North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson says a call received’t be reached on uncontracted veteran Todd Goldstein till the top of the season.
The 35-year-old ruckman is known to be wanting to proceed his taking part in profession, however the Kangaroos are but to decide to the previous Syd Barker medallist and will let him stroll to a different membership.
Goldstein has beforehand been linked to Geelong, whereas Sydney can be on the hunt for a No. 1 ruckman after Tom De Koning rejected its curiosity to re-sign with Carlton.
As the Kangaroos put together to farewell membership champions Ben Cunnington and Jack Ziebell over the subsequent fortnight, Clarkson stated his impression was that Goldstein didn’t want to be a part of them in retirement.
“I think there’s a fair chance that Goldy wants to continue to play, he wants to play for as long as he can,” Clarkson stated.
“We’re at that stage – he’s 35 or thereabouts – we need to be making decisions in that space too. We just need to look at our ruck stocks … and we’ll do that in three or four weeks’ time.
Clarkson said the club would also sit down with assistant coach Brett Ratten to discuss his future following the season, after the former Carlton and St Kilda coach unexpectedly took the reins as interim coach for a 10-week stint in Clarkson’s absence.
“Ratts’ brief pretty much was to come in and help us out for three days a week and plant a few trees in between,” Clarkson joked.
“It’s a tough caper to full out of a footy club once, and he’s fallen out of a footy club twice … we’ll see what he wants to do.
Midfield hard-nut George Wardlaw has been cleared to face the Bombers on Saturday after overcoming a hamstring strain, with Clarkson stressing that the club was not concerned by the No. 4 pick’s record of soft tissue injuries.
“His training age is next to zero, I don’t mean that in a bad way. In terms of AFL pre-seasons he hasn’t even done one yet,” Clarkson stated.
“We’re really, really confident … he’s probably played about 10 or 11 games this year, hopefully he gets another three.
“I reckon that training will allow him to add resilience to prevent some of these soft tissue injuries.”
The coach stated he can be alarmed if the Roos didn’t elevate towards the Bombers as Cunnington bows out and Ziebell performs his final house recreation at Docklands.
“I hope so … if you’re not acknowledging the significant contribution that those two guys have made to the club, it’s going to be hard for us to find motivation to actually play,” Clarkson stated.
“For Cunners, a big part of his career was coached by (Brad) Scott too, who is the opposition coach this week, so that’s a touching part to the whole way this is unfolding as well.
“It will be a special moment between those two I’m sure, whether that’s before or after the game.”
Source: www.news.com.au
