Mick McGuane analyses North Melbourne, Luke Davies-Uniacke and delivers his round 7 hot takes

Mick McGuane has turned the blowtorch on winless North Melbourne, declaring the AFL battler is in danger of an exodus of stars if it keeps settling for poor standards.

Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis need to be used more often as an onball combination for Port Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images

You get what you give in footy.

I went to watch many clubs train over pre-season — both in Victoria and interstate.

During my visits to Arden Street, one thing stood out: North Melbourne doesn’t work as hard as other clubs on the track.

Exhibit A is Luke Davies-Uniacke.

Go and watch ‘LDU’ train and then go and watch Nick Daicos on the track.

The two are poles apart in terms of effort and the speed both train at.

Davies-Uniacke looks like he is training to tick a box — not to make the most of his training schedule in a bid to improve his on-field performance.

He’s paying the price for that and underperforming in games because he can’t work from contest-to-contest like the best midfielders do.

But Davies-Uniacke isn’t entirely to blame for his training standards.

Where are his peers at the Kangaroos to tell him he’s dropping off?

Luke Davies-Uniacke isn’t getting the best out of himself. Picture: Getty Images

Right now, there’s an acceptance of poor standards at Arden Street which means North Melbourne is no chance of challenging the best teams when game day rolls around.

Being challenged by peers is important, but coaches also need to strongly challenge their playing groups to lift standards.

I’d love to see Alastair Clarkson show more angst in press conferences, to prove that he’s not going to tolerate the losses that the Kangaroos have succumbed to this year.

I want to see more of a hard edge, rather than being accepting of losses due to the age profile of this group.

Strong coaches plant the seed early and show players what will be tolerated at AFL level and what won’t be.

If players don’t change what they do and still get a game, behaviour doesn’t change.

You don’t have to be experienced to play desperate and the consistency of effort from the Kangaroos is nowhere near good enough. So being young and inexperienced doesn’t sit with me.

Since 2020, this club has won 12 of 90 games.

Ben McKay departed for Essendon at the end of last year and you couldn’t blame others if they think about doing the same.

Harry Sheezel has played in 29 games for three wins, while Paul Curtis has four wins from 42 games and Bailey Scott has sung the song nine times from 84 matches.

It’s a horrible spot for a club to be but it will take a collective effort to dig the Kangaroos out of this hole.

Watching the Kangaroos closely this year, there’s an evident lack of team care which also needs to be addressed.

Players are in self-preservation mode, playing with survival instincts.

They look to have a mindset of, ‘This play doesn’t impact me, so why would I bother?’

Teams only prosper when all players own their roles — and go above and beyond in them.

Ruckman Tristan Xerri is doing that and has been one shining light this season.

He competes well and has won a team-high numbers for clearances (46) and tackles (50), to go with his 205 hitouts in the ruck.

Xerri is doing what he can to change the fortunes of the team — and others must jump on board and join him.

Tristan Xerri (left) has been a shining light for North Melbourne this season. Picture: Getty Images

Davies-Uniacke won six Brownlow votes across the first two games of the 2023 season.

He won 21 clearances and 36 contested possessions across those two matches.

That’s his template, rather than trying to be the beneficiary of handball receives on the outside like he is this season.

Sheezel needs to join Davies-Uniacke in the midfield, where his creativity and ball use could go a long way at changing the Roos’ fortunes when going inside 50.

He’s undersized and could be physically targeted at times, but he will learn from it.

As a co-captain, Jy Simpkin needs to step up and get back around the ball where he plays his best footy.

Aidan Corr needs to start winning more of the ball in defence and Cam Zurhaar has to find some hunger to win ground balls once again in attack.

Leaders across the field must also stop being insular — they all must start to lead both through their voice and actions.

The Kangaroos look a quiet, introverted group who go into their shells when things aren’t going their way.

It’s no wonder they looked so disorganised and dysfunctional against Hawthorn last week.

However, players have to own what they are asked to do before trying to master others and attributing blame.

Rapid improvement is possible within groups like this, but some major attitudinal shifts are required at North Melbourne for that to occur.

MICK’S HOT TAKES

GOOD

The way we celebrate Anzac Day. It is an education piece, which is bigger than the football games themselves. What a great opportunity it is for the football community to pay our respects to the servicemen and women who have given us the country that we all love.

BAD

Toby Greene’s suspension. I understand the landscape we’re in with protecting the head, but Greene had a right to go for a mark at the speed he did with his eyes firmly fixed on the ball. He couldn’t exactly vanish in mid-air when he realised Jordan Boyd was there. In-game contests are a huge part of the game’s history but we now seem to be expecting players to make unrealistic judgement calls in a millisecond to avoid suspension.

UGLY

St Kilda. It was a rollover performance against the Western Bulldogs last week, in which the Saints were non-competitive for all but a small slice of the match. Sometimes you need a mind over matter mentality, rather than making excuses about a tough fixture. Hopefully some effort and urgency returns against Port Adelaide.

Originally published as Mick McGuane analyses North Melbourne, Luke Davies-Uniacke and delivers his round 7 hot takes