North Melbourne co-captain Jy Simpkin says he's "pumped" to be able to catch up with Alastair Clarkson again and insists the coach's absence hasn't weighed the group down.
Clarkson's transition back to the role of senior coach began earlier this week with the 55-year-old working behind the scenes for the time being before taking back the full-time coaching reins from caretaker Brett Ratten later this season.
North Melbourne are in the midst of a 13-game losing run and face a huge challenge to end the rot against Geelong at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday.
Clarkson took personal leave in mid-May to focus on his emotional and physical wellbeing following the stress of being caught up in the Hawthorn racism saga.
The AFL has since announced no adverse findings against Clarkson, Chris Fagan or Jason Burt over the allegations levelled at the former Hawks trio.
Simpkin is due to meet face to face with Clarkson on Friday.
"We're looking forward to having him back. We all really enjoyed his first half of the season," Simpkin told reporters on Tuesday.
"I've briefly chatted to him a few times and he seems like he's doing really well.
"I'm just pumped to be able to catch up to him, talk footy, and get the team back on track hopefully.
"We haven't spoken football at all, more just general wellbeing, how are you going, those sort of things.
"Maybe Friday will be more of a football chat."
Simpkin played down talk Clarkson's early-season exit weighed down the group.
"It hasn't been weighing us down at all," he said.
"We're loving Ratts and what he's doing at the moment.
"It's been pretty seamless to be honest.
"The boys have battled on. Before the bye, for a good solid month there our performances were really competitive and trending up."
North Melbourne lost to Adelaide by 66 points last weekend in what was a step backwards for the Roos following a month of competitive displays.
The Kangaroos have won just 11 games since the start of 2020 and Simpkin is sick of losing.
"You look over the last two, three, four years we've been competitive and haven't won many games,' Simpkin said.
"We're sick and tired of being competitive. We want to take the next step."
