Kangaroos rising star Colby McKercher has brushed off a heated incident with coach Alastair Clarkson during the team’s thrilling win over Carlton on Friday.
North Melbourne came from 22 points down in the fourth quarter, leaving Carlton coach Michael Voss hanging by a thread.
North kicked the final five goals of the contest at Marvel Stadium to secure a 10-point win with Blues fans left incensed following another second half collapse.
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With Carlton kicking two late goals to finish the third quarter, a furious Clarkson charged towards McKercher during the three-quarter time huddle.
The veteran coach gave the 20-year-old a not-so-gentle-shove as he barked orders at the former No. 2 draft pick.
Clarkson’s push was picked up by Fox Footy cameras.
“This will be a talking point right here,” Demons legend Garry Lyon said to McKercher on Fox Footy after the game.
You can watch the shove in the video player above.
“So Clarko is up and he’s in your grill and he’s given you one to the chest. How did you feel in that moment?”
McKercher said he knew Clarkson was not going to be happy after he lost track of Carlton gun Jagga Smith at a stoppage near the goal square.
Replays showed Smith left McKercher trailing behind him at a ball-up before the young Blues star walked into an open goal square.
“I was disappointed I let the team down,” McKercher said on Fox Footy.
“It was a forward fifty stoppage and I kind of switched off mentally for a bit and I think Jagga Smith might have snuck through and kicked a goal, who was my match up at that time.
“I knew I’d made a mistake when it happened and I could see him (Clarkson) beeline straight for me at three quarter time, ‘Oh here we go’.
“Clarko and I have such a good relationship so we hugged it out after the game. I think it’s his way of showing care. He’s hard on me because he cares so much.”
McKercher went on to say he did not take it personally.
“Not at all. He was just trying to get a response out of me to improve in that area and make better efforts in the fourth quarter,” he said.
“I trust his judgment. Obviously he was pretty fired up. It’s in the heat of battle and things like that happen so I don’t think there should be a big deal made about it.”
Clarkson also addressed the incident after the game.
“I think they scored three goals in three minutes in the last part of the (quarter) and Colby’s attention to detail on a couple of D50 stoppages wasn’t as strong as it needed to be,” he said.
“It was just a general reminder that we need to be strong in that part of the game.
“He’s a young kid learning the game, he does some terrific stuff, he was really strong with ball in hand in the first half.
“But we need to be really, really good defensively and that was frustrating.
“I think they scored four or five goals from inside 50 stoppages and those last two certainly got the coach a bit frustrated going down at three-quarter time.”
Clarkson had plenty to smile about after the game. Voss did not.
Voss addressed the media following the third loss of the season and said the club’s inability to “manage moments” cost them.
“Obviously, coming out of half-time, the challenge was laid bare for us to be able to step it up a gear,” Voss said in the post-match press conference.
“We certainly did that, our tackle rate was low (in the first half) — I think mainly because there were so many uncontested marks from both teams.
“But then to dial up the pressure in the third quarter and from that point on, I felt like — from quarter-time, to be fair — that looked like more of our game.
“But we have to manage minutes, and we have to manage moments. And we didn’t, and they were good enough to.”
