![\"North](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/92caf8997344aa0199a4c27b19e029b512bc9deb.jpg\")
Camera IconNorth Melbourne were humbled by Fremantle in Bunbury. Credit: Travis Hayto\/AFL Photos<\/p>\nAlastair Clarkson says he feels no extra pressure on his role as North Melbourne coach after their disastrous 124-point defeat to Fremantle at the weekend.<\/p>\n
The Kangaroos are looking to rebound in the last of their two-game stint in Western Australia when they host West Coast at the Eagles\u2019 own home ground of Optus Stadium on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
North Melbourne\u2019s loss to the Dockers down in Bunbury was the equal biggest defeat of Clarkson\u2019s 261-game coaching career and the club\u2019s worst since the final round of 2024 when they were thumped by his former team, Hawthorn.<\/p>\n
Clarkson\u2019s five-year contract at Arden Street is set to expire at the end of next season, and the triple-figure defeat has raised questions around his future in the role and the team\u2019s progression.<\/p>\n
Speaking at Fremantle Oval on Friday morning, Clarkson remained calm about where he and the Kangaroos were at despite the embarrassing defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been in the game for a long period of time. If they want to tap me on the shoulder and reckon, I\u2019m not doing a good enough job, then I\u2019m happy to move on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019ve got a clear plan on what we\u2019re trying to do here. We know it\u2019s tough yards and there\u2019ll be inconsistencies with a young side, but we want to try to iron out our consistency so we can avoid losses like that last week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Camera IconNorth Melbourne were humbled by Fremantle in Bunbury. Credit: Travis Hayto\/AFL Photos<\/p>\n
The heavy loss in the South West has also raised questions around the club\u2019s deal with the WA Government to sell two of their home games.<\/p>\n
It is the second of a three-year deal with the State Government, which has seen the embattled club sell two home games, which is believed to be worth more than $2 million a season.<\/p>\n
Clarkson said if you were a good enough team, it didn\u2019t matter where you played your home games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not for me to decide of even really comment on. This is a decision for our board and the Western Australian Government, and they\u2019ll work that out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur end of the bargain is we need to put in a much better performance than we did last week, and we\u2019re going to do everything we possibly can to rectify our efforts from our last game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been playing four games a year in Tasmania for the last few years, so it\u2019s all about spreading the game. We\u2019ve got a great supporter base over here, and you\u2019ve got to balance the books somehow.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor some of the clubs in the competition, whether it\u2019s Melbourne going to Alice Springs or Gold Coast going to Darwin, or teams playing in Tasmania, North coming across to Bunbury to play a game this season as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do what you need to do, and the bottom line is, if you become a good enough side, you\u2019ll win anyway, and that was the case with us. We needed to win on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost instances when you become a good side, you win most of your home games, and then you\u2019re probably looking to win at least half of the games that you play away. We\u2019re a long way from that at the minute, but that\u2019s where we\u2019re aiming to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alastair Clarkson says he feels no extra pressure on his role as North Melbourne coach after their disastrous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,7204,588,85],"class_list":["post-731161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-north-melbourne-kangaroos","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}