By Marc McGowan
North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has defended the club’s call not to select key defensive prospect Daniel Curtin in last year’s draft after also letting restricted free agent Ben McKay walk to Essendon.
Carlton twin towers Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay shared 10 goals between them against the Roos on Good Friday a year ago, and added nine more together in the return Easter bout in an all-too-easy 56-point triumph.
The Coleman medallists feasted on an under-strength and undersized North backline of Aidan Corr, Aiden Bonar, Jack Ziebell and Luke McDonald in the 2023 clash, with a foot injury sidelining McKay that day, while Griffin Logue was suspended then and is recovering from an ACL rupture now.
Alastair Clarkson: “Your defenders aren’t expecting that you are just kind of going to give it back so easily.”Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images
Curnow’s game ended early with an ankle injury, but coach Michael Voss said it was only precautionary, although defender Caleb Marchbank (concussion) will miss at least gather round.
The Roos partnered ex-Giant Corr this time with state league recruits Toby Pink and Kallan Dawson, after opting for Colby McKercher and Duursma over Curtin with picks two and four in last year’s draft. Connor O’Sullivan was another key defensive option, who went to Geelong at No.11.
They did use their third selection, No.22, on Gippsland Power key defender Wil Dawson, who is 201 centimetres and ultra-competitive, but they were in the minority in rating him that highly.
Clarkson spent extended time pre-draft with, or talking to, Curtin, but North went another way, with Adelaide – another key defender-needy club – trading up to grab the West Australian instead.
“All I’d say is Zane Duursma’s going to be a great player for this footy club, so I don’t want to get into the nitty-gritty of who did what and when and why and all that sort of stuff,” Clarkson said.
“We selected as we selected, and it’s round three into the next season. Let’s make a judgment on these players when they’re 10-year players. Dan Curtin’s going to be a great player, and I think ‘Duurs’ [will] be a great player as well.”
For what it’s worth, Carlton, who admittedly had their share of long-term woes, spent three first-round picks in the 2015 draft to secure Jacob Weitering, McKay and Curnow, then drafted athletic tall Tom De Koning two years later with a top-30 selection.
Curnow and McKay mostly made a mockery of their modest opposition, finding repeated separation aerially from brute strength and subtle bodywork, as well as receiving a series of holding free kicks.
In fairness, there was little Pink, Dawson and Corr could do at times – something Clarkson repeatedly pointed out – as Carlton dominated territory, harassed North into turnovers, and sometimes strolled forward under little pressure before nailing lace-out passes to their star forwards.
‘We selected as we selected, and it’s round three into the next season. Let’s make a judgment on these players when they’re 10-year players. Dan Curtin’s going to be a great player, and I think Duurs [will] be a great player as well.’
Alastair Clarkson
They significantly out-tackled the Roos, ended up winning contested possession by double digits after trailing early, and narrowly won the centre clearances against a promising but inexperienced on-ball brigade including Luke Davies-Uniacke, George Wardlaw, Tom Powell and Charlie Lazzaro.
“At different stages, we went too quick with the footy ... and your defence can’t catch up. Make mistakes with the ball, and it just comes back with mayonnaise on it,” Clarkson said.
“Part of it is to do with our defence behind the ball, but some of it has just got to do with how quick our ball movement is at different stages, and some of it to Carlton’s credit was to do with the pressure they were able to apply to our side.
“We’re going to need to get better in that space [but] your defenders aren’t expecting that you are just kind of going to give it back so easily.”
North opted to build from the midfield out, and have an array of talent in there, so much so that their No.3 pick from the 2020 draft, Will Phillips, cannot get a game, while Harry Sheezel spends most of his time at halfback, and McKercher is starting his AFL career down there, too.
They chose Phillips over tall forward Logan McDonald at the time, with the Swans swooping on the West Australian at the next selection.
It remains unclear what the Roos plan to do to fix their key defensive woes beyond their patchwork attempts so far, while gun key forward Nick Larkey still does not have a reliable sidekick.
Nick Larkey gets his hand on the ball.Credit: Getty Images
Asked how they would address the list holes at either end, Clarkson said he would put his faith in the recruiting team, but that the players already at the club needed to “grow”.
North Melbourne’s talent scouts have spoken with Dandenong Stingrays key defender Noah Mraz, a 198-centimetre athlete who shapes as a potential first-round prospect in November.
“Toby Pink’s just come into the club [and] Charlie Comben is just returning from injury, so he’ll be in contention [next week], which is a bigger body, either forward or behind the ball for us,” Clarkson said.
“We’ve just got to persevere with it. There’s no easy fix, but ... no side in the competition would defend easy turnovers through the middle of the ground.”
The Roos traded for Richmond ruck-forward Callum Coleman-Jones after the 2021 season as one potential solution, but he has failed to make his mark in either position, including kicking nine goals in 22 matches.
Making matters worse, Coleman-Jones suffered a suspected ruptured Achilles early in the second term on Good Friday. Up next could be 193-centimetre forward Ty Sellers, a pre-season pick-up from the club’s VFL team, who kicked six goals in a second-tier practice match last week.
But Sellers is another VFL recruit who would be tasked with trying to do some heavy lifting.
“He’ll certainly come into contention,” Clarkson said. “I’m not sure how well he played today [in the VFL], but his last couple of weeks have been really strong, and we’re probably in that mode, too, where we just need to keep spinning some guys through there, just to see what will work for us.”
North Melbourne’s Jy Simpkin.Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images
There is also the Cam Zurhaar situation that will grow more intriguing the longer the season goes, and has the potential to become McKay all over again. The restricted free agent has spoken of his wish to play in a competitive team contending for finals, which seems no closer for the boys from Arden Street.
It is not all doom and gloom, given the increasing number of top-10 draftees, from Davies-Uniacke to Sheezel, Wardlaw, McKercher and Duursma, are great prospects.
Davies-Uniacke, 24, is already a top-liner, but The Age reported mid-week that St Kilda were planning an audacious bid to lure the 2025 free agent to Moorabbin.
Elsewhere, Paul Curtis kicked three opportunistic goals on Friday and is a genuine livewire; Powell – another first-round midfield selection – looks back on track; Jy Simpkin, Bailey Scott and Tristan Xerri are plenty good enough (and still young enough); and recruits Dylan Stephens and Zac Fisher at least stiffen the depth.
Former Docker Logue, like ex-Swan Stephens and one-time Magpie Jaidyn Stephenson, was also a top-10 pick in his draft year and will be back eventually to help the embattled defence.
But the losses will almost certainly continue to pile up until North Melbourne properly address the glaring issues in their tall stocks at either end.
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