On the eve of round one this season North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson stood in front of the playing group with a bunch of individual letters addressed to each player on the Kangaroos’ list.
Within were words from the coach describing how proud he was of the effort each individual had put in during the pre-season to get to the point they were at as they embarked on a journey together to drag North Melbourne from the bottom of the ladder.
They were personal and private and tailored specifically to each individual and revealed the impression each player had made on the four-time premiership coach who signed on for five years in August to help the club rise back up the ladder.
Alastair Clarkson is attempting to build a club where everyone thinks of how they can help others be betterCredit: Getty
Multiple sources at the club confirmed that Clarkson handed out the letters ahead of announcing the team for round one which set the scene for a club that is being remodelled under the leadership of Clarkson, president Sonja Hood, CEO Jen Watt and football manager Todd Viney.
Clarkson then set his players a challenge after they received their letter from him.
They had to write their own letter to the person or group who had played the greatest role in supporting them through that transformational pre-season.
In the letters club sources told The Age the players expressed their gratitude towards family, friends, coaches and even teammates who had dragged them through the pre-season to help them improve. It was a varied bunch and the impact of the exercise was powerful however the sources spoken to did not want to go into further detail honouring the process.
That team selected for round one upset West Coast at Marvel Stadium and then the Kangaroos backed it up with an away win against Fremantle in Perth and the long road towards the upper reaches of the ladder had begun.
Two competitive losses have followed, but Clarkson’s simple, somewhat old-fashioned act, indicates the restoration project he is leading at a club that was in disarray this time last year with morale low and players threatening to leave.
The walls have come down so administrative staff can be invited into team announcements or team meetings as he pursues a one club dynamic, and he is determined to keep spirit high knowing that the difficult phase of rebuilding will be a rollercoaster ride.
The letter-writing exercise has stood out to people as the strongest example of the coach’s attempt to build depth to each relationship so when the hard decisions are made – such as telling Ben Cunnington he was being substituted on Good Friday – a relationship with some depth is in place.
On Saturday, the Kangaroos play the Lions, the team which inflicted a humiliating defeat in round three last season that they never really recovered from. He is set to meet Lions coach Chris Fagan who has shared with Clarkson the burden of dealing with the AFL investigation into allegations made to a Hawthorn cultural safety review that became public in September.
The club know rising back up the ladder will be tough and the result may not go their way, but they also know they are building under Clarkson a one-club connection that he eventually hopes will be hard to break.
