North Melbourne must show vision for short and long term as it stars climb up AFL ladder
BACK-TO-BACK preliminary finals gave North Melbourne a false sense of where it sat on the AFL landscape. Now, DAVID KING says his old club must show its vision and a game plan that’s less kamikaze. PLUS: ROBBO’S TAKE
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HOW did North Melbourne get here? The internal assessment of where the Kangaroos thought they resided on the AFL landscape was horribly wrong, and now unfortunately it’s as bad as it gets.
Eight wins from the past 34 matches endorses the notion that the back-to-to back preliminary final seasons of 2014-15 were built on a house of cards.
Brad Scott must formulate a vision for the short and long term, a plan the Kangaroos faithful can embrace and identify. I’ve been critical of the path to date, and why wouldn’t I be? I’m emotionally invested in them.
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There have been no advantages taken at the national draft as teams situated around them have had more early selections recently. Consider that Brisbane has had five selections in the top 20 picks in the past two drafts compared with the Kangaroos’ two.
The Roos were the poorest clearance team in the league last season, which is surprising given the senior core players such as Ben Cunnington, Shaun Higgins and Jack Ziebell were mainstays around the contest.
It’s Russian roulette at stoppages, either the Kangaroos score or their opposition does.
North is the AFL’s fourth poorest defence from stoppages and third poorest on turnovers at denying opposition ball movement. There’s much work to be done and, given its link to success recently, it highlights just how far away North is from a sustainable competitive model.
They are way too easy to play against.
Clearly the emphasis was on educating their ball movement and the first six to eight weeks of 2017 were positive.
They play a transition ball game, with less forward-half press, which appears to be the model Richmond, Adelaide and Port Adelaide are wedded to.
We wait to see whether Scott adopts that method as it would help their defensive stability.
In 2017 they were competitive and possibly unlucky in those close games, winning only one of their six games decided by under 10 points.
The recruiting mantra changed after a period of drafting tall defenders to reset towards influencing mid-forward types such as Jy Simpkin and Luke Davies-Uniacke. But there is a dearth of quality midfielders coming through.
Scott has a contract extension to the end of 2020 and we all await the vision of the list and a game plan that’s less kamikaze or Russian roulette and a more sustainable model. Success this season may not have four premiership points attached — six to nine wins — but let’s see a vision for the future.
MARK ROBINSON SAYS:
WHAT I LIKE
Others say they are treading water, some say they are drowning. But I disagree.
The rebuild is on, and they won six games and lost another five by less than a goal in 2017. Hardly the competitive performances you’d expect from a team playing youth. Bookends are strong with Ben Brown and Robbie Tarrant (pictured), Jack Ziebell should play more forward, Mason Wood’s body needs to endure, and they need continued improvement from a host of players under 22. They won’t play finals, but they will beat teams they probably shouldn’t beat. Can see the headlines now: Roos shock Pies! Anyway, a promising season and another in 2019 means they will have cash in hand when they once again go after Josh Kelly.
WHAT I DON’T LIKE
Like what they did in 2017, but they still have issues. The Kangas play with grunt but need outside playmakers, not those with just leg speed but real game-changers, more like Shaun Higgins. Simply, Todd Goldstein somehow has to park his private dealings, which admittedly would be difficult, and rediscover his want for the contest. He just has to. And Majak Daw must do something. The club is hunting players in the next couple of drafts, so 2018 will see a few Kangaroos playing for their careers.
VERDICT
Will surprise.
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