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

[Themanbun]

Hard to know what a pass mark is for him next year before getting a peak at the list changes.

I want to see a semblance of a forward structure, Patch to appreciably improve the midfield, and I want to see some blokes held to account, no more blokes preferencing their midweek concerts, podcast commitments, etc. over footy.

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

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).

Even though this was a sarcastic aside, this is ironically evidence of how adaptable he is with styles and ability to utilise players, even the best journeymen available, to their strength. If he was one and done as a premiership coach you could call him lucky and overated and a product of a very particular time, but the 2008 Clarksons cluster was figured out in one season, and rules were even changed so they couldnt force a rush behind to give them time to set up e.t.c and in the face of that he was able to completely rejig the gameplan, with a completely different best 22 and managed a 3-peat if you don't mind.

His demonstrated ability as a coach and motivator and tactician is not the problem. The fact he is utterly mentally f*cked from the HFC racism saga is the problem.

Surely we can all see that?

 

[Gasometer]

Well maybe they've cooled down since that suggestion and are willing to give you another chance

1981?

 

[perplexed]

Even though this was a sarcastic aside, this is ironically evidence of how adaptable he is with styles and ability to utilise players, even the best journeymen available, to their strength. If he was one and done as a premiership coach you could call him lucky and overated and a product of a very particular time, but the 2008 Clarksons cluster was figured out in one season, and rules were even changed so they couldnt force a rush behind to give them time to set up e.t.c and in the face of that he was able to completely rejig the gameplan, with a completely different best 22 and managed a 3-peat if you don't mind.

His demonstrated ability as a coach and motivator and tactician is not the problem. The fact he is utterly mentally f*cked from the HFC racism saga is the problem.

Surely we can all see that?

He can obviously coach, but our game plan this year was rubbish. It was easily exposed and was never going to cut it. Hopefully he goes back and comes up with something different. I am a bit worried that he may not have excepted he needs to do this and may just try and rejig the ridiculous 'Northball'.

Clarko talking about the need for experienced players, etc. is a bit concerning, as this wasn't the main issue this year. We had a poor game plan and a list incapable of applying it anyway.

 

[Gasometer]

He can obviously coach, but our game plan this year was rubbish. It was easily exposed and was never going to cut it. Hopefully he goes back and comes up with something different. I am a bit worried that he may not have excepted he needs to do this and may just try and rejig the ridiculous 'Northball'.

Clarko talking about the need for experienced players, etc. is a bit concerning, as this wasn't the main issue this year. We had a poor game plan and a list incapable of applying it anyway.

I think the mature bodies means that they rotate through the midfield and take the whacks rather than the Fab 3

 

[zoomba23]

1981?

Some people don't forget things

 

[perplexed]

I think the mature bodies means that they rotate through the midfield and take the whacks rather than the Fab 3

We don't necessarily need to bring in players for that. Just don't send the lightweights into centre bounces to get bashed around. We have X, Zurhaar, Curtis and Simpkin who all love that stuff. Geelong do this with Danger, Atkins and Stewart. They take the centre bounces then go forward and back.

 

[shimaburnsgrieg]

Even though this was a sarcastic aside, this is ironically evidence of how adaptable he is with styles and ability to utilise players, even the best journeymen available, to their strength. If he was one and done as a premiership coach you could call him lucky and overated and a product of a very particular time, but the 2008 Clarksons cluster was figured out in one season, and rules were even changed so they couldnt force a rush behind to give them time to set up e.t.c and in the face of that he was able to completely rejig the gameplan, with a completely different best 22 and managed a 3-peat if you don't mind.

His demonstrated ability as a coach and motivator and tactician is not the problem. The fact he is utterly mentally f*cked from the HFC racism saga is the problem.

Surely we can all see that?

I think everyone can see that - but what is your point? He was a great one in a generation coach.

Evidence is building that he is no longer that person (mainly due to the racism issue).

We have 6-12 months to make the call on this otherwise we will be sitting here in 3 years still talking about how great Hawthorn were under Clarko and how we are still bottom 4.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

I think everyone can see that - but what is your point? He was a great one in a generation coach.

Evidence is building that he is no longer that person (mainly due to the racism issue).

We have 6-12 months to make the call on this otherwise we will be sitting here in 3 years still talking about how great Hawthorn were under Clarko and how we are still bottom 4.

His time at Hawthorn showed what he WAS.

His two years here so far has shown what he currently IS.

 

[Orange Peanut]

The trouble is, having no clue what you're doing looks a lot like building something out of nothing and prioritizing development in specific areas over trying to win.

I'm backing the bloke in because he's done it before. But I acknowledge that is faith / logic based and there isn't a whole heap of evidence yet that my optimism is justified.

Still, getting behind a coach with his record makes much more sense to me than burning the place to the ground for the 4th time in 6 years.

 

[zoomba23]

The trouble is, having no clue what you're doing looks a lot like building something out of nothing and prioritizing development in specific areas over trying to win.

I'm backing the bloke in because he's done it before. But I acknowledge that is faith / logic based and there isn't a whole heap of evidence yet that my optimism is justified.

Still, getting behind a coach with his record makes much more sense to me than burning the place to the ground for the 4th time in 6 years.

