The Bulldogs will be without five of their key players, led by captain Marcus Bontempelli, who received four out of a potential six Brownlow Medal votes when they faced North last year.
However, Clarkson states that the Roos, who also have their prominent forward Nick Larkey striving to recover from a bruised calf, must remain highly vigilant against the struggling Bulldogs.
I mostly pay attention to what's happening in the park," he explained. "What was observed in Launceston a few weeks back was sufficient to overcome Hawthorn.
The Bont participated in that match but had to quit after only 10 or 15 minutes, and one thing we're certain of is that they are quite a formidable team.
They've dealt with injuries previously and found ways to manage them. They have had the chance to determine suitable substitutes and provide opportunities for other players to step into those roles.
To be honest, we shouldn't underestimate any team; we'll give it our all and hope that's sufficient to stay competitive against the Bulldogs.
The Roos secured victories in three matches last year, specifically during the latter part of the season.
They also fumbled two three-quarter-time leads to Collingwood and West Coast as well going down by less than a kick to Melbourne.
Clarkson anticipates that the Roos aim to enhance their performance from the disappointing first half of last season, with the scoreboard at the end of the third quarter serving as a measure of progress.
"We aim to become more competitive throughout matches. Last season, during the initial 11 games, I believe that by the third quarter, we were not truly part of the competition in any of them," he stated.
In the latter part of the year, we improved at maintaining our competitiveness over extended periods. We emerged victorious in three of those matches – a few more we had the potential to win but ended up losing them.
If you examine the games from the second part of the season and think, 'If they had won those few matches they arguably should have won, then they would have five victories in the latter half of the year,' this is beginning to indicate that we're heading in the right direction.
We aim to build on this by thoroughly immersing ourselves in the games and maintaining competitiveness, ensuring neither our supporters nor anyone else switch off their TVs by the third quarter.
It basically serves as a crucial way for us to assess our progress this year.
Larkey did not participate in North Melbourne’s mock game on Thursday morning and will have a fitness assessment conducted either on Friday or the morning before the actual game on Saturday.
Finnbar Maley took over Larkey’s role, and former Sydney Swans player Jacob Konstanty has expressed interest in joining forces with Finn O’Sullivan as a newcomer.
"(Larkey) had an issue during practice, so we decided not to have him train today to let that calm down a bit," Clarkson explained.
We're expecting him to behave like an angel by the weekend, but we can't confirm it just yet. We'll know more once he arrives tomorrow.
We decided not to push him today so as not to exacerbate the issue. We'll let him jog loosely either tomorrow or possibly evenSaturday morning.
It may not be perfect, but he's enjoyed an excellent summer, which is why we'll do everything possible to get him into the game.
O'Sullivan is poised to make his debut alongside other prominent first-year players Sam Lalor, Harry Armstrong, and Luke Trainor from Richmond, Josh Dolan from Western Bulldogs, Murphy Reid from Fremantle, and Sam Marshall from Brisbane.
Remarkably, Armstrong, Trainor, Dolan, Reid, and Marshall all competed in the same junior league during their youth — the South Metro Junior Football League.
