North Melbourne appoints David Noble as new senior coach

North Melbourne has named its new coach, picking Lions footy manager David Noble over highly-rated assistants. And two Roos champs say it’s the right call.

David Noble has been working as Brisbane Lions football manager.

North Melbourne has appointed Brisbane football operations boss David Noble as its new senior coach.

Kangaroos greats David King and Corey McKernan have backed the move, insisting Noble can bring much-needed stability to the club after a tumultuous 2020.

The club’s board ratified the recommendation of the selection committee, including premiership coach Paul Roos and football director Glenn Archer, to appoint the 53-year-old to the role on Friday.

The Kangaroos will officially unveil Noble — who played two games for Fitzroy in 1991, where he was a teammate of Roos — in a press conference early next week.

He replaces Rhyce Shaw, who stepped away from the role in October for personal reasons.

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David Noble has been Chris Fagan’s right-hand man at the Lions.

Noble is an experienced AFL figure, who has coached Glenelg in the SANFL, and served as head of football at the Adelaide Crows and was an assistant coach for five seasons at the Western Bulldogs.

His capabilities and experience in a number of different football roles were key factors in him landing the job.

Incredibly, Noble was even considered a candidate for North Melbourne’s chief executive role last year before Ben Amarfio won the role.

Dual premiership defender David King said Noble’s appointment allowed the Kangaroos to take a breath after a season that saw the club plummet to second last, lose their senior coach and hasten a dramatic turnover of the playing list.

“I just think it is a settling appointment,” King told the Herald Sun.

“It allows the club to be really calm and controlled under the steady hand of an experienced AFL person.

“We just needed someone to take us from (a blood pressure reading of) 400/200 down to 120/80, to just calm the blood pressure a bit.”

Earlier in the day, King said Noble had already played a key role in helping to rebuild Lions into a finals force and could do the same at the Kangaroos.

“This is why it came back to David Noble for me, because of sheer experience and having seen challenges at a whole host of clubs before,” King said on SEN.

Rhyce Shaw stepped aside as coach for personal reasons. Picture: Michael Klein

“There’s going to be some challenging questions ... he’ll be able to sit there in a really measured and calm way and educate us on the run.

“I think David Noble is a Kangaroos kind of guy - you get what you see. This is a guy that’s been around struggling footy clubs and been to the Brisbane Lions and had a major impact on what they’ve done in the last couple of years.”

McKernan, who played alongside King in the Kangaroos’ 1996 and ‘99 flags, said: “If North Melbourne can bring that same level of development and spirit that Brisbane has had in the past few years, it will be a really big thing for the club.”

“It is not exactly doom and gloom for the Kangaroos.

“We’ve just had the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle at North where you get that $7 million or $8 million from the government for the facilities, and the club has done an amazing job to turn a small profit in a year when some other club lost money.

“The Kangaroos have got the off-field part of the business working; now they can get the on-field right and it helps to have good access to players in the draft.”

Noble’s appointment represents a significant shift in the Kangaroos’ philosophy, given the board appointed Shaw —at 38 — last August for what was meant to be a three-year term.

At the time, the club said it had been “an exhaustive process”, but Shaw’s deep connection with the players and strong caretaker win-loss record masked his relative inexperience.

After a difficult year for the club in the Queensland hub, Shaw stepped away from the role for personal reasons.

Noble informed the Lions of the decision on Friday, with the players told that their head of football would be leaving.

He will start work as soon as he can, and will work closely with newly appointed senior assistant coach John Blakey, who has been the connection point with the players since Shaw’s departure.

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Kangaroos chairman Ben Buckley said: “We were very clear on what we wanted in our next coach and we have found that in David. We are delighted to appoint him the 38th coach (including interim coaches) of our football club.”

“David has a profound knowledge of all areas of the football department and knows what it takes to win and set up club’s for success, having been part of no less than 13 AFL finals series throughout his impressive career so far.

“He is a great fit for our club and will complement our strategic direction. We are very confident he will lead our young side back up the ladder in the coming years.”

Noble faces a huge task after the Roos won just three games in 2020 and conducted a list cleanout at the end of the season.

Originally published as North Melbourne appoints David Noble as new senior coach