North Melbourne star Colby McKercher set to rebuff Tasmanian team advances
Colby McKercher has revealed his plans ahead of massive Tasmanian interest and hints at a new role in the midfield as the Roos look to bounce up the ladder in 2025.
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North Melbourne’s hard-charging defender Colby McKercher says he plans to rebuff massive Tasmanian interest to pledge his future at Arden Street and play his entire career in Victoria.
And the brilliant No.2 overall draft pick has ambitious plans to return to the midfield role he dominated as a junior even as the Roos continue to stockpile incredible talent in that area of the ground.
McKercher comes out of contract at the end of 2026 after signing a mandated three-year contact as a first-round pick but has already been flagged as the AFL’s first $2 million per season signing if he returned home.
The Devils will have up to $1.5 million in total sign-on bonuses and will have a mandate from the AFL to go hard for local talent to become an instant finals contender.
The Herald Sun reported in September that while free agent Luke Davies-Uniacke wants to stay at the Roos his contract talks are off until he sees some early-season improvement at Arden Street.
But McKercher told the Herald Sun despite his affinity with his home state he wanted to remain at North Melbourne long-term building a premiership foundation with the new brand of Arden Street kids.
“Honestly, I can’t really see myself going anywhere at all as long as we keep climbing up, which I have no doubt at all we will,” he told the Herald Sun.
“I really love the group, to be honest. I’m really excited about what we could achieve in the future. I’m super optimistic about what kind of team we could be because of the talent we have as a young group. And honestly, I’ve got 44 of my best mates to work with every day. There’s just so many different personalities. And yeah, really good people at the club. And you know the staff are really good as well.
“We have so much talent and we have picked up more talented guys in the draft. So it’s going to be super exciting and North Melbourne fans should be super keen for what we can do even next year.”
McKercher grew up in Launceston as a Blues fan before dropping that affiliation to instead become a student of the game.
He won the Coates League Morris Medal playing for the Under-18 Tasmania Devils but early on had set his sights on playing in footy’s epicentre.
He said not wanting to play for the Devils was a reflection on his loyalty to the Roos rather than any lack of passion for his state.
“I think I pictured myself being here my whole life, like I used to come over when I was playing underage Tassie Devils football. And I always envisioned myself being over here playing football. I have some family over here, which I live close to, and I see often.
“I’ve kind of dreamt of being here my whole life. So I don’t see why I’d want to move.
“I have no doubt we will achieve success, especially in the next few years as well. So I just can’t wait to see how the team grows and what we can achieve in the future.”
MIDFIELD OR DEFENCE
McKercher’s lethal left foot meant the backline was the perfect place to start his AFL career especially as North Melbourne needed quality ball users out of its leaky back six.
In theory the drafting of No.2 overall selection Finn O’Sullivan and the recruitment of Luke Parker should make his move to the midfield all but impossible.
Especially given co-captain Jy Simpkin is already back training and in elite shape after often being shunted to half forward last year.
But McKercher makes no apologies for his bold ambition to get further up the ground next year.
“I am super keen. It’s something I have thought about a bit after the end of the season. I kind of miss being up the ground delivering to the forwards and hitting the scoreboard like I did in under-18 football,” he said.
“I felt like I was really damaging with ball in hand. This year not so much because I was always in the defensive half of the ground. So that’s something that hopefully I get a bit more exposure to this year.
“I have started doing some work as a midfielder at training. And obviously that contested side of the game is something to work on to get a few more midfield minutes this year.”
McKercher has worked on his contested ball technique at training and tried to hone his hard edge during the club’s grappling sessions with Max Viney, son of Roos football boss Todd and brother of Melbourne’s Jack.
He has kept working with Viney across the summer to give himself the best chance to convince Clarkson over summer he is ready for that next step.
“It’s just getting reps in. The more comfortable you get inside the contest the better you are going to be. So a lot of gym stuff as well building a strong base to not get knocked over.”
THE TIME TRIAL KING
McKercher took on all comers from the 1-4 season age bracket in the North Melbourne time trial and streeted the field.
So far, so ho hum given Denis Pagan’s mantra about December champions often wilting when the real stuff arrived in December.
And yet the eight-week break he endured midseason as he battled a bone stress reaction in his right foot meant McKercher barely ran across the club’s off-season break.
“Finishing well in the 2km was a bit of credit for some of the hard work I did across the off-season but a few of the other boys ran some really good times. So the high performance team are really, really happy with how we have come back” he said.
“I tried to stay off the legs a bit after a few overuse injuries and the stress fracture. I have taken up swimming. Honestly I was pretty ordinary this time last year but I have been doing it twice a week for the last few months and seen a lot of improvement.
“My cardiovascular fitness has got better and running that 2km time, I think swimming has contributed to some of that.
“I used to swim 25km and be pretty knackered. Our rehab coach runs some swimming sessions in the morning that a few of the boys get to and some of it is swimming with breath work. It’s called hypoxic swimming. So we sometimes do laps of the pool without swimming. I am really enjoying it.”
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