North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has scoffed at the suggestion he has lost his passion as the struggling Kangaroos battle to the end of the AFL season.
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See subscription optionsNow in his third season at Arden Street, Clarkson has a 10-1-44 record as coach, with a winning percentage of just 19.09.
The Kangaroos have lost five games on the bounce, including a 101-point hammering from Geelong.
But Clarkson, a four-time premiership-winning coach at Hawthorn, brushed aside queries over his passion as he drew parallels between his time at North and his early days at the Hawks.
"I wouldn't have come back if I didn't want to do this job," he said.
"I love the challenge of it. It's a significant challenge, but I don't see it as any different to the challenge I had when I first arrived at Hawthorn: no senior coach, no CEO, political turmoil within the footy club, less than 25,000 members.
"In a very, very quick space of time that club was able to turn itself around.
"And I'm confident it can be done here as well, and I'm enjoying the challenge of it. It's not easy - as they always say, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it."
Clarkson was adamant the Kangaroos' troubles weren't his toughest, surprisingly pointing to the 2014 premiership-winning year at Hawthorn.
"Geez, we confronted some adversity. I was out for six weeks with a serious illness. Some of our more senior players were missing 10, 12, 14 weeks of footy, and it was a really, really tough year," he said.
"Unbelievably rewarding that we ended up being able to, despite the adversity, win - but that's what we're searching for.
"We know this game's tough. Whether you're a side that's really, really good and challenging at the top end, it is still really, really tough."
It gave Clarkson the belief that things could still turn at North.
"As tough as it is, and it seems like, 'well, gee, we're being overly patient', all of a sudden it will turn and the confidence of the group will rise," he said.
"And when that's going to happen I don't know, but sometimes it can happen really, really quickly."
Clarkson conceded that could mean another pre-season, but stressed the Kangaroos still had "an enormous amount to gain" from their last four games.
First up is St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, including attempting to shut down in-form Saints gun Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera
North will name spearhead Nick Larkey (knee) to play, but if he is a late withdrawal key defender Charlie Comben will likely swing forward again.
George Wardlaw could return at AFL level after gaining match conditioning via the VFL.
Australian Associated Press
