“Clarkson Confident in North Melbourne’s Future Despite Roos’ Criticism”
Alastair Clarkson firmly believes that North Melbourne’s recent performances indicate there is ‘some excitement’ building at the struggling club. He dismissed a harsh remark from former club consultant and premiership coach Paul Roos.
Despite having only one win in 2024 and just 13 wins in 85 games since the beginning of the 2020 season, Clarkson said the Kangaroos have become an ‘easy target’ for critics. He was surprised by Roos’ comment.
In a Thursday radio interview, Roos, who coached Sydney to the 2005 premiership and spent three years consulting at North Melbourne before Clarkson took over, insisted that player depth in the 1980s was much stronger across a 12-team competition that wasn’t national.
Roos even claimed, ‘Carlton’s seconds team in the early ’80s would beat North Melbourne right now, there’s no question about that.’
After a breakthrough win against West Coast in round 14, the Kangaroos have lost their last three games by a combined 21 points to reigning premiers Collingwood, Melbourne, and the Western Bulldogs. Clarkson pointed to this as evidence that his project to rebuild the club is on track.
‘The last four weeks have shown our supporters and the wider football public that there’s some excitement here,’ Clarkson said. ‘It goes in cycles, and every team’s had their turn. For us now it’s just navigating the path back up the ladder. You don’t have to go back too long ago to see where Carlton and Melbourne were… ironically enough, ‘Roosy’ was at Melbourne when that was happening.’
Melbourne secured only four wins in Roos’ first season as coach in 2014, followed by seven wins in 2015, and 10 wins in 2016 before he handed over the coaching role to Simon Goodwin, who led the Demons to the 2021 premiership.