North Melbourne has experience winning sudden-death finals, says forward Ben Brown

NORTH Melbourne will draw on its experience in sudden death finals for Saturday night’s clash with Adelaide, according to key forward Ben Brown.

Ben Brown battles with Phil Davis. Picture: Michael Klein.

NORTH Melbourne will draw on its experience in sudden-death finals for Saturday night’s clash with Adelaide, according to key forward Ben Brown.

The Kangaroos enter their third consecutive finals series as genuine underdogs having lost 10 of their past 13 matches.

But Brown, 23, overlooked in three national and rookie drafts before landing at Arden St with pick 47 in 2013, warned the Kangaroos would still be a force in September.

“I think the sky’s the limit when you get to a finals series, any team can win on any given occasion,” Brown said.

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North Melbourne boasts a 4-2 record in finals the past two years with big wins — in front of hostile crowds — over Richmond, Sydney, Geelong and Essendon.

“It goes up a couple of levels and it really ekes out the good teams from the teams that aren’t quite there, so we’ve had our finals experience the last two years and I think that will come into play this finals series and hopefully we can go all the way.”

Brown, who’s kicked nine goals in six finals appearances, said the prospect of farewelling Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Michael Firrito and Nick Dal Santo was no extra motivation for the Roos.

“One of the things that they’ve all got in common is they all want to win a premiership, and it’s going to be their last year at the club, so it’s massive for us young guys and we know that,” Brown said.

“I’ve played in a finals series all three years that I’ve been at the club — we know that it doesn’t come around every day — so it’s pretty important that we make the most of that opportunity and the guys who are going to be leaving us have made that pretty clear to us.”

Ben Brown is embracing the finals pressure. Picture: Michael Klein

North Melbourne told the decorated quartet last month that their contracts wouldn’t be renewed beyond this season as part of an “aggressive reset” towards the next premiership.

The talented Tasmanian, who will finish the season as North’s leading goalkicker (currently on 41) barring any heroics from Harvey (36), isn’t worried about taking on a bigger role in attack next year.

“I’m just still trying to fit in with the group and make sure I’m not getting ahead of myself,” Brown said.

“I’m still trying to play my role in the forward line — as long as I do that the results will come.”

Brown praised Petrie for helping him ply his forward craft over the past three seasons.

“Drewy’s been a massive mentor for me, so not having him around the club will be quite different,” Brown said.

“But everything I’ve done since I got to the football club has been about just trying to take my opportunities.

“Whether that opportunity comes up to take a bit more of a role in the forward line or not, I’m just going to keep trying to play the best I can for the team.”

Injured Kangaroos stars Jarrad Waite (hip) and Scott Thompson (adductor) will play as long as they can get through training this week.

“While we haven’t been getting the results (second half of the year) we’ve been steadily improving and hopefully it all comes together on Saturday night,” Brown said.

“It’s going to be important for us to get on top early and work from there.”

Originally published as North Melbourne has experience winning sudden-death finals, says forward Ben Brown