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

[dus]

yea he should definitely completely forget about the time he won four premierships, totally irrelevant

Forget? No.

Stop bringing it up wearing a North polo? Yes.

It would be like telling the mrs how good the ex was at every chance you get.

 

[Spud11]

3rd year next year.
Does he get a pass for 2023 or is the pressure going to be right on him in 2025?

I know the argument is that he only just coached out a full year in 2024 but I do worry the list he has before him is going to be the end of him.

10 wins minimum pass mark.

 

[tazaa]

If Clarko gets his lot right. Teaching the right game plan and fundamentals for the group he has. Grows team cohesion on and off the field, and instills a high pressure rating. We should get 8 wins next year

10 wins minimum pass mark.

I genuinely can't see us winning more than 6.
Alot would have to go right but say 2 wins against West Coast, 2 against the Tigers, maybe we go past Melbourne, Adelaide is an unknown, Gold Coast are gettable at Marvel/Hobart, Saints are an unknown, we havnt beaten * in 9 years, Freo will be stronger, as will the Pies with a healthy list.
And we got nowhere near this years top 8.

8 is wishful thinking. 6 is the pass mark. Anything less is a fail.

I still think getting our percentage into the 80s should be the starting point.

 

[Spud11]

I genuinely can't see us winning more than 6.
Alot would have to go right but say 2 wins against West Coast, 2 against the Tigers, maybe we go past Melbourne, Adelaide is an unknown, Gold Coast are gettable at Marvel/Hobart, Saints are an unknown, we havnt beaten * in 9 years, Freo will be stronger, as will the Pies with a healthy list.
And we got nowhere near this years top 8.

8 is wishful thinking. 6 is the pass mark. Anything less is a fail.

I still think getting our percentage into the 80s should be the starting point.

Great post.

I just can’t go another year of scrounging wins against bullshit opponents while so many teams improve out of the stratosphere. I guess I’ll have to though.

In my honest opinion though:
6 wins should be realistic.
6-8 wins is where we should’ve been this year.
10 wins is where we should be next year. Or should I say “should’ve” been? Because they’ve probably already written that off as a possibility.

I just wish this club had some ambition.

Bring that post-bye form (at this rate the way they’re talking it up, the club will release it on dvd!) and anything’s possible. Beat West Coast, Gold Coast, Richmond 1-2 times depending on how many times we meet, and get at least 5-6 more W’s, that’s where we should be aiming. It’s possible.

Although every single other club is so amazing according to our coach that I doubt our players will believe they can do it.

“We know where we’re at as a footy club”

 

[chubbspeterson]

I genuinely can't see us winning more than 6.
Alot would have to go right but say 2 wins against West Coast, 2 against the Tigers, maybe we go past Melbourne, Adelaide is an unknown, Gold Coast are gettable at Marvel/Hobart, Saints are an unknown, we havnt beaten * in 9 years, Freo will be stronger, as will the Pies with a healthy list.
And we got nowhere near this years top 8.

8 is wishful thinking. 6 is the pass mark. Anything less is a fail.

I still think getting our percentage into the 80s should be the starting point.

Agree 6 wins with one of them against a top 8 side would be an improvement and confidence booster.
It depends on the difficulty of the draw and when you play these other teams.
The reality is we're the youngest and least experienced team and we could've won less than 3 games or 5-6 this year just on the games after the bye. Pressure mid-fwd and a stable back six/seven is key for us as well.
I'd love to see a run of three wins in a row as that should give them confidence. They might not be able to sustain the level of pressure required but they will know "if we don't do this (win contest, pressure etc.) we will lose".

 

[DuckYeah]

Mr Miyagi style. Paint fence, paint house, dig hole, breathe, focus

 

[Sillygit]

Forget? No.

Stop bringing it up wearing a North polo? Yes.

It would be like telling the mrs how good the ex was at every chance you get.

We hired him BECAUSE of the premierships, it's not a fitting comparison.

 

[Ball Dont Lie]

10 wins minimum pass mark.

Absolutely no chance of that happening. We have zero game plan. Zero understanding of structures. Zero faith in one another and the coaches. I would expect to win the same amount of games circa 3-4.

 

[spurs]

Absolutely no chance of that happening. We have zero game plan. Zero understanding of structures. Zero faith in one another and the coaches. I would expect to win the same amount of games circa 3-4.

 

[backtothedraft]

I think 6.5 wins should be our over/under next year. We play Richmond twice, and should be beating them. We should pick up at least one win against West Coast, leaving us to find 4 wins across the other 16 teams.

 

[perplexed]

Much of what Clarko produced this year was garbage. His coaching was a major reason we struggled so much. He didn't give us much of a chance.

