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Herald Sun chief football reporter Jay Clark reported last month on Super Saturday Live that Clarkson and his management would \u201cprobably love an early extension to get a bit more security against the spotlight and focus\u201d, but added the Kangaroos were \u201cvery content\u201d to let the on-field performances do the talking before any new deals are discussed.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s First Crack Preview, King said there was \u201cno way\u201d the Roos should re-sign Clarkson under the current circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to talk about the Kangaroos because there\u2019s a lot of noise around the moment about whether they should look to re-sign the coach at the start of this off-season or early next season, whenever it may be,\u201d King told First Crack Preview. \u201cCoaches don\u2019t necessarily want to go into a fresh campaign with a question mark next to their name, because they think it affects the rest of the group.<\/p>\n
Port beat North to maintain finals hopes | 02:28<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked at the way they played last week (against Port Adelaide) and I just thought there\u2019s a lot of reverse lights with the Kangas, there\u2019s a lot of sideways stuff. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m having a look at the club in totality now and saying: \u2018OK, they\u2019re 8-8 \u2013 what has changed? What is looking promising?\u201d<\/p>\n
King pointed to examples from the first half of Sunday\u2019s 21-point loss to Port Adelaide where the Kangaroos were careful with how they moved the ball, often going lateral instead of pushing aggressively forward with handball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe competition is now a forward handball comp. It\u2019s not a kicking comp,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (the Roos) don\u2019t take that option. They want to go back, play safe, give up territory. Now they find themselves in all sorts of trouble, and go back to where they originally were, but now those players are vacated, the grid\u2019s in place, and now you\u2019re kicking to an outnumber the other way around.\u201d<\/p>\n
King then turned his attention to Pick 2 Colby McKercher, who in one passage opted to kick wide towards a teammate, instead of using his running ability to attack to attack with handball through the corridor out of defensive 50.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcKercher\u2019s role is to give and get. He\u2019s got to be the best one-two player in the comp,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Alastair Clarkson, Senior Coach of the Kangaroos. Picture: Sarah Reed\/AFL Photos via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is set up perfectly for him. This whole play is designed around him handballing and getting that back, putting speed on the game and away you go.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if he doesn\u2019t do that, it becomes a kicking contest against teams that are defending the kicking game better than they ever have.\u201d<\/p>\n
King then highlighted a play where McKercher marked the ball on the left half-back flank. Instead of turning left and swinging onto his preferred left boot to keep the play moving forward, McKercher turned right \u2013 and ended up running laterally to the opposite flank. He was then corralled by the Power defence and handballed back to a teammate, who was forced into a long dump kick down the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe (McKercher) is driving me insane with his stuff \u2013 and then he just becomes a lateral operator. This ruins anything forward of the ball,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave a look at this: He runs for 100m sideways.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what is this? Is this coaching? \u2026 Is that the plan? Is that what they\u2019re trying to set up?\u201d<\/p>\n
King said the Kangaroos, according to Champion Data\u2019s Speed of Ball measurement, went short and lateral in the first half against the Power before adjusting to a longer and more direct approach in the second half.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, that (the first half approach) is an inoffensive way to play it. People say: \u2018Oh, Brisbane can do this.\u2019 But Brisbane go \u2018boom, boom, boom, boom, boom\u2019 and it\u2019s gone \u2026 If you take time and then do this, you\u2019re in real trouble.<\/p>\n
Roos sweating on Wardlaw injury | 00:36<\/p>\n
\u201cAt half-time they say: \u2018Let\u2019s flip it. Let\u2019s go in and get ourselves going. Let\u2019s get the speed back on the game.\u2019 So anytime they got the ball, they just went. They just charged forward and the whole game changed. I just wonder why this isn\u2019t the mode at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m seeing what Josh Fraser\u2019s done, I\u2019m seeing what Steven King\u2019s done, I\u2019m seeing what Josh Carr\u2019s done, I\u2019m seeing what Andrew McQualter is doing with the West Coast Eagles \u2013 and they should have beaten the Kangas twice this year and they fell a kick short.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo is this coaching group taking them down the right path? And if there\u2019s any grey area, if there\u2019s any concerns, you cannot sign and extend Alastair Clarkson under these circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n
King said his concerns extended beyond North\u2019s game style, questioning the club\u2019s handling and development of several highly rated young players.<\/p>\n
As well as suggesting McKercher had \u201cbecome a lateral operator\u201d, the Roos had to \u201cget more out of\u201d Finn O\u2019Sullivan than using him in a run-with role, adding: \u201c(Jy) Simpkin\u2019s running around doing what he wants, he\u2019s the tagger and O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s got to free wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n
King said he was also concerned Lachy Dovaston (Pick 16, 2025) and Matt Whitlock (Pick 27, 2024 \u2013 after giving up a future first-rounder) weren\u2019t in the AFL team, while Wil Dawson \u2013 who was drafted as a key defender \u2013 was now being used as a ruck, while fellow first-rounder Taylor Goad \u201ccan\u2019t get a game in the ruck\u201d at AFL level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things that are out of whack,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
Clarko praises Port’s dour defence | 07:47<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m (Roos president) Sonja Hood and I\u2019m in that seat to make that call, there is no way you can sign him (Clarkson) under these circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re improving, but they\u2019re getting a lot of high picks to improve along the journey. I would expect this is about where they\u2019d be \u2026 (but) the competition is saying (play) an aggressive game. Fraser, Carr, King \u2013 they\u2019ve revolutionised what\u2019s going on. Why isn\u2019t that happening at the Kangaroos? And why aren\u2019t they punching those first 50 games into those youngsters or the elite picks? Because that was Sam Mitchell\u2019s approach three years ago \u2026 all these (North) guys are in the twos.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just wondering: How could you endorse the whole program right now? It\u2019s everything \u2026 it\u2019s development. How come these guys aren\u2019t ready to play AFL footy? If they\u2019ve traded up to get them, if they\u2019re such good talent, why aren\u2019t they in the team?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a whole host of questions that are difficult to answer, I would assume, for Alastair Clarkson, but you can\u2019t put your hand out and expect an extension on your contract under these circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dual premiership Kangaroo David King believes North Melbourne can\u2019t justify extending coach Alastair Clarkson\u2019s contract, questioning the club\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-788111","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-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788111","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=788111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}