No.1 draft pick Jason Horne-Francis will debut for North Melbourne in round 1

Jason Horne-Francis will make his AFL debut with significant pressure after being taken as the top draft pick.

Jason Horne-Francis will debut in round 1. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

North Melbourne coach David Noble moved to take the pressure off No.1 draft pick Jason Horne-Francis after an emotional phone call with his parents confirmed he’d make his AFL debut in round 1.

Noble said Horne-Francis, who was nominated as the standout player in last year’s draft a long time before the Kangaroos selected him, had “worked his butt off” and his selection was never guaranteed just because of where he was taken.

And Noble said it wasn’t “all on Jason” to help lift North from the lower reaches of the ladder, declaring the club’s entire draft crop had been “eye-catching” during the pre-season.

“We told (Horne-Francis) this morning, had mum and dad on a call which was pretty special. The players were pretty excited,” Noble said on Thursday.

“It means a lot to him. We shouldn’t underestimate that just because he’s the first pick there’s an expectation that occurs.

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“And we shouldn’t just put it all on Jason. He’s a talent, no doubt about it.

“But, crikey, what I have seen from that whole (draft) group is very impressive. That whole group in it’s totality has been really eye-catching.”

Former Adelaide and Gold Coast midfielder Hugh Greenwood will also play his first game for North in Sunday’s clash with Hawthorn.

Noble was wrestling with whether to play his three big men, Todd Goldstein, Tristan Xerri and Callum Coleman-Jones, in the one side.

“I think we can (play with three),” Noble said.

“We’ve wrestled with yes we can, no we can’t. How do you rotate? What happens if you end up with three mids down in the forward end? All of those combinations come into it. Can you just play one as a forward? That’s the other discussion.

“Look, it’s possible. Whether or not it’s practical enough for us, we’ll have to get through the next 24 hours.”

Kangaroos coach David Noble says club’s entire draft crop has been ‘eye-catching’ during the pre-season. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

Having controlled his first full pre-season in charge, after taking over from Rhyce Shaw at the end of 2020, Noble said the Kangaroos had “escalated” their training but how much his team had improved would only come through performances.

“We think we have escalated our training way beyond what it was last year,” he said.

“We have a clearer understanding of what that standard needs to be. The first full year we have had our pre-season in place to work on our detail and put the game plan in place I think has been really positive.”

Noble said Ben Cunnington was back at the club following cancer treatment but a return to football remained a fair way off.

“We’ve just got to make sure his health is right, then we’ll look at his footy,” he said.

Ben Cunnington has returned to North Melbourne training for the first time after cancer treatment. Picture: Twitter

“He’s back in with us two or three days a week, doing a bit of walking, a bit on the treadmill. We’ll escalate that as he goes through.

“We are just taking it slow and steady.”

Originally published as No.1 draft pick Jason Horne-Francis will debut for North Melbourne in round 1