NORTH MELBOURNE coach Alastair Clarkson has defended his club’s right to host the premier timeslot on Good Friday despite its 82-point drubbing to Carlton.
In his post-match press conference, Clarkson said that the fans would vote with their feet if there was an issue with the Kangaroos playing in the primetime game.
“That will always be the narrative, that was the narrative with the season opening with Richmond and Carlton for a long period of time too. Ironically, the Blues that we’re playing today,” Clarkson said.
“The bottom line is if the wider football public were concerned about the game itself and the quality of it, they wouldn’t vote with their feet like they have with every one of these games. It’s nearly been a sell-out.
“We’re not going so well on the field at the present time, but I’d like to think that the work that both of the clubs do, particularly our club, does in supporting the appeal, the on-field stuff will come.”
Under Clarkson, North Melbourne has only managed seven wins and the long-time coach was asked whether coaching the Kangaroos has been the greatest challenge of his coaching career.
“It’s difficult, but an old coach used to say to me, ‘If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.’ It is a really tough caper,” Clarkson said.
“We’ve put some things in place at our footy club that we think are building blocks to have us heading in the right direction. It’s just slower than we all want really.
“I’ve also seen it turn around really quickly too. That’s the disappointing part about today.”
Carlton dominated the Kangaroos in the middle, finishing the day with double the number of centre clearances to their counterparts.
Blues coach Michael Voss said post-match that he was really pleased with his side’s performance.
“As far as the performance goes, it was a really consistent performance. We got the win last week. This one was a little bit more impressive again,” he said.
Voss sung the praises of midfielder George Hewett who has had an exceptional start to the year and was awarded the inaugural Good Friday SuperClash Superhero Medal.
“He’s been pretty good the last few weeks, to be fair,” Voss said.
“His season at the start has been quite amazing. So, you know, he had a role to do today as well and for him to be able to execute that, but still be able to have an impact in the game the way that he is almost like a credit to his preparation.
“He’s an absolute pro. No one puts more detail in his prep than George. He’s a much-loved man at our club and, yeah, the boys love playing with him.”
Voss was quick to reiterate that his club would love to continue playing in the Good Friday fixture against North Melbourne.
“It’s worthwhile acknowledging North Melbourne Football Club. They do an amazing job being able to put this together,” he said.
“The whole week is pretty special. We’re really grateful to them for us being a part of this and obviously want to keep this as a real permanent fixture because it’s pretty special to be a part of.”
Voss confirmed that there were no fresh injuries, and that key forward Harry McKay was making progress to return next week.
“He’s been back at the club and he’s been training fine,” he said.
“He’ll follow all the protocols he needs to, but if he ticks all those boxes, then he’ll be available.”
The only injury for the game was to North Melbourne’s Zac Fisher, who was subbed out of the game with a hamstring injury.
