Alastair Clarkson officially began his post as the coach of North Melbourne on Wednesday despite the ongoing investigation into racism allegations made by First Nations families.
He declared that it is his intention to dedicate his time to both defending himself from the allegations and familiarising himself with the North Melbourne group he is contracted to guide into the 2023 season.
Clarkson is insistent that the overhang of a major AFL investigation will distract neither him nor also-accused Brisbane coach Chris Fagan from performing their respective roles as senior coaches.
"I suppose the advantage for Chris [Fagan] and I is that we have been around the game for a long period of time. It's just a matter of compartmentalising things," Clarkson told media on his first official day at Arden Street.
"Obviously, the investigation will take our most significant priority over the course of the next five or six weeks, however long it takes. In the meantime, we have a really good team of people. They have worked pretty well without me the last four or five weeks.
"I am sure they will do the same. I will just come in and out of the program as I see fit but, the number one priority, will be to contribute to that investigation."
Clarkson was adamant that the results of the investigation will clear his name, stating that he "will work through that with the AFL investigation".
"All we do know is that there have been three or four clubs in the competition over the last 20 years that have been really, really strong clubs, really, really successful clubs, and those clubs have had magnificent cultures, and Hawthorn has been one of those," Clarkson said.
"I would be very, very surprised if we weren't able to put a really, really strong case forward that these allegations have been reported a different way than we saw them when we were at the club."
The timing of Clarkson's first day at Arden Street coincided with a statement from one of the First Nations families that made the allegations against him.
This statement, released through Marque Lawyers on behalf of an Indigenous woman, criticised the investigation process and stated that she would not participate in the investigation "out of obligation not just to herself or her family, but to the First Nations players that follow, who vest their lives and trust in a game that has so little regard for them".
A four-person panel, led by senior lawyer Bernard Quinn KC, will investigate the claims, having set out terms of reference for their independent investigation last month.
