Having been "inspired" by the Golden State Warriors and their head coach Steve Kerr, North Melbourne's newly appointed senior coach Alastair Clarkson is "looking forward to the challenge ahead" as he gears up for his first official day on the job in November.

Clarkson spent time around decorated NBA coach Kerr and his Warriors in April earlier this year and was stirred by the franchise's planning ahead of, and through, its NBA Playoffs run to win the Championship.

Subsequently, the four-time premiership coach made the decision to re-enter the AFL coaching world and acknowledged the reasons why with SEN's Gerard Whateley on Tuesday morning. 

"The combative and competitive part of the game - you know you're perhaps placed on this Earth to help people be the very best they can be at the chosen field that they love and that’s Aussie rules football, and for me I feel like that’s what I can do well," Clarkson said.

"Even though I really enjoyed the front office part of the role that I had for the last 12 months which was helping Tasmania trying to get this 19th team in, it's really the back-office part of footy and being right at the coalface where I enjoy it the most."

Focusing on North Melbourne, Clarkson acknowledged that while club rebuilds take time, they aren't always as prolonged as initially thought.

"When I arrived at Hawthorn, the board and I thought it was going to be a seven, eight, nine-year process in terms of actually getting back to really competing for the chance to win silverware, and we arrived there in four years," Clarkson said.

"It's just about making sure you get a clear vision and getting the right people on board to drive that and that’s at playing level, volunteer level, board level, administration level, coaching level, the whole kit and caboodle.

"If you've got people who are prepared to work together on a single vision and goal then special things can happen.

"It's been a tough year for them (the playing squad) with a lot of change and the club just needs some stability and direction now.

"We'll try and reinvigorate that passion and vision for the game over the summer and we'll roll up the sleeves and get to work and hopefully win some more games next year.

"We've got some players on our list and staff that are highly talented people and that are really good in their roles, but the challenge is actually bringing all these talented people together cohesively in order to go in the same direction."