AFL Round 13 MRO: Jason Horne-Francis offered two-match ban for hit on Josh Kelly
Under-fire North Melbourne No.1 pick Jason Horne-Francis has learned his fate from the AFL’s match review officer as Jon Ralph reveals the young gun’s plans for the future.
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Jason Horne-Francis has been hit with a two-week AFL suspension for his strike on GWS midfielder Josh Kelly as he commits to improving his on-field body language and demeanour.
North Melbourne’s No.1 overall pick Horne-Francis has endured a turbulent first season amid questions over whether he might request a trade back home to Adelaide at year’s end.
But the Herald Sun can confirm Horne-Francis is totally committed to seeing out his initial two-year contract, which runs to the end of 2023.
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Horne-Francis has conceded within the club that he plays an emotional brand of football and has to learn how to curb his frustrations on the field.
He is said to be generally happy with his early months at the club and his relationship with coach David Noble despite small issues like coming to grips with rules and protocols around recovery and massage.
The late arrival of Horne-Francis to a meeting also caused an early-morning swim as a group punishment.
But he has no intention of attempting to get back to Adelaide at year’s end despite “liking” a prospective trade on social media that would have seen him playing at Port Adelaide.
He will face nearly a month on the sidelines given he will serve that two-week ban after the Roos’ bye this weekend.
The Roos have one of their more winnable games against the Crows after the bye but have also lost defender Lachie Young to suspension.
He was handed a one-week ban for a careless-medium impact rough conduct charge after his hip collected the head of GWS midfielder Matt de Boer.
Horne-Francis was handed the ban for a swinging fist to Kelly’s head in an incident that was assessed as intentional and medium impact.
The incident was handed an intentional tag because Kelly had kicked the ball before Horne-Francis began the swinging fist that connected with his jaw.
Horne-Francis has seldom played in losing teams across his junior and SANFL career but will quickly need to recalibrate his body language with teammates.
North Melbourne dual premiership star David King told Fox Footy’s First Crack on Sunday: “He needs to pull his head in, it’s as simple as that”.
“I know he’s a star factor player. He’s abusing his teammates on field. There’s problems with his own game that he’s not really presenting his best footy, yet he’s happy to spray guys that are 300-gamers.‘
North Melbourne midfielder Tarryn Thomas is favoured to return after the bye against the Crows after a strong showing in the VFL with 21 possessions and six marks playing more midfield time than in his role at high half forward in the AFL.
Thomas’ training standards were considered poor enough that he was dropped for losing the trust of players last week.
‘There’s some frustration out there’: Roos on No.1 pick incident
—Ronny Lerner
David Noble stressed that North Melbourne’s alarming trend of results is not sustainable, but the Kangaroos coach insisted he was not concerned about his job safety heading into the second half of the season.
North have now lost their last 11 games by an average of 10 goals, having suffered yet another thumping defeat on Sunday at Marvel Stadium, this time to fellow bottom-four side Greater Western Sydney to the tune of 49 points.
North sit in second-last spot on the ladder with a 1-12 record, and 10 of those losses have been by 47 points or more.
“One thing we’ve been disappointed with in the last month is that sometimes our lack of discipline to actually just stay on your man and just defend,” Noble said post-match.
“We were taught those elements of our game through junior footy – forwards play in front; backs defend your man pretty tightly.
“There’s some rigour internally that we need to get right but no it’s not sustainable – no way known is that sustainable.”
And regarding his job security, Noble said: “I’ve been really clear, the board has been terrific, I’ve been regularly in contact with the board around what we’re doing, our plan going froward.
“The early stages of rebuilds are really difficult, we’ve talked about that before.”
Of more immediate concern for Noble was the availability of Jason Horne-Francis in the next few games after the No.1 pick felled GWS star Josh Kelly with a swinging arm to the jaw in the third quarter.
Horne-Francis seemed more frustrated than usual on Sunday, but Noble said he wasn’t the only North player to feel like that.
“I think there’s some frustration from all of our guys, to be fair,” Noble said.
“He’s a young guy learning the caper, he’s got high standards, high expectations, so there’s some frustration out there, there’s no doubt.
“I guess if it (Kelly hit) does [attract match review attention], it does, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Something which might lessen the severity of any potential ban for Horne-Francis was the fact that Kelly wasn’t badly affected by the hit.
“He’s all good,” GWS caretaker coach Mark McVeigh said of Kelly.
Staggeringly, half of North Melbourne’s players had 11 touches or fewer against the Giants, two of which were Jaidyn Stephenson (five) and Hugh Greenwood (eight) who continue to produce well below expectations this season.
