NORTH Melbourne defender Luke McDonald says the playing group needs to take some responsibility for the sudden sacking of coach Alastair Clarkson this week.

McDonald has backed the club's decision to move on from Clarkson with a year remaining on his contract, with the former skipper saying the Roos are "not where we want to be right now" as their wait for a finals return continues.

Clarkson was sacked on Wednesday after four seasons at the club, with president Sonja Hood and footy boss Todd Viney indicating the coach's messaging had not resonated enough with the playing group.

McDonald insisted he and his teammates had a close relationship with Clarkson, and that they needed to take ownership of where the club finds itself.

"To be honest, when a decision like that happens, the first thing you do as players is reflect on yourselves," McDonald said on Sunday.

"We've got to be better – we've got to play better footy and put ourselves in better positions so we don't lead to these decisions.

"I think the first thing we need to do as players is look at ourselves.

"I reached out to 'Clarko' ... I've got a great relationship with Clarko, which is why it’s still pretty raw.

"But as I said, we've got to keep improving, we want to be playing September footy, and a lot of that is just going to come from the drive of the playing group more than anything else.

"It's an emotional decision. Clarko has got a lot of passion for the playing group and the footy club.

"He loved his job. He had a massive impact on a number of players here. All I can speak to is how we reflect and how we look at it, and we support the club's decision and we just want to play September footy.

"We loved Clarko, we got on really well with Clarko – he had a big impact on a number of our players.

"But in saying that, we also support the club's decision, because at the end of the day, we're not where we want to be right now.

"We still want to be playing finals."

McDonald's comments come after Clarkson slammed the club's decision on Saturday, saying Hood and Viney had 'danced on his grave' with their honest commentary at their press conference during the week.

"We're just shocked, and we just thought we were owed a little bit of respect in being informed and warned," Clarkson told The Age.

"Instead, they chose to dance on my grave like this.

"Any deficiencies I've got - and you know that I've got them - to be absolutely blindsided like that.

"How we all feel to be so publicly humiliated."

McDonald backed the club to appoint the right successor, saying the job would be appealing to prospective coaches given the young talent on the list.

"I would've thought when looking at the club from the outside, we've got a really strong, young list with a lot of talent, and we've got some genuine stability off the field with our coaches and high performance staff.

"I would've thought it would be an enviable job. I'm not sure who that's going to be, but I've got full faith in Sonja and the board to pick the right person to take us back to September."