Northball sucked. Any game plan that requires so much clean ball handling isn't going to cut it. It was pulled apart after half a game. Whilst the best teams used the width of the ground and kicked to space we tried to handball through congestion.

The high press was never going to work with our list either. We don't have the players to lock the ball in for long enough, and when it got out we didn't have the players who could get back fast enough to defend.

We required manic pressure just to be competitive in games and not get smashed off turnovers. That isn't sustainable for a full season. Or even a full match, which is why we regularly got scored against in clumps.

He needs to spend the off-season studying how other teams move the ball and thinking about how to use our players in roles that suit their strengths.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Much of what Clarko produced this year was garbage. His coaching was a major reason we struggled so much. He didn't give us much of a chance.

Northball sucked. Any game plan that requires so much clean ball handling isn't going to cut it. It was pulled apart after half a game. Whilst the best teams used the width of the ground and kicked to space we tried to handball through congestion.

The high press was never going to work with our list either. We don't have the players to lock the ball in for long enough, and when it got out we didn't have the players who could get back fast enough to defend.

We required manic pressure just to be competitive in games and not get smashed off turnovers. That isn't sustainable for a full season. Or even a full match, which is why we regularly got scored against in clumps.

He needs to spend the off-season studying how other teams move the ball and thinking about how to use our players in roles that suit their strengths.

But….hes won four flags (ten years ago).

 

[backtothedraft]

Much of what Clarko produced this year was garbage. His coaching was a major reason we struggled so much. He didn't give us much of a chance.

Northball sucked. Any game plan that requires so much clean ball handling isn't going to cut it. It was pulled apart after half a game. Whilst the best teams used the width of the ground and kicked to space we tried to handball through congestion.

The high press was never going to work with our list either. We don't have the players to lock the ball in for long enough, and when it got out we didn't have the players who could get back fast enough to defend.

We required manic pressure just to be competitive in games and not get smashed off turnovers. That isn't sustainable for a full season. Or even a full match, which is why we regularly got scored against in clumps.

He needs to spend the off-season studying how other teams move the ball and thinking about how to use our players in roles that suit their strengths.

What game plans works for our group in 2025?

 

[TruRoo]

Max Verstappen wouldn't win a race driving Yuki Tsunoda's car. But he'd challenge the engineering team (mostly by yelling at them). On this Friday afternoon procrastinating that's the best analogy I've got for Clarko and us at the moment.

We have the bare bones of cattle to be able to implement what a coach like Clarko would want. It's a matter of how long will it take to get to an acceptable level.

 

[perplexed]

What game plans works for our group in 2025?

Don't know exactly. But we have to give ourselves a chance, this year's tactics just exposed our weaknesses. We got slaughtered in transition all year, that is in part the players. But it is also setting up in a way that makes us easy to play against.

For starters, we need to divide up the midfielders' roles and use players in roles that suit their strengths, like other teams do. You need bulls at centre bounces and thoroughbreds to spread from stoppages and gut run up and down the ground in transition. They are different roles that require different types of player. Unless you are Zac Butters or maybe LDU you shouldn't be doing both.

 

[chubbspeterson]

Don't know exactly. But we have to give ourselves a chance, this year's tactics just exposed our weaknesses. We got slaughtered in transition all year, that is in part the players. But it is also setting up in a way that makes us easy to play against.

For starters, we need to divide up the midfielders' roles and use players in roles that suit their strengths, like other teams do. You need bulls at centre bounces and thoroughbreds to spread from stoppages and gut run up and down the ground in transition. They are different roles that require different types of player. Unless you are Zac Butters or maybe LDU you shouldn't be doing both.

I'm not sure what the answers are either when the players can't hit basic targets and they can't run for 4 quarters.
Given the way they turned it over you'd probably rather they handball it rather than kick it.
Moving Colby up the ground will help that transition but that leaves poor ball users off the half back.
Players don't have the confidence to kick into the corridor and they don't work to create space for each other up the ground.
He also doesn't have any great speed in the front half to apply pressure to lock the ball in.
Which problem to solve first in the leaky bucket with holes? It's probably defensively being hard to play against as we don't exactly have skilled runners like the Dogs and Hawks have at their disposal.

 

[backtothedraft]

Don't know exactly. But we have to give ourselves a chance, this year's tactics just exposed our weaknesses. We got slaughtered in transition all year, that is in part the players. But it is also setting up in a way that makes us easy to play against.

For starters, we need to divide up the midfielders' roles and use players in roles that suit their strengths, like other teams do. You need bulls at centre bounces and thoroughbreds to spread from stoppages and gut run up and down the ground in transition. They are different roles that require different types of player. Unless you are Zac Butters or maybe LDU you shouldn't be doing both.

