Kane Cornes has questioned whether Alastair Clarkson is having the desired impact as the coach of North Melbourne after their heavy defeat on the weekend.
The Kangaroos lost by 85 points against Hawthorn on Saturday night at Launceston, a venue that has been favourable to the Hawks.
After having the bye in round 12, the Kangaroos beat West Coast by 10 points, lost to Fremantle by six points and won against Carlton by 11 points before having their big loss against Hawthorn.
Clarkson explained in his post-match press conference after the Hawks game that the opposition covered the ground better coming off the bye, and the Kangaroos didn’t want to look too deeply into the 85-point loss.
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Kane Cornes argued the Kangaroos coach should have been a lot stronger in his press conference after such a big loss.
“There’s no reason that Hawthorn should be that far advanced than North Melbourne,” Cornes said on Channel 7’s Agenda Setters.
“That’s just not acceptable from a four-time premiership coach. If I’m sitting back as a North fan, I’m hurting.”
The Kangaroos will take on the Western Bulldogs on Thursday night, a game that will celebrate 100 years since North Melbourne entered the then-VFL.
Cornes explained that if he were Clarkson, he would have talked about the lack of pressure on the Hawks and looked further into the game.
“I don’t want to hear that they were covering the ground better, and we’re not going to look too forensically, he said.
“I’d be looking into it as forensically as you possibly can with a magnifying glass to find out any areas that we can improve for our 100th-year game on Thursday night.”
“I question whether he is having the impact that they employed him to have.”
Two-time Kangaroos premiership coach Denis Pagan has been asked by Clarkson to deliver the pre-match speech to the players before their centenary match against the Bulldogs on Thursday night.