North Melbourne has the attacking flair and now has the AFL’s No.1 defence
MOST teams’ rebuild starts with nailing down the defence and working on the glamour later. But SAM LANDSBERGER reveals how the Kangas are bucking the trend — with success.
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BRAD Scott must have missed the memo.
The rebuild template that has flipped around AFL clubs for a long time seems to have bypassed Arden St.
The cornerstone has long been defence. Teach your players how to play dour football and go from there.
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That was Paul Roos’ first mission at Melbourne and it underpinned Brendon Bolton’s first two seasons at Carlton.
Even dual premiership coach Mark Thompson erected the dam wall at Geelong in the early 2000s, with the Cats the hardest team to score against when they reached September in 2004.
But unfolding at North Melbourne is a rebuild in reverse — and it is working.
Scott started with the cream. In 2017 he taught his team of Joeys how to play slick, sexy football with their slicing ball movement often leading to exhilarating shootouts.
It worked, with the Kangas piling on the scores in an offensive onslaught Bolton’s Blues must be envious this season.
The question entering 2018 was whether North could get the balance right. Could Scott hammer home a defensive mindset as the second layer?
After Round 4 the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. Scott’s team is the AFL’s No.1 in defence, although admittedly the Roos opened their season with a low-scoring slog in Cairns.
The Roos conceded 55 points in their loss to Gold Coast that night, yet they have leaked even smaller scores in fine conditions against St Kilda (five goals) and Carlton (four goals).
The sample size is small, but super impressive.
Last year the Kangas conceded more than 85 points in 19 out of 22 matches. This season it has happened once in four matches, with three clubs failing to score 60 points against them.
Scott’s decision to keep veteran Scott Thompson raised eyebrows last off-season.
But Thompson is averaging 10.3 intercepts per game — second only to four-time All-Australian and premiership superstar Alex Rance.
Thompson, 32 next month, took a career-best 15 marks against Carlton last week with his experience and form key to the 2-2 start to the season.
North’s intercept game is suddenly a strong point, with Ed Vickers-Willis (7), Jamie MacMillan (6.8) and Luke McDonald (6) all ranked above average by Champion Data this year.
Former recruiter Gary Buckenara suggested Vickers-Willis should have been moved on last year, but instead the injury-hit youngster has made his mark in 2018.
As for McDonald, he helped ignite the ballistic ball movement from the wings last season but has relished a return to defence this year.
And while the screws have tightened, there is still enough backline bounce as Scott’s defenders carry the footy.
McDonald (414m gained), MacMillan (402m), Thompson (313m) and Robbie Tarrant (302m) are all winding up the field.
Last year the Kangas were fun to watch, but also fun to play against. This season the enjoyment has dried up for opponents.
And Brad Scott is doing it his way.
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