‘Grow up’: Clarkson grilled over ‘ridiculous’ act

Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson has been told to “grow up” by veteran AFL columnist Caroline Wilson following his blow-up at a Nine journalist earlier this year.

Clarkson took umbrage with Nine’s Elisabeth Moss after Moss had asked questions regarding the allegations surrounding Kangaroos youngster Tarryn Thomas.

While the veteran coach apologised for his actions, he then followed the apology by refusing to guarantee that “I won’t do that again” in a later interview.

READ MORE: Star’s stunning ‘bombshell’ admission in LIV war

READ MORE: ‘Sad’ estrangement ends as Aussie boxing icons reunite

READ MORE: Broncos urged to poach young gun as Reynolds’ heir

Wilson suggested that the four-time premiership-winner had form with regards to being unnecessarily combative towards reporters over the years.

”He has behaved in such ridiculous fashion,” she told the Don’t Shoot The Messenger podcast.

“He’s back where he was in those early bad years of Hawthorn where he was threatening the media.

“‘Your time will come, you’ll get yours’, I reckon he said the same thing to Craig Hutchison one night on Footy Classified. Swearing once at Mark Robinson as he left a press conference.

“It doesn’t matter who the journalist was but it happened to be a young female journo, ‘Your time will come’. I mean seriously. When she was apparently upsetting him by asking some very fair questions of Tarryn Thomas.”

Wilson claimed that Clarkson’s adversaries had been left “disappointed” in his actions, and said Moss had every right to ask the questions she did.

“Tarryn Thomas is a North Melbourne footballer with some great troubles and a chequered history relating to women,” she said.

“Now, I’m sorry, but the media has every right to question Tarryn Thomas’ return to the North Melbourne training group.

“This sort of notion of players that love coaches who back them to the hilt and back the team to the hilt and don’t care if they abuse the media, surely players are not that gullible and stupid.

“For Alastair, with all the issues he’s had, to do something like this and then for it to be so serious that the club has made it clear and he’s agreed to go into Channel Nine and issue an apology, and then not to apologise and continue to rant or name other bugbears or not properly apologise or do a Wayne Carey apology was just beyond the pale.”

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here! 

The AFL young guns ready to explode in 2023