North Melbourne are working in the direction of Alastair Clarkson’s return to the membership, as interim Kangaroos coach Brett Ratten revealed he has had an in depth catch-up along with his long-time good friend.
The former Carlton and St Kilda coach has been in command of the Kangaroos since May 18 after Clarkson stepped away because of the psychological toll of the Hawthorn racism saga.
The AFL has since introduced no adversarial findings towards Clarkson, Chris Fagan or Jason Burt over the allegations levelled on the former Hawks trio.
The three males have denied any wrongdoing over the claims, which had been raised by way of an ABC report final September.
Fagan and Burt have each strongly outlined their response to being cleared by the AFL, however Clarkson has stayed out of the highlight.
There had been fears the 55-year-old won’t be again at Arden St this season, however Ratten stated Clarkson appeared in a great state of mind when the pair touched base.
Discussions are happening between North’s chief government Jennifer Watt, soccer boss Todd Viney and Clarkson to resolve on the absolute best return.
“I did catch up with him the other day for the first time (since Clarkson went on leave) and he was up and about, a smile on the face and really positive,“ Ratten said on Thursday.
“We were just talking footy, which is good.
“He’s the coach of the football club and (it’s) for the club to work through when does he come back and in what capacity.
“We spoke for about an hour-and-a-half … a good chat about everything going on.
“The progress of the kids puts smiles on Clarkson’s face but puts smiles on a lot of our fans and a lot of people in the building.”
Clarkson’s comeback is unlikely to be earlier than North’s round-18 recreation towards Hawthorn because of simmering tensions along with his former membership.
Per week earlier than taking depart, Clarkson slammed Hawthorn as “shameful“, calling for an investigation into the club’s handling of the long-running racism saga, saying reputations had been “scarred”.
Hawthorn are actually coached by Sam Mitchell, the Hawks’ captain for Clarkson’s first premiership with the membership in 2008.
When being inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday evening, Mitchell made no point out throughout a prolonged speech of his coach of 12 seasons.
One choice is for Clarkson to ease again into teaching via a part-time function relatively than instantly re-take the reins from Ratten.
“He’s been pretty much away and it’s been something that we’ve done, to allow him to stop thinking footy and let him think about footy when it’s right for him,” Ratten stated.
“(Clarkson) has let us do a couple of little different things, but we haven’t changed enormously.
“There’s just a couple of little tweaks here and there. We’re all on the same path and we’ll keep communicating that.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
