North Melbourne caretaker coach Leigh Adams will walk away if that’s what a club review finds
The full review of North Melbourne’s coaching set-up is due and the findings could mean a few people move on.
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If Geoff Walsh‘s review of the North Melbourne football department recommends that caretaker coach Leigh Adams follows former coach David Noble through the club’s exit door, then Adams would be “all for it”.
Walsh is presenting his findings to the Kangaroos board on Wednesday, having been asked to cast his eye over the football department by president Sonja Hood in late June.
Adams has taken a selfless and pragmatic approach to the review and understood that Noble probably wouldn‘t be the only casualty.
“You know what? If he (Walsh) thinks that I need to go to make this footy club better, I’m all for it,” Adams smiled.
“We’ve been working really hard as a coaching group. Unfortunately, one coach is already gone and the likelihood is that probably more might go, just depending on who gets the senior job.
“After this five weeks we just want to make sure that, whatever happens, we’ve put this group and this club in a better spot than when we got here.
“We want to be back playing finals and playing big marquee games again, and if Walshy has got some stuff that he can do to help our footy club, we‘d be silly not to listen to it.”
North Melbourne has also begun the process of requesting a priority draft pick, which flies in the face of Hood‘s public stance that their playing list is “great”.
Adams’ view on the list differed from Hood’s.
“I think everyone knows that the list probably is not as bullish as what’s being made out,” he said.
“We need to get some more 25-to-28-year-old guys in there (midfield).”
Adams said the mood at the club was much better this week after they snapped their 14-game losing streak against Richmond last round.
“When you‘ve lost a fair few games in a row, you almost forget what the feeling of winning is, so for the boys to get that feeling and our supporters and members to get that feeling, it was great,” he said.
As so often happens, the departure of a senior coach led to a big uptick in form for the affected team, and Adams tried his best to explain the phenomenon.
“I think you need a psychologist‘s degree, to be honest. It’s a million-dollar question, isn’t it?” he said.
“I’m not sure if it’s a release of pressure … once that pressure goes, and I don’t have that pressure, I’m probably able to free up the players a little bit more and they’re able to respond … I’ve actually got no idea.
“It‘s probably more (that) they don’t think as much about the consequence. I think when you lose game after game, you start to think, ‘If I turn that ball over or if I make this decision, does it affect us? Does it affect the team in a negative way?’
“When a new coach comes in … there‘s no expectation on wins and losses.”
Star North forward Nick Larkey remains a “50-50” prospect to tackle Hawthorn this week after hurting his heel against Richmond, but Aaron Hall (quad), Kayne Turner (concussion) and Jackson Archer (concussion) will all be strongly considered for selection.
Originally published as North Melbourne caretaker coach Leigh Adams will walk away if that’s what a club review finds
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