Alastair Clarkson – coach of the … Hawthorn Football Club, still?
The newly appointed Kangaroos coach made an untimely – yet amusing – slip of the tongue that was caught on video while he was addressing players and staff that sent the room in stitches.
The vision from North Melbourne’s first day of pre-season, which was filmed by its social media team for the opening episode of Inside North, shows Clarkson begin with motivational words before things go south.
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“I’m going to present our game plan here, it’ll take me about 10 minutes. You’re sitting there saying, ‘ oh jeez, why does everyone in the room need to know it?” The legendary coach opens with in the Arden Street inner sanctum.
“Because if we’re going to have a sense of belonging, it’s very basic.
“I’ll speak very quickly about this thing called the dash – and that’s for everyone … you’ve got (around) 80 years in your life,” then mistakenly adding: “And this is this little moment in your life that you’re connected to the Hawthorn footy club–”
Clarkson noted his slip up with a smile: “Ah, Hawthorn,” while shaking his head and laughing at himself as the room erupted.
He then turned to the camera and said: “You don’t put that anywhere on the tape,” as he and players and staff continued cackling away.
Of course, looking around the room, Clarkson, who coached Hawthorn to four premierships over 17 seasons, could be forgiven to some degree for his blunder given he’s recruited a slew of former Hawthorn personnel to Arden Street including Todd Viney as the Roos’ new footy boss, players Daniel Howe and Liam Shiels as well as Josh Gibson as a specialist defensive coach.
North Melbourne kicks off its pre-season games with match simulation against Richmond this Friday at Arden Street before an official practice hit-out against the Western Bulldogs at Ikon Park on Saturday, March 4 ahead of their Round 1 meeting with West Coast at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, March 18.
