North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson to return ahead of round 21 clash against Demons

North Melbourne will welcome back Alastair Clarkson as coach next month, with the hope that his rejuvenated approach will help the Kangaroos have a more successful 2024 season.

With his comeback to the coaching set for Round 21 against Melbourne in Hobart, the four-time premiership coach will have one month to round off the season. Clarkson took a 10-week leave of absence to focus on his mental health.

Without flying to Perth for the round 20 game against West Coast, Clarkson will follow caretaker coach Brett Ratten next week to evaluate the minor modifications made to the football department.

After the game, Ratten will no longer be the senior coach, but he will have two more chances to beat his previous teams, St. Kilda and Carlton, in his final two games.

However, after what has transpired over the past three months, Ratten may try his hand at professional football again in 2019.

Before Clarkson's departure, Ratten had only been working at Arden St on a part-time basis. After next week's game against the Eagles, Ratten will go back to his previous curtailed role.

Clarkson, as part of his reintegration into AFL ranks, has spent the past few weeks examining game-style patterns and seeking to get a handle on how the Kangaroos (winless since round 2) are tracking.

Clarkson, according to football coach Todd Viney, has been tasked with this endeavour, and the results will be "slowly introduced to set us up for next year."

As part of the club's list management team's process of determining which qualities to prioritise for the forthcoming offseason, Clarkson has also attended under-18 national carnival matches.

On Wednesday, Clarkson rejoined with his team, and on Thursday, he will speak with the Arden St. employees once more.

Despite the AFL's independent investigation into racism claims against Hawthorn coming to a close, this issue is likely to go on for quite some time in the courts.

Viney, though, was certain that this would have no effect on Clarkson going forwards, and that he would not be forced to take another leave of absence.

According to Viney, "His eyes are back in his head" on Wednesday.

"He certainly appears revitalised; his vigour has returned. Just like the old Alastair.

On Tuesday, Clarkson stated it was "later rather than sooner" before he returned to coaching.

According to Viney, however, Clarkson was being cautious because he didn't want to "be seen to be bulldozing his way through" the comeback.

We've had this not in pen but in pencil for a while, so I guess he was just a little gun shy yesterday," Viney explained.

The statement's full context was not publicised or acted out, but this has always been the plan.

We had a meeting with all the important people involved yesterday night, and around 6:30 we made a final decision.

After round nine, Clarkson stepped down as head coach. According to Viney, he never had any doubts that a "refreshed" Clarkson would be back this year.

I knew he was always going to come back, but he needed some space to gain perspective, he said.