But Noble was backing the former Sun to turn it around.
“I still see him as an important part of that midfield going forward,” Noble said of Greenwood.
“He hasn’t quite found his feet, but we’ll keep working with him to get him better.”
Roos hail ‘unbelievable’ fan commitment after 13k turnout
—Rebecca Williams
Essendon great Matthew Lloyd says the AFL’s “flat” bye rounds are not helping crowd numbers and should be scrapped as the league’s attendance issue came into focus again on Sunday.
Emerging as one of the competition’s biggest issues this season, the league’s patronage problem was again exposed when 13,635 fans attended the clash between struggling North Melbourne and the GWS Giants – the 10th lowest crowd ever at Marvel Stadium.
It came after a meagre crowd of 21,757 turned up to watch Richmond defeat Port Adelaide last Thursday night – the lowest home MCG crowd for the Tigers since 2010, excluding the two Covid-hit seasons in 2020 and 2021.
The depth of the league’s crowd concerns will face an acid test on Thursday night when the Tigers take on top-four contenders Carlton – both traditionally high-drawing clubs – at the MCG.
The AFL is in the second week of its staggered three-week bye period with six teams having the bye each round.
Lloyd slammed the bye rounds as “flat” and suggested they were contributing to low attendance.
He said the league should do away with the staggered byes to keep the momentum of the season going.
“These bye rounds to me …. are the most flat rounds,” Lloyd said on the Sunday Footy Show.
“We were lucky last week, we had some good games but today North and the GWS Giants, what are they doing?
“I think scrap the bye rounds, keep the momentum going. We have got to try to get people back to the footy. I don’t think it (the bye rounds) is helping.
“Thursday night Richmond-Carlton, normally that would be 85,000 or 80,000 maybe at the MCG on a Saturday arvo, I am not sure what will get Thursday night.”
A crowd of 72,179 watched the Tigers and Carlton on a Thursday night in Round 1, but Thursday night football has not been a high-drawing fixture since then this year.
While the loss to the Giants at Marvel on Sunday was one of the club’s lowest at crowds at the venue, North Melbourne coach David Noble praised Kangaroos supporters for turning out.
He said the crowd figure had been better than anticipated.
“I just want to shout out to our members. We had 5000 of our fans turn up way beyond expectation – unbelievable effort,” Noble said.
“So just from internally within the club we just want to shout out to our fans and our members for turning up, it was just a fantastic turn-up under some pressure.
“Last week in Darwin, I asked for our fans to turn up and it was great so thank you to all those fans that turned up today.
“The ones that came today clearly wanted us to help us … I thought that was a great show of support for us today.
“We have got to play better and that will give our fans a reason to come.”
The AFL has recorded its lowest average crowd numbers in 26 years – not counting the past two Covid-impacted seasons – in 2022.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said last week he was confident crowd numbers would return to normal next season, but he acknowledged the lingering impacts of the pandemic on attendance rates.
“We were amazing as a city dealing with the logistics of going to big events and we’ve got to get that back and get in a rhythm as well of where we push ourselves,” McLachlan said.
“We’re mostly doing it, but we’re not …. to 100 per cent of where we were.
“We’ll get back there. Week by week, the show rate is getting better but it’s a journey.
“There are a series of logistical challenges that have come out of this pandemic that are being addressed and they are real.”
Brisbane Lions, Collingwood, North Melbourne, Hawthorn, Fremantle and Melbourne will be the final teams this season to have byes next weekend.
GIANTS ADD ANOTHER SORRY CHAPTER TO NORTH’S SEASON OF WOE
—Ronny Lerner
North Melbourne has added another sorry chapter to its annus horribilis after being thumped by fellow bottom-four side Greater Western Sydney by 49 points at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
Highlighting just how far off the pace they are, the Roos were only two spots below GWS on the ladder heading into the contest.
The 15.12 (102) to 7.11 (53) result was sealed early on after the Giants, inspired by co-captain Stephen Coniglio, kicked the first seven goals, and they’ve now lifted themselves out of the bottom four, sending Adelaide to 15th spot.
North have lost their last 11 games by an average of 60 points, and 10 of their 12 losses have been by 47 points or more.
Adding to their woes, the Kangaroos’ No. 1 draft pick Jason Horne-Francis could be facing a suspension after collecting Josh Kelly with a late, swinging arm to the jaw on the wing in the third quarter.
And North defender Lachie Young might also come under match review scrutiny for a headhigh hit on Matt de Boer in the third term, which left the GWS veteran dazed for a few moments.
