Season 2026 - North Melbourne

A lot of tall poppy syndrome here as well as deflection/distraction from management … “Is that all my fault, is it?” Clarkson said. Any sensible potential coach would read the signs and avoid North

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The bumblings of management/board etc we know only too well

He should’ve got behind the decks to connect with the younger generation

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Cry for me clakko

Cry for me you flog

Your tears and anguish sustains me

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Neither side have handled this with any dignity, grace or class

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It is an extraordinary interview.

Seems like the only one who didn’t know how out of touch he was was Clakko. And it seems like Viney should have done his job and alerted Clakko to the fact he was failing.

The comment about Hawthorn being successful due to a number of factors is spot on though. All the key pillars of your football club need to be humming and in sync with each other to get it right.

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Pretty much so.
It’s why I’m glad we handled our exiting of the coach with far more dignity. We didn’t try and hang all our dirty laundry out for all to see. We respectfully changed direction, felt he wasn’t part of the future and moved on. Of course, there’s the usual coaches side, but again, if North were respectful, they wouldn’t have gotten such a bad response.

And it looks like that way of respectfully dealing with people leads to McVeigh who was adamant he had to hear from Merrett before deciding what to do. He even praised McGrath in the presser which would be on the most for the majority of Blitzers. Like it or not, more often than not if you handle exit’s respectfully (regardless of whether it’s fair or not) ends up with better results more often than not. Doesn’t mean everyone leaves amicably though. You just don’t need to fuel the fire which is essentially what North did.

We’ll see who enters their coach hiring process from all of this. Any coach (experienced or not) would be sceptical of sacking a coach who achieved improved results every year he was there only to be sacked that way. It’s fine to sack people, just don’t make it so public.

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Amazing interview.

There’s been a lot of messy coach exits over the years… Norm Smith at Melbourne, Kevin Bartlett at Richmond, Malcolm Blight at St Kilda come to mind… but I don’t think any of them have played out so poorly publicly from both sides.

Should’ve come to Essendon.

Yeah Clarko, just stop bruv.

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Imagine being Alastair Clarkson.
And complaining about important people coming to your house and saying stuff to you and your family and how badly it affects you.

Just. ■■■■■■■. Imagine.
Having the utter chutzpah to open your mouth.

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I mean. Not really, is it, Alastair?

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Clarkson complaining about the stress this has all caused for himself and his family

The only reason he has lasted as long in the game as he has is because he has been in bed with the afl and they looked past all his disgusting behaviour off field

In the end his own suckiness and being past it has caused his own demise

And his ego can’t handle it

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Not just off-field.
He was a dirty, sniping little bastard on-field too…

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He’s had a tremendous career in footy and will be remembered as one of the most successful ever hawthorn and AFL coaches. To say his life’s shot because norf’s exec think he’s now past it, suggests it’s not just his coaching where he is lacking clarity.

What’s instructive I think is that you guys who were pushing for the best available young coach are supported by this, as changing game styles and communication & teaching kids from a different generation seem to challenge this old coach. Maybe because he doesn’t have the high quality assistants that Horse had at swans. Lyon will need to be careful now that he’s losing Enright.

Fagan might suggest otherwise, but I think there are 16 coaches that would be successful coaching the Lion’s list of players who are 20% better than the rest.

I can categorically say our parting with Brad Scott was handled with much more professionalism and dignity than whatever this ■■■■ show is.

Some may think this stuff doesn’t matter, but for me it’s emblematic of the overall professionalism and culture at a club.

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My favourite is “They (Hood and Viney) told me not to bag the club” and then both Hood and especially Viney bagged Clarkson out big time.

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Won’t someone think of his adult daughter who works for Fox News :joy:

Honestly if I were her I’d be mortified that he can’t stand quietly in a lift and be normal like most people

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North would be feeling better over losing to Sydney two weeks ago.

They’d also be wondering what the fark their recruiting team was doing taking Phillips over McDonald. The rest of us have been wondering that for six years.

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