Some things that i'd like to see in 2025 that weren't evident through this year:

• A bigger midfield mix, particularly centre bounce combination. If we have conceded consecutive scores, i'd like to see Zurhaar and Curtis used earlier in game to establish some physicality.
• More defensively minded wingman, where they don't maintain as much width defensively in transition, and are willing to come into the corridor or get back hard to impact the play.
• A more balanced backline. I don't think there is room to play more than one half back who is entirely offensively focused and a designated kicker (e.g. McKercher, Fisher). Hopefully with the return of Goater, and the development of someone like Hardeman, we can have a more balanced backline.
• A focus on getting more quality possession from stoppage. From a number of training sessions i went to this year, the focus was really around taking possession of the ball and moving forward at any cost, which Xerri excelled at this year. I think now we have established ourselves as a good contest side, the next step will be turning our first possessions into chain movement where we release the ball to a point which allows for more options to open, and more time to make a decision (think Western Bulldogs)
• Continue to work on exiting and entering 50, and create a structure that allows for more effective groundball play at the feet of aerial contests. Generally speaking i'd like to see us be fairly predictable and risk adverse exiting D50, but play with a little less predictability with our forward build up.

 

[DrZaius]

I can’t tell if the WA north crew are already sipping pina coladas in Bali. So I’m probably not going to hold my breath on campaigners actually wanting to go all in this preseason

Can confirm. I arrived in Bali yesterday morning and Logue, Zurhaar & Stephens (I think) were all on my flight

 

[perplexed]

I'm not sure what the answers are either when the players can't hit basic targets and they can't run for 4 quarters.
Given the way they turned it over you'd probably rather they handball it rather than kick it.
Moving Colby up the ground will help that transition but that leaves poor ball users off the half back.
Players don't have the confidence to kick into the corridor and they don't work to create space for each other up the ground.
He also doesn't have any great speed in the front half to apply pressure to lock the ball in.
Which problem to solve first in the leaky bucket with holes? It's probably defensively being hard to play against as we don't exactly have skilled runners like the Dogs and Hawks have at their disposal.

Fitness is the big thing, we seem miles behind other teams. But other teams also spread the load better than we do.

I think that a lot of the disposal issues are about not having good options. If everyone is static you can get tricked into trying the impossible kick. But if players are running into space there is more margin for error and an average kick can be effective. That game against the dogs was a classic example of this. We would turn the ball over trying a difficult centring kick then they would kick it out to the wing in front of a player who could run onto it. One kick is high risk, low reward the other is the opposite.

 

[perplexed]

Some things that i'd like to see in 2025 that weren't evident through this year:

• A bigger midfield mix, particularly centre bounce combination. If we have conceded consecutive scores, i'd like to see Zurhaar and Curtis used earlier in game to establish some physicality.

I don't get why these guys aren't use at centre bounces regularly. They always seem to add something when they get a chance.

We also don't use our small/medium forwards enough up the ground either. They should be doing much more running than they do. Hawthorn, Geelong and GWS all play three small forwards. But they get right up the ground and help defend and bring the ball forward in transition. Our forwards seem to wait inside 50 then complain when it isn't kicked in the way they want.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Can confirm. I arrived in Bali yesterday morning and Logue, Zurhaar & Stephens (I think) were all on my flight

Yeah Logue posted a pic on Instaface of Zurhaar and Fisher having a drink at the pool bar.

 

[Nylex]

Wardlaw’s high intensity is brilliant. But it means he can’t run out a game in the midfield at AFL level.
Why don’t we give him a couple of 10 minute stints in the forward pocket. He’ll get a bit of a rest, but also provide the pressure we are looking for in our forward line

 

[amaz199]

Whichever game style Clarko goes with, it literally doesn't matter. The players still can't execute it consistently enough.

Kicking long down the line for what feels like an eternity is not a viable game plan. Which seems to be what our players can really do because they don't apply enough work rate or have poor skills.

Clarko is trying get them ingrained into a modern game style that can expose the best of teams. The unimaginative ball movement we see all the time is horrendously outdated and is not feasible. It basically gifts the ball back to opposition interceptors.

We suck at moving the ball. Why would we not try to fix that? If Clarko ain't the answer then no one is. Shut the club down and we can cease to exist. That's how far back we are coming from.

 

[Possession]

Can confirm. I arrived in Bali yesterday morning and Logue, Zurhaar & Stephens (I think) were all on my flight

Been sus for a while now on the 'WA Boyz Enclave' vibe that North has been growing... at least Logue can seriously play (when not broken)

 

[Gasometer]

What game plans works for our group in 2025?

The Curtis Paddock