By Andrew Wu and Jon Pierik
Alastair Clarkson has revealed how close he came to giving up football during his time away, until young gun George Wardlaw rekindled his passion for the game.
The four-time premiership coach on Friday spoke publicly for the first time since stepping away from football in May, saying he had lost his appetite to watch games – even those involving the Kangaroos – during the first four weeks of his leave.
North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson at training on Friday.Credit: Getty Images
He returns to the coaches box on Sunday for his first game since round nine, appearing refreshed and reinvigorated from an 11-week break in which he took a new perspective on the life.
Though the Kangaroos remained confident throughout Clarkson’s time away that their coach would eventually return, the man himself spoke of the depths of his struggle. He had also been keen to give interim coach Brett Ratten space so that he could run the team as he saw fit without feeling like someone was watching over his shoulder.
“For the first four weeks of stepping away from the game, I lost my appetite even to watch footy, including the North games,” Clarkson said.
The “light bulb” moment for Clarkson came when he saw Wardlaw’s 17-possession game in North’s six-point loss to Essendon. No.4 pick Wardlaw and Harry Sheezel, who went the pick before, are the Kangaroos’ great hope as they aim to rise from one of the lowest moments in the club’s near 100-year history in the V/AFL.
“It was just like, ‘Geez, I want to be involved in this kid’s career’,” Clarkson said.
Clarkson said his time away allowed him to reflect on all that he had achieved in the game, including four premierships as coach, instead of the negatives stemming from the Hawthorn racism scandal, which had taken its toll on his physical and mental health.
“The last 12 months have been a really, really challenging time,” Clarkson said. “But you weigh that up, you’ve got some choices.
George Wardlaw (left) and Harry Sheezel with Alastair Clarkson after they were drafted last year.Credit: Getty Images
“I can look in the rear-vision mirror, and wallow in self-pity about some of the difficult times I’ve had to endure over the last 12 months, or I could look at my whole life and my whole career in footy.”
Clarkson, 55, said if he did not make physical and emotional changes to his lifestyle “I might not have made it to 65”.
“At about round nine or 10, probably just leading to that, similar to ‘Dimma’ [former Richmond coach Damien Hardwick], I just had this gut feel that I wasn’t doing myself or this footy club any favours by being in the space I was, and I needed to do something about it,” Clarkson said.
“So I put some things in place. And yeah, hopefully, it never gets to that point again, where I have to step aside, because I’ve learned some pretty valuable lessons, which I wish I’d have learnt at 20 years of age. It’s taken me until 55. My wife would say, ‘Well, that’s expected’, but I’m glad I’ve learned the lesson now.”
Clarkson thanked his close friend Ratten for stepping in as coach while he was away. Clarkson had provided Ratten with support when Ratten’s son Cooper died in a car accident in 2015.
“He and I go back and a fair stretch, and just like any commitment to one another in a friendship I hope that I’ve been able to help him along the journey,” Clarkson said. “And I know for certain that he’s been able to help me – and no greater example than that of the last 10 or 12 weeks.”
Clarkson pointed to the career of Melbourne star Jack Viney, the son of close friend and North’s football boss Todd Viney, as an inspiration for his young charges. Viney started his career when the Demons were at their lowest ebb in 2013 but became a key player in the drought-breaking premiership in 2021.
A loss this week for North against Melbourne will take their losing streak to 18, the club’s longest since 1933-35 and their third worst since entering the league in 1925.
Clarkson said though the football public made their judgments on the win-loss record there is optimism at Arden Street the wheel is turning.
Zorko relieved that AFL heard ‘my side of the story’
AAP
Dayne Zorko has commended the AFL for listening to “his side of the story” as Brisbane attempt to move on from the one-match suspension handed to Gold Coast rival Touk Miller.
Zorko took to radio on Monday to express his disbelief that no action had been taken against the Suns captain for a stray tackle he said left him bruised in the groin region. Miller had been cleared by the match review officer.
Dayne Zorko and Touk Miller.Credit: Archives
But Zorko’s comments triggered a league investigation that found enough evidence to charge Miller with conduct unbecoming on Thursday night.
The Suns accepted the ban despite football boss Wayne Campbell saying “it’s disappointing his integrity and character has been tarnished during this process”.
Zorko addressed the suspension in another radio appearance on Friday.
“What I will say is the support from not only the club, but I really appreciate the AFL actually looking deeper into it and hearing my side of the story as well,” he said on SENQ ahead of the Lions’ clash with Fremantle in Perth on Sunday.
“I thought it was really great that they were able to do that.
“It’s finished now; the investigation is over and I’m just looking forward to playing this week.”
‘Pretty shocked’: Cameron opens up on pub attack
Jon Pierik
Jeremy Cameron says he was in “complete shock” after he was headbutted at a Geelong pub last weekend.
The star premiership forward was watching the Ashes on Saturday night after the Cats’ loss to Fremantle when he was confronted by a fellow patron while sitting down.
“I have been in the wars a little bit over the last month or so but, a little bit out of the blue, this one,” Cameron said on Friday.
Double act: Jeremy Cameron (left) will take to the field on Saturday night, but Tom Hawkins is out with a hamstring strain.Credit: Getty Images
“Honestly, I was pretty shocked, at first. It was totally unexpected. I was, obviously, seated at the time. It was just complete shock for a bit.
“Everyone there did the right thing and kept their cool. Obviously, people behind the bar and in the venue and the owners, did a fantastic job. It was just shock at first.”
Victoria Police are still investigating, but charges have not been laid. The AFL’s integrity unit was notified.
Cameron escaped injury, and completed all training drills this week. He will face Port Adelaide in a crucial clash at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night, with the Cats fighting to remain in the finals hunt.
Coach Chris Scott admitted after the shock loss to the Dockers that Cameron had not been himself recently. After a superb start to the season when he had 34 goals in nine rounds, Cameron has managed only 10 since, and hasn’t quite had his sharpness since returning from a concussion against Melbourne when accidentally hit by teammate Gary Rohan.
Scott said Cameron was in the correct frame of mind to take on the Power.
“As soon as it was established from my perspective that he was completely the innocent party, and that he was OK, that was really the end of it for me,” Scott said.
The Cats are without hamstrung stars Tom Hawkins and Mark Blicavs, and have recalled forward-turned-defender Esava Ratugolea. Irishman Mark O’Connor was the medical substitute last weekend, and may move into the starting 22.
Rohan, who stepped into Blicavs’ role last weekend as a back-up ruck, is nursing an ankle issue, according to Scott, but is fit to play.
Power pair Charlie Dixon (foot) and Kane Farrell (illness) have withdrawn from the game, while the club has confirmed ruckman Scott Lycett will have surgery on his knee, with a timeline for a return unclear.
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