Former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting might attempt to persuade four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson to take over the reins at North Melbourne, Ponting's beloved club.
The pair share the same manager, James Henderson, and have strong ties to growing the game in Tasmania, where Ponting was born.
North Melbourne have already noted Clarkson to be a person of interest in their hunt to replace departed senior coach David Noble, while the former Hawthorn coach is also believed to be in the sights of GWS.
Speaking on an upcoming episode of the The Believers: Tasmaniaโs AFL Journeyโ podcast, Ponting spoke of his desire to have Clarkson at the helm of Arden Street, even comparing the Roos' list to that of Hawthorn's when Clarkson took over as coach at the end of 2004.
โYeah, absolutely (heโd like to see Clarkson in charge). If youโre looking for the right people at the right times, the most successful coach and noted as most โ (the) best coach in the AFL for the last 10 or 12 years, thereโs a lot worse decisions you could make than to go flat out to try and bring someone like him back to where it all began,โ Ponting said.
โโThatโs the other part of that puzzle with him, obviously. There as a player then went to Melbourne (and) I think started his coaching career near Port Adelaide. I guess if you think about where the footy club is now, itโs actually not dissimilar to where Hawthorn were when he first started there.
Ricky Ponting compared North Melbourneโs current situation to Hawthornโs when Clarkson took over heading into 2005.
Ponting will sit down with Clarkson this week. https://t.co/hk7w5MsXMm
— Mitch Cleary (@cleary_mitch) July 26, 2022
โI mean they โ I think heโs on record as saying that he thought it would be a seven-year journey and rebuild to a potential Grand Final. I think they won one after four (years) maybe.โ
While Ponting isn't directly involved in the Kangaroos' coaching hunt, his position could sway Clarkson's thinking.
Speaking on the view of a North Melbourne fan, Ponting added that an acquisition of a coach with Clarkson's stature would see an uplift in the spirit of the club's most faithful.
โIt would just brighten every memberโs hopes up on where weโre heading as a footy club,โ
โAnd itโll also send just a lot of great signals to everyone else in the AFL that they are, you know, theyโre not going to keep accepting whatโs happened the last couple of years.
โTheyโre fair dinkum, theyโre trying to bring the best people in they possibly can and get this rebuild happening as quick as they can, so a lot of great messages would come as a result of it I think.โ
Clarkson amassed a win record of 228-4-158 across his 17 seasons at Waverley, including premierships in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