The victory came at a cost for GWS, though, with Harry Perryman subbed out in the second quarter with injured ribs, and potentially lungs, after a heavy collision with Flynn Perez, and was transported to hospital via ambulance to have the damage assessed.
Kangaroos coach David Noble made a passionate call for fans to attend the game on Sunday, but his plea fell flat, with only 13,742 people rocking up, although it was a better crowd than their all-Melbourne contest against the Demons a couple of weeks ago (13,422).
The few fans who did attend would’ve been forgiven for thinking GWS was actually a top-four outfit.
North made them look like world beaters in the first half. Everything was way too easy for the Giants who dominated proceedings under next to no pressure as they toyed with the Kangaroos.
And while North limited the bleeding in the second half, the damage was well and truly done. In the end, GWS creamed North in disposals (422-292) and marks (149-69), yet despite their domination of the ball, they also laid more tackles (53-47) in what was the ultimate indictment on the Kangaroos’ listless performance.
Coniglio continues to thrive seemingly since former coach Leon Cameron’s departure, compiling a best on ground performance which saw him collect 34 disposals (14 contested), five clearances, two goal assists, 11 score involvements and three goals. He has now averaged 32 disposals in his last three games.
Harry Himmelberg’s move down back continues to pay dividends, the former forward racking up a career-high 37 touches, to go with 16 marks, 11 intercepts and a goal, while Tanner Bruhn, Tom Green and Lachie Whitfield also had an impact.
GWS BLOW ROOS AWAY EARLY
The Giants ambushed the Kangaroos at the start with 10 inside-50s in the first 10 minutes, as they sliced North open with superior ball use.
The hosts’ besieged backline couldn’t cope with the onslaught, and were done few favours by the minimal pressure from their teammates further afield as GWS helped themselves to 52 more disposals in the first term, yet still laid seven more tackles than the Kangas.
GWS also recorded 27 more marks (26 uncontested) as they held North goalless in the first quarter for the first time in 12 meetings.
North had to wait until the nine-minute mark of the second term for their first major.
ANONYMOUS KANGAROOS
Eleven Kangaroos finished the game with 11 disposals or fewer, including Jaidyn Stephenson (five), Jack Ziebell (five), Hugh Greenwood (eight), Horne-Francis (eight) and Kayne Turner (eight).
ROOS’ NEW LOW MARK AGAINST GWS
North recorded their lowest score against GWS in 12 meetings, as well as their lowest quarter-time, halftime and three-quarter time scores.
ROOS 0.3, 2.5, 4.7, 7.11 (53)
GIANTS 5.3, 10.4, 12.9, 15.12 (102)
LERNER’S BEST Roos: J.Walker, Davies-Uniacke, Goldstein, McDonald, Simpkin. Giants: Coniglio, Himmelberg, Bruhn, Green, Whitfield, Ward, Riccardi.
GOALS Roos: Larkey 2, Goldstein 2, Taylor, Curtis, Davies-Uniacke. Giants: Riccardi 3, Coniglio 3, Peatling 3, Bruhn 2, Greene 2, de Boer, Himmelberg.
INJURIES Roos: Ziebell (cheek). Giants: Perryman (ribs/lungs).
UMPIRES Brown, Howorth, Gianfagna
VENUE Marvel Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LERNER’S VOTES
3 Stephen Coniglio (GWS)
2 Harry Himmelberg (GWS)
1 Tanner Bruhn (GWS)
WATCH: GIANT RUSHED TO HOSPITAL AFTER CRUNCHING HIT
Greater Western Sydney’s superb first half against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Sunday has been overshadowed by a nasty injury to gun youngster Harry Perryman.
Perryman was subbed out early in the second quarter with injured ribs, and potentially lungs, and was transported to hospital via ambulance to have the damage assessed.
After coming from the ground in agony, Perryman slowly made his way to the rooms around the boundary line with the assistance of the trainer.
It has marred what has been an otherwise sparkling first two quarters from the Giants, who have dominated the Kangaroos to lead by 47 points at the major break after kicking the first seven goals of the contest.
GWS co-captain Stephen Coniglio is having a day out, with 18 touches, five clearances, two goal assists, eight score involvements, seven intercept possessions and three goals to his name already.
Jake Stein has replaced Perryman in the visitors’ line-up after being their starting medical sub.
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Harry Perryman has gone down to the rooms following this contest.#AFLNorthGiantspic.twitter.com/osZZDPz9lr
— AFL (@AFL) June 12, 2022
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