If we burn it to the ground again and go through an adjustment period again, I'm not sure the club would recover. It's not gonna be 9-games-to-get-in-the-swing-of-things like it was with Noble. It's gonna be a group sapped of motivation, sick of change, pissed off at having to get used to another group of coaching personnel and another coaching style, and general despair (for those that care, at least). Clarko's our last chance saloon. Still think he has it in him because at times this year we played our best footy since 2019, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want this racism thing to **** off ASAP

 

[Possession]

Have hoped for a while that Clarko can create some kind of foundation to build upon through sheer stability. Same coaching structure for five years. Last year disrupted that already, but we're back on track now. Hopefully we get some ambitious young nobody clammering for the job at the end of his tenure. That's a lot of hope, but it's all I really have right now.

 

[koshari]

When we build a list where we dont have to field the likes of lmac pink, trakle and taylor i will be ready to judge more critically based on wins.

 

[RightWingRoo]

Have to give him the full 5 years, even if he's not at the cutting edge of coaching anymore. Clarko at least knows what a strong, competent football department looks like. And given his record of turning assistants into senior coaches, he'll always be able to attract those who are talented and ambitious. We wouldn't have got the likes of Adcock or Barlow without him
At the worst Clarko will be Paul Roos at Melbourne, bring stability and put the right people in charge that will enable us to eventually improve on field.
We probably underestimated just how much of a basket case we were in 2022 and how long it would take to turnaround. Because there's still a hell of a lot of work to do on the list, before we can improve. Probably less than 10 players from that 2022 list will be there, when we eventually play finals again. We started again at ground zero

If we sack him no one will touch us. Look at how hard West Coast are finding it to attract candidates, even with all of the wealth and resources they have.

 

[Ichiro #51]

Clarko seems like a weird bloke to me. The ‘bring the acoustic out to entertain’ kind of guy is not my kind of guy. I’ve known a few over the journey whether it be guitar, harmonica, jazz flute, shamisen or, god forbid, the decks. Regardless of occasion, that’s me heading for the exit.

However, I’m in the camp of maintaining stability in the coaching group for at minimum one more year.

One thing that stands out as an absolute must for me this off season is developing a capable zone defense. I haven’t been to a game in person, so can only go by what I see on the screen and what I read on here and on Rick’s excellent blog but it seems one of the changes post bye was to go more 1 on 1. We did see some improved results but it didn’t last long.

A somewhat effective defensive zone is a bare minimum in the AFL these days and we know from the past that Clarko was at forefront of developing this tactic. What’s going wrong with us?

 

[Roos1991]

I have a vague recollection that Clarko has decent ties to the Storm. As a small club in the NRL with the entire industry against them, they've managed to cultivate such an excellent culture that's translated into performance. Would be great for North if they can connect at a corporate and football department level, surely North could learn heaps about what it takes to build foundations for success.

 

[Ligma]

we will win the flag next season

 

[DuckYeah]

Clarko seems like a weird bloke to me. The ‘bring the acoustic out to entertain’ kind of guy is not my kind of guy. I’ve known a few over the journey whether it be guitar, harmonica, jazz flute, shamisen or, god forbid, the decks. Regardless of occasion, that’s me heading for the exit.

However, I’m in the camp of maintaining stability in the coaching group for at minimum one more year.

One thing that stands out as an absolute must for me this off season is developing a capable zone defense. I haven’t been to a game in person, so can only go by what I see on the screen and what I read on here and on Rick’s excellent blog but it seems one of the changes post bye was to go more 1 on 1. We did see some improved results but it didn’t last long.

A somewhat effective defensive zone is a bare minimum in the AFL these days and we know from the past that Clarko was at forefront of developing this tactic. What’s going wrong with us?

You try and run a zone with shit footballers.

 

[Ichiro #51]

You try and run a zone with shit footballers.

I don’t disagree but who have you got in mind? I think everyone would agree JMAC struggles in a zone. Fisher seems like a culprit. Who else?

 

[DuckYeah]

I don’t disagree but who have you got in mind? I think everyone would agree JMAC struggles in a zone. Fisher seems like a culprit. Who else?

Defensive Zone: Fisher, McDonald, Corr, Stephens, Scott, ford, zurhaar, LDU, Simpkin, PC and more ALL struggle in holding a defensive structure. They will continue to work on it but when I watched them, they couldn’t work it out. A hell of a lot of finger pointing.

Hence why a Parker would help because he would be an onfield leader to direct em off half forward and A Mitch Duncan would direct them from a half back. It would help us immensely

 

[the big lebowski]

Playing a zone would mean more 100 point thumping.

Worst thing we could do.

We should have the cattle next year to be competitive down back

 

[zoomba23]

Playing a zone would mean more 100 point thumping.

Worst thing we could do.

We should have the cattle next year to be competitive down back

We had the cattle this year to be competitive down back. Especially once Corr got enough fuel into his legs. What we didn't have was the work ethic upfield. Playing North Melbourne is like Christmas for a team that plays run and gun footy

 

[Passmore]

I wasn’t invited back.

Roy might very well be a pressure forward these days. Gaso before his time.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Playing a zone would mean more 100 point thumping.

Worst thing we could do.

We should have the cattle next year to be competitive down back

We have too few who have the off the ball intelligence required to implement such a defensive structure.

 

[amaz199]

Playing a zone would mean more 100 point thumping.

Worst thing we could do.

We should have the cattle next year to be competitive down back

Playing a zone is what every other team in the comp does. Which is why we find it so difficult to score.

We can't keep playing a more 1v1 structure. It's an outdated way of playing footy.