AFL 2022: VFL coach slams North Melbourne reserves for not playing at the level required

North Melbourne fans can’t even find comfort in their reserves team’s fortunes, with VFL coach Leigh Adams blasting the team’s 71 point defeat by Box Hill as not up to the level required.

North Melbourne’s reserves copped a bake on the weekend. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

North Melbourne will consider a recall for talented midfielder Jaidyn Stephenson against GWS,despite playing in a Roos VFL team that copped a withering bake from coach Leigh Adams.

The Roos need to replace Ben McKay (concussion), who was subbed out for the fourth time in seven games against Gold Coast after receiving a knock to the head from opponent Ben Ainsworth.

Stephenson was dropped for a lack of intensity but has put together two solid performances averaging 96 ranking points and 25 disposals.

No. 1 overall pick Jason Horne-Francis has pulled up well from a corked leg and will play against the Giants ahead of a much-needed mid-season bye.

Watch every blockbuster AFL match this weekend Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

The Roos reserves copped a serve from North Melbourne’s VFL coach. Picture: Kelly Defina/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

The Roos had to douse rumours of an emergency board meeting on Monday, with a scheduled board meeting to take place on Wednesday week.

The club will have to make a decision on the future of coach David Noble at some stage but have made clear publicly that he is not under pressure.

The Roos would have to face the wrath of their members for appointing a fourth coach in four seasons so are attempting to back in Noble during the long dark days of the rebuild.

But the 1-11 Roos have a percentage of 52.3 and given their lengthy injury list have a VFL side which is not much better at 2-7 with a percentage of 59.

VFL coach Leigh Adams made clear his displeasure with the performances of his players over the weekend after a 71-point loss to Box Hill.

“We got what we deserved today. Our intensity wasn‘t at the level, our ability to defend the ball wasn’t at the level and our contest wasn’t at the level. It was a really disappointing day all-round and in the end we got what we deserved,“ he said.

“We‘ve got too many blokes at the moment who seem to care more about what’s happening on the stats sheet instead of what’s happening on the scoreboard. When we can get more blokes to buy into the really hard stuff, that is the contest and the defensive side of the game, our offence will take care of itself.”

Adams said Stephenson’s offensive game was solid but like many VFL teammates he wasn’t snapping back into a defensive mode when the opposition won back the ball.

AFL call that would be condemned by 17 clubs

Gillon McLachlan’s lengthy list of priorities as he closes in on his AFL farewell has one more item with a significant bearing on North Melbourne’s future.

The Kangaroos are certain to put in a request for a No. 1 overall priority pick or at least significant list assistance as it becomes apparent there is no late-season turnaround coming for the Roos.

The request is on North’s to-do list although putting it in so early in the season would be a concession the club has given up on a late-season revival.

Yet what is likely to be a detailed submission led by chief executive Ben Amarfio is sure to come, and on face value it is hard to see how the AFL doesn’t seriously consider it.

Gold Coast smacked around North Melbourne on Saturday with a list of players handed directly to the Suns by a September 2019 assistant package that included a No. 1 overall pick, a mid first-round pick, an end-of-first-round selection and free access to NT and Cairns talent.

So the Suns could secure Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson at picks 1 and 2, but also freebies like the wonderfully talented Joel Jeffrey and Alex Davies, who both have massive futures.

North Melbourne will surely shoot for the stars – give us the No. 1 pick – but a single mid first-round selection at pick 11 would be a much fairer reward.

Brisbane was handed pick 19 in 2016 after seven wins in the previous two seasons.

Gold Coast was given its suite of picks when it had won seven games in its past two seasons.

North Melbourne suffered its 11th defeat of the season against Gold Coast. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

North Melbourne, which won three games in the shortened 2020 season and four games last year, currently has a single win and a percentage of 52.3.

That win was a 15-point victory over a West Coast side that had made 14 changes, including dragging Declan Mountford out of the stands in one more late change.

Rivals will suggest the Roos are the author of their own demise, their coaching and list management decisions own goals they should be forced to own.

But Gold Coast’s cultural issues contributed to the player departures that handed them a priority pick and Brisbane’s own goals – the Brendan Fevola trade and its fallout – led to them putting their hand out in 2016.

The Roos delisted 13 players immediately after the 2020 season – Jamie Macmillan, Jasper Pittard, Majak Daw, Ben Jacobs, Paul Ahern, Mason Wood, Sam Durdin, Marley Williams, Joel Crocker, Lachie Hosie, Tom Murphy, Will Walker and Ed Vickers-Willis.

Clearly Wood had enough talent to be retained and the club’s trade of Ben Brown was impulsive and short-sighted, but they secured pick 30 for the departing Shaun Higgins.

Few of the others smack of elite talent.

Who should they have kept?

David Noble has a lot on his mind. Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos/Getty Images

The AFL also has to consider how desperately it wants to equalise the competition.

After a fabulous round 11 and a cracking Geelong vs Western Bulldogs Friday contest we saw West Coast obliterated by Adelaide then North Melbourne smacked around by Gold Coast.

If you were Paramount, thinking of shelling out $500 million a year for the full AFL package, it wasn’t the kind of afternoon to consider how many thousands of new subscribers you would draw from that dross.

As Andrew Dillon said of the Suns’ package when he announced it: “It is to the benefit of the entire competition that the SUNS are competitive”.

The issue for the Roos is they are seemingly so short on talent.

The midfield the club hopes to win them a flag – Jy Simpkin, Luke Davies-Uniacke, Tom Powell, Tarryn Thomas, Jason Horne-Francis, Bailey Scott – was smashed by the Suns.

The club will hope Horne-Francis is the next Brent Harvey, but where is the next elite small forward, or the brilliant Next-Gen defenders in a defence with Ben McKay and not much else?

If the club loses Todd Goldstein it is hard to see how it would get compensation for a 34-year-old when the Roos’ own two-year deal for 31-year-old Jarrad Waite back in 2014 saw Carlton given nothing by the AFL.

So McLachlan’s football team will make a decision that could be condemned by 17 rival clubs yet is needed to help a club whose next finals performance looks an eternity away.

Originally published as AFL 2022: VFL coach slams North Melbourne reserves for not playing at the level required