North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson’s ‘furious halftime spray’ before AFL bombshell

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson stunned the AFL with his bombshell decision on Thursday but the cracks were already showing.

Saturday’s match appeared to be the final straw. Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

A furious halftime blow up has reportedly been the final straw for Alastair Clarkson before the North Melbourne coach decided to step away from the AFL.

The bombshell news sent reverberations through the sport on Thursday morning after the club confirmed Clarkson taken an indefinite leave from the sport, just days out from what would have been his 400th match as a senior AFL head coach.

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But while the AFL world was shocked, the cracks were beginning to show from Clarkson, who has been under investigation due to allegations of racism from a group of First Nations players during his time as coach at Hawthorn.

Clarkson has repeatedly maintained his innocence but last week blasted the Hawks and the process for failing to give him a right of reply more than eight months after the allegations were first made.

SEN’s Sam Edmunds revealed via Sportsday a “furious halftime spray” was the “final chapter in Alastair Clarkson’s battle under the weight of the Hawthorn investigation”.

Alastair Clarkson has had a tough time of it. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Edmunds revealed that Clarkson exploded at his players at halftime, as they trailed Port Adelaide by 45 points at the main break.

“I’m told the four-time premiership coach unloaded on his players, it was a withering half time spray. Witnesses said that during that outburst, a chair was picked up and thrown into the wall,” Edmunds revealed.

“The outburst is viewed by some at the club as the moment it became clear that the decorated senior coach needed to prioritise his mental well being by stepping away from the game and leaving the city of Melbourne.

“It is viewed as the last and somewhat the final piece of a pattern of behaviour that had become increasingly erratic. It did come after last week Clarkson attacked Hawthorn publicly over what he said was the club’s ‘shameful handling of the investigation’. And that was a press conference that Todd Viney today described as a window into Alastair Clarkson’s mindset.”

Saturday’s match appeared to be the final straw. Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Edmunds also highlighted comments from North Melbourne football boss Todd Viney earlier in the day.

“We don’t want him to wear a mask. We don’t want him to be in a poor mental state coming to work. We want him to be fit and healthy,” Viney said.

“I think it’s a really important message to send to our players and our staff and the wider community to make sure that if you’re feeling under pressure mentally, you should be able to speak about it.

“There’s been too many people who haven’t fared well trying to keep it all in house.”

Sportsday co-host Kane Cornes asked whether the club had made the call, Edmunds revealed it was Clarkson, his wife and his manager who decided to step away from the game.

He added Brett Ratten, who will take over in the interim, “didn’t hesitate” when asked to step in for his great friend.

Cornes said he felt for Clarkson as well as the players at the club.

Ratten has taken over as interim coach. Picture: Mark Stewart

As for the players, he said it’d be hard to stay

“Some of these players have had four coaches in 16 games — (if I was a player) I’d be thinking about getting out of the joint,” Cornes said.

“And I know people would be saying that’s premature but it’s a thought I’ve had for a while. Compare what Harry Sheezel is going through compared to what Nick Daicos or Will Ashcroft is going through with the environments they’re in. It’s not fair.”

The four-time All-Australian coach represented North Melbourne in 93 games between 1987-1995, scoring 61 goals.

As a coach, he led Hawthorn to four premierships between 2008 and 2015, winning 228 of his 390 games as Hawks mentor.

He joined the Kangaroos late last season.