Alastair Clarkson's hilarious gaffe in first day as North Melbourne coach

Alastair Clarkson has momentarily forgotten what club he was coaching after a slip of the tongue during a pep talk to his new North Melbourne Kangaroos team. Clarkson was speaking to the team and coaching staff as the newly appointed coach of North Melbourne at the Arden Street base.

Clarkson was filmed speaking to the team on the first day of pre-season as part of a motivational talk. However, Clarkson may have got into old habits during the inspirational words.

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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?” Clarkson said to his new team at the Kangaroos' headquarters.

“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. And this is this little moment in your life that you’re connected to the Hawthorn footy club..."

Clarkson immediately realised he was no longer at his old club and said: "Ah Hawthorn".

After realising he was being filmed, Clarkson turned to the videographer and said:"You don’t put that anywhere on the tape." The gaffe received a huge laugh from the team and coaching staff.

Clarkson may be forgiven for making the hilarious error having coached Hawthorn for 17 seasons, which included four premierships in that time. The club will probably forgive him as well considering he helped recruit Todd Viney as the team's new footy boss, and star players Daniel Howe and Liam Shiels. He also helped bring in specialist defensive coach Josh Gibson.

Luke McDonald praises Alastair Clarkson upon arrival

While there has been plenty of changes at North Melbourne, new captain Luke McDonald has rarely felt this optimistic ahead of an AFL season. The hierarchy at Arden St is unrecognisable from 12 months ago, with coach Alastair Clarkson announced in August and chair Sonja Hood arriving last March.

Jennifer Watt was appointed chief executive late last year and Clarkson's long-time lieutenant Viney has taken over as North's football department boss. North finished bottom last year with only two wins, but McDonald said there is no ceiling on what the young Kangaroos can achieve this season.

"Just the attitude that Clarko has brought in (and) a few of the people, like Todd Viney ... (assistant coach) Brett Ratten," McDonald said. "They've instilled some great stability in the club.

"Clarko, he's won four premierships, so he knows how to do it, he knows what it takes. Everyone is on board. Clearly, we've learned a new game plan ... it's probably the most optimistic I've been, in terms of the position we're in, for a number of years."

with AAP

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