North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has raised eyebrows for fulfilling a controversial $100,000 consultancy contract with the Tasmanian Football Club.

Clarkson signed the deal with the Tasmanian government back in 2022, which saw him join the taskforce for the bid to become the AFL’s newest team.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Clarkson’s Tasmanian consultancy sparks controversy.

As part of the deal, he went to the United States to visit NFL franchise Green Bay Packers among other overseas trips.

Clarkson returned to coaching at the end of 2022 when he was officially announced as the new coach of North Melbourne.

But three years on and he has just returned to Hobart to present to the Tasmanian Football Club as part of that contract.

“I just thought this was pretty extraordinary,” Channel 7’s Caroline Wilson said on The Agenda Setters.

“So Alastair Clarkson has spent the last day and a half presenting to the Tasmanian Football Club. It’s part of a contract that he signed with the Tasmanian (government) back in 2022 when he wasn’t coaching.

“The Tasmanian government paid Alistair Clarkson more than $100,000. It was a six-month consultancy.

“I think the footy club and the board decided this was tying up some loose ends. So why not get Alastair Clarkson’s expertise now that they actually have a club, they actually have employees, they’ve got a list manager, a head recruiter, they’ve got a commercial boss, they’ve got a media boss.

“So he came and presented to them. He talked about how they need to fix up their school’s program in Tasmania.”

The Agenda Setters host Kane Cornes couldn’t believe he did that while being coach of the Kangaroos given their struggles over the past three seasons.

“You’d be angry if you were a North fan, wouldn’t you?” He said.

“They’ve won 11 games in the three years he’s been coaching there. I know he signed that deal prior to him getting that job, but pull out of that role.

“You’ve got far greater important and pressing issues at North Melbourne with their list, their game style, those around him, his coaching panel, than to be spending two days, even one hour in Tasmania working out how to better them.

“This is a shocking look.”

Hawthorn great Luke Hodge then wondered how Geelong coach Chris Scott would be looking at the situation given he was highly scrutinised for his separate role with Morris Finance last year.

North Melbourne have had a long association with Tasmania, playing home games in the Apple Isle and also their AFLW team being officially named the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos.

“I was looking and going, imagine how Geelong are sitting here. Chris Scott was dragged through the coals,” Hodge said.

“All of a sudden, Clarko’s getting paid from the Tassie government outside the cap while the Tassie government are paying North Melbourne as a sponsor to go down there and play games.

“So you sit here and go, well, he’s getting paid outside the cap to do similar things as what Chris Scott would do.”

Wilson added that North Melbourne knew about Clarkson’s trip to Tasmania and ticked off on it.

“I don’t think they were particularly thrilled, although they didn’t say this, that the story had come out,” she said.

“I mean, I think they had sort of preferred that it would be done in-house and it wouldn’t come out.

“But I think Clarko was spotted on the streets of Hobart and so it did come out.

“Obviously it had to come out because it looked as though maybe he was talking to them about the coaching job, which he clearly wasn’t.

“But it was an unusual situation.”