission.
From a Hawthorn point of view, Clarkson, supported by his wife Caryn, bore the brunt of those sessions. Although he and the other ex-staffers have always vehemently denied the allegations of mistreatment of former First Nations players and their partners, the four-time premiership coach acknowledged the hurt suffered by players and others during their time at the club and subsequently. An independent AFL panel made no finding against Clarkson, Chris Fagan and Jason Burt after investigating the allegations.

Three sources close to the mediation process confirmed that Clarkson not only accepted that the families and staffer Leon Egan had suffered pain, but also recognised the existence of historic cultural trauma he could never hope to understand. Those sources did not want to be named due to the confidential nature of the mediation.
Clarkson’s management declined to comment when contacted.
But despite Clarkson’s wellbeing being a watching brief at North, staffers and Clarkson supporters continue to insist the perilous state of Kangaroos’ season has not been reflected in the Arden Street environment. That he swore profusely within hearing range of match-day officials in Hobart during the Port Adelaide game, however, was less well accepted.
As always, Clarkson was immediately contrite, and shattered that he had caused yet another distraction for president Sonja Hood, CEO Jen Watt, football manager Todd Viney and their teams at a time he is trying to demonstrate his control and leadership to a young, struggling team.


The AFL bears some responsibility for Clarkson’s behaviour on the bench, having failed to adequately penalise him in March after the Jimmy Webster incident. At the very least, given the competition’s subsequent crackdown on slurs, league bosses should have banished him from coaching on the sidelines for a period.
Now North, with some prodding from head office, have done just that, with Clarkson to remain in the coach’s box on game days, which is an extraordinary action when you consider Clarkson’s status in the game. It is unfortunate the club took so long to organise Clarkson’s counselling with Pride Australia given the potentially serious nature of his confrontation with those St Kilda players.
But the AFL has gone soft on the decorated coach partly because the game’s bosses from the commission down remain as worried about him, as North are, and harbour ongoing concerns – as they do for Brisbane Lions coach Fagan – over the cumulative effect on his wellbeing.
Alastair Clarkson’s Roos are yet to win a game this year.

Alastair Clarkson’s Roos are yet to win a game this year.CREDIT: AFL PHOTOS
AFL boss Andrew Dillon is not to blame for the catastrophe that has been the Hawthorn racism saga, but nor does he boast any power to resolve some tactical missteps from the previous administration at the time the issue became public during grand final week in 2022. Any financial settlement from Hawthorn with Clarkson cannot take place until after the First Nations case takes place in the Federal Court or misses that deadline.

Even before North and the AFL started worrying about Clarkson’s wellbeing, the club placed a number of checks and balances around him. Clarkson admitted he needed them, having said he had not always fared well when given too much power at Hawthorn after Stuart Fox and Fagan departed. A back-up team led by Viney, Watt and including the club’s strategic and legal boss James Gallagher was placed around him from the start.
But the inescapable conclusion is that after a season-and-a-half, the Clarkson era at North has been catastrophic, and punctuated by just three victories from the 24 games he has coached, on top of the off-field drama. In fairness, Brett Ratten did not manage one win when he stood in for the senior coach when physical and mental health concerns resulted in Clarkson last year taking a break from the game.
Clarkson reigned supreme at Hawthorn because his undisputed coaching greatness collided with one of the all-time great Hawks teams and a more-than-solid back-up crew.



Eddie McGuire thinks that Alastair Clarkson should be slapped with a suspension for his latest alleged comments.
He was high maintenance then as now, but his bad behaviour came in an era of softer standards when swearing at journalists in media conferences was a laughing matter and violent outbursts – while frowned upon – were an affirmation of a turbulent passion that was extolled as his one wood.
Now it has become his Achilles heel at a time when his team sits 18th, not looking capable of victory.

Clarkson’s last win, in round 23 last year, cost North Melbourne the No.1 draft pick and a generational talent in Harley Reid that even the raft of concessions subsequently granted to the Kangaroos could nowhere near compensate.
His appointment at the end of 2022 was almost immediately followed by the publication of historic allegations of mistreatment by First Nations families at Hawthorn. Clarkson immediately and has to this day denied the allegations of racist treatment, but his triumphant North Melbourne homecoming was sullied and placed on hold.

The uncertainty surrounding the coach was a contributing factor to the departure of No. 1 pick Jason Horne-Francis.​

Clarkson has often defended his outbursts by claiming they were underlined by a fierce determination to stand up for his players, colleagues and club. But those claims at North Melbourne now fall on deaf ears.

He stayed too long at Hawthorn and fell out with club chiefs, now departed themselves, who treated him poorly. But his appointment at the Kangaroos heralded a bright new era for the club.
Who could have predicted that North’s coaching saviour would become the Arden Street elephant in the room?
 

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

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