North Melbourne labelled a ‘country footy club playing AFL’ amid turmoil
Former North Melbourne star David King says it’s “hard to watch” his club once again find itself struggling on and off the field.
AFL
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North Melbourne is a “broken” football club that needs to acknowledge there are issues internally before they can move on, according to two former premiership stars.
Wayne Carey and David King were strong in their response to the resignations of three recruiting staff and rumours of unrest with prized draft pick Jason Horne-Francis.
King said it was “hard to watch” as the club once again finds itself struggling both on (1-9 after 10 rounds) and off the field.
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“I thought these times were behind them. That the turmoil of 18 months ago had passed,” he told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Wednesday evening.
“The North Melbourne Football Club don’t have the advantages of other clubs. It’s a different place.
“It’s a country footy club playing AFL.”
But King was confident the club could once again respond, but they needed to be honest with where they are at.
“Nothing changes really (after the three recruiters depart) – the footy club moves on … It’s head-down, bum-up now. You hear all the bad stories today … the players are off, they are all going to leave, shut the doors (and) go to Tassie … today’s the day; it’s easy whack day – so go for it,” he said.
“If those issues are genuine, which I think some of them are, we’d be silly to say everything is fine here, nothing to see.”
Carey and AFL360 co-host Mark Robinson agreed the club needed to be honest with their response, with coach David Noble scheduled to front the media on Thursday morning.
“For (Kangaroos CEO) Ben Amarfio to say this is a media beat up – it’s nonsense,” Robinson said.
“If you’re a North Melbourne supporter sitting at home and you’ve just heard Ben Amarfio the CEO saying this is a media beat up … seriously? Say anything else other than it’s a media beat up. Don’t say it’s a media beat up when three people walk from your club in the one department. We’re not idiots!
“Sometimes I think clubs try to treat fans like idiots … tell us the truth. If you barrack for North Melbourne, you love this club, but take us along with ya!”
Speaking on Triple M, Carey said three people don’t depart a club for no reason.
“You can’t improve until you actually admit we’re broken. I’m talking about off-ground. We know they are broken on-ground. There’s clearly stuff going on off-ground,” he said.
“You don’t have people just resigning for no reason.”
AFL360’s Gerard Whateley said the club had not been “upfront” with the happenings at the club on Wednesday – given the Kangaroos are only two years into a rebuild.
“Your most vital department is recruiting! That’s ground zero,” Whateley said.
“They all just walked out after two years of it with many years to go.”
Originally published as North Melbourne labelled a ‘country footy club playing AFL’ amid turmoil
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