North Melbourne football boss Todd Viney knows it might take some time before his friendship with sacked coach Alastair Clarkson gets back to where it once was.
Viney and Kangaroos president Sonja Hood on Tuesday informed Clarkson, with a year left on his contract, that he would not be required for 2027.
For Viney, who worked as Clarkson's assistant coach at Hawthorn between 2005 and 2008, then joined North alongside his close friend in 2022, it was a brutal conversation.
"It's enormously hard. Leadership isn't easy. It's very easy to be a leader when things are going well, but when the times are tough and you have to make strong decisions, it is difficult," Viney said on Wednesday.
"You add layers to that with the friendship that I've had with Alastair for a long period of time, with the family connection. It's tremendously stressful and hard."
Viney, who described himself as "part of the decision" to sack Clarkson but never took full accountability in a frank press conference, critiqued the "gaping holes" in North's game plan and noted the four-time premiership mentor had struggled to delegate work.
But the football boss won't be following Clarkson out the door.
"I'm in it for the long haul," Viney said.
"I did come into the club with Alastair when he was appointed.
"When we first started the job here, we spoke about ... 'when we start a rebuild and we start developing, we'll see the end of it.' Unfortunately for Clarko, he won't see the end of the rebuild."
It remains unclear whether the duo's friendship will weather the sacking.
Asked whether he would remain friends with Clarkson, Viney was realistic.
"My intent would be yes, but I think the smoke will settle for a while," he said.
"It's going to take a little bit of time for it to get back to normal."
Viney admitted Clarkson didn't see the axe coming.
"I know Clarko really well. He was frustrated. He was disappointed. He's a fighter," he said.
"But what I do know is that when we first started this journey, a week in, unfortunately for him the Hawthorn stuff happened, and that took enormous toll on him for the first two or three years.
"In fact, I'm not sure the scars are fully healed to this point.
"So he's gone through enormous trauma. He's done an amazing job to get us to where we are right now."
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