Alastair Clarkson needs more talent and time to turn North Melbourne around
There’s a lack of magic at North Melbourne, and Alastair Clarkson is no miracle worker. MARK ROBINSON looks at the plight of great coaches who failed to lift the battlers.
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Even the greats aren’t miracle workers.
Alastair Clarkson’s odyssey into North Melbourne is a similar road – and tale – previously plodded by an array of legendary and premiership coaches.
History is against Clarkson in his pursuit of success. That’s not to say he can’t transform North Melbourne from a competition embarrassment into a finals team, but history tells us the transformation does not bring with it the magic of yesteryear.
And it is magic.
A premiership is a journey of privilege and achievement. It’s the binding of player and coaching prowess. It’s about culture, resources, list management and leadership. It’s also about luck meeting opportunity. And in some cases, it’s about the bounce of the ball or the blow of a whistle.
But most of all, it’s about talent.
Players win premierships, not the coach. The coach is the conductor, the “bringer togetherer”, but it’s the deeds of players who shape success or failure. Therein lies the magic.
There’s a lack of magic at North Melbourne. Not even Clarkson, the four-time premiership coach at Hawthorn, can clap his hands and become Merlin the Magician.
Which prompts the age-old question in footy: Do the players make the coach or does the coach make the players?
The legendary Malcolm Blight said it’s pretty clear.
“The simple answer is quality of player – sometimes introduced to some sort of system, but you need quality first and foremost,’’ Blight said.
“You need talent. You have got to have players and hopefully you get direction and, occasionally, that is needed. I put up on a board years and years ago, and the players didn’t know what they’re doing, and I asked them where they wanted to play? Of the 44 players on the list, 39 of them said they wanted to play in the midfield. That’s why you need someone to direct them. But talent is first (and) second and direction is third.’’
Blight coached Geelong to three grand finals and Adelaide to two premierships. Then he landed at St Kilda. He lasted three quarters of the 2001 season at the Saints before he was sacked.
“Because someone else wanted the job, it had nothing to do with what I was doing,’’ Blight said, which is a story for another time.
The point is, Blight took over a team that had won just two games in 2000.
Just like Denis Pagan, the goliath coach at North Melbourne, who inherited a Carlton team in 2003 that had won just three games in 2002.
Just like Robert Walls, a premiership coach at Carlton, who took the role at the Brisbane Bears in 1991 after they won only four games in 1990.
And just like Paul Roos, the Sundance Kid from Sydney, who put his hand up for Melbourne in 2014 after the team had won two games in 2013.
Others were slightly more fortunate.
Mick Malthouse, the coaching great at Footscray, West Coast and Collingwood, was named Carlton coach in 2013 after the Blues had won 11 games in 2012.
Allan Jeans, a premiership coach at St Kilda and Hawthorn, arrived at Richmond in 1992 after the Tigers had seven victories in 1991.
And the biggest name of them all, Ron Barassi, a four-time premiership coach at Carlton and North Melbourne, returned to his beloved Demons in 1981 after the club had won five games in 1980.
Clarkson returned to North Melbourne, where he played 93 games, after North had won just two games in 2022. Worse still, North has only won 12 games from its past 90 matches.
While the others had mountains of various sizes to climb and couldn’t get near to the top, Clarkson is trudging up Mt Everest in bare feet and can’t even see the summit.
Leigh Matthews is the outlier. He coached a flag at Collingwood and then accepted the top job at Brisbane, which had won just five matches in 1998. He and the Lions then won the three-peat in 2001-03.
But as he said: “I was a good coach when I had good players to coach. Sometimes, there is opinion and sometimes there is truth and that good players make successful coaches is truth and not opinion.’’
Clarkson’s voyage of rediscovery is not dissimilar to Barassi’s at Melbourne.
A God-like footy figure, Barassi also signed a five-year deal. But he won one, eight, nine, nine and six games and never played finals before he was sacked.
He was given time and failed.
Blight said Clarkson also needs time before being accused of failure.
“I’ve said this 100 times – you just need time,’’ Blight said.
“First of all, (North Melbourne) will get more picks (in the draft) because they’re not ready yet and what they need to do is get a couple of good defenders in and not lose defenders.
“The midfield is going to be all right, the forward line is going half OK, they just need quality at the back.’’
Blight thinks it’s ludicrous that after last weekend’s loss to Hawthorn, which prompted hostile examination of the list and the on-field effort, even Clarkson’s coaching ability was questioned.
“When you get to that stage and all the experience he’s been through, he’s probably a better coach now than what he was 10 years ago,’’ Blight said.
“What you need is a chance. I went through it a little bit; everyone goes through it.
“Now, sometimes you get surprised, but very rarely do you get surprised with teams that have previously won one, two or three games.
“Look at history – you might get surprised with a team that had previously won seven, eight or nine games; that’s not disastrous. One, two or three wins is (a) disaster.’’
Blight fears for coaches in rebuild mode because few survive it.
“Because your history says you’re OK at it, and everyone jumps on board and that’s fine, but what generally happens is you don’t get time,’’ he said.
On Wednesday, Clarkson again asked for patience from his players and the fans, and Blight agreed.
“I watch North Melbourne pretty closely. They need six more players, a third of their team to swap over and get A-grade talent and that’s the same of nearly every list down the bottom (of the ladder),’’ Blight said.
For a coach heavy on offence, he said key backs were vital, and he wondered whether Melbourne would’ve won the 2021 premiership without the signings of Steven May and Jake Lever, or even the Hawks through their wonder years without Brian Lake and Josh Gibson.
“I’m a great believer in kicking goals and the midfield controls it all, but I will tell you now, you need one great defender to win a premiership and with two great defenders you win multiple premierships,’’ he said.
“Have a look at the premiership sides of the past 40 years – backs who stop them dead. I arrived at Adelaide and there was Ben Hart.’’
Damien Hardwick at Gold Coast is also on a similar path to Clarkson. But while they are in the same boat in terms of being multiple premiership coaches at a new club, clearly Hardwick’s boat is bigger and has bells and whistles.
But Hardwick also knows.
“A coach is only as good as the talent he has,” Hardwick once said of his all-conquering Tigers.
Nary a coach would disagree, especially the great ones.
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