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For North Melbourne, it’s been an AFL extreme makeover. The falling-down players’ rooms and grandstand have been replaced by a state-of-the-art $15 million training facility at the club’s Arden Street headquarters.
The AFL’s youngest coach, two-time Brisbane premiership player Brad Scott, has taken the helm.
An exciting young group of players are fighting for positions.
Three years ago, there was no facelift, no fountain of youth for North.
The only cosmetic improvement on offer from the AFL was a one-way ticket to the Gold Coast to work on their tan – permanently. That, or a sheet to cover the corpse.
But with the club now saved, surgically enhanced, and enjoying a significant injection of youth serum, 2010 starts North’s big reveal.
Kangaroos powerbrokers suggest it will take as long as 2014 to see the full effect – when they are confident the club will be a legitimate chance for premiership glory.
Scott, contracted for the next three seasons, hopes it will be sooner than that.
Youth will be given its chance to make mistakes and learn under Scott. It won’t be given excuses.
“I hope that the pre-season we’ve had and the structures we’ve put in place prevents that (an up-and-down year),” Scott says.
“The reality is with young players, you can’t be overly hard on them, you have to be understanding.
“But I’ll never accept players who repeatedly make poor decisions, and we’re in a very fortunate position that we have a lot of players pressing for positions.
“The young players are moving along very, very well. At match committee, we’ll have trouble selecting the side because we’ve got a number of players who deserve to be in it.”
Early signs are Scott is moulding a team in his own image.
The former Lions enforcer was efficient, uncompromising, hard at the footy, and always got the job done.
The 33-year-old comes from a winning culture, and has served an apprenticeship in Collingwood’s proven coach factory – an assistant under Mick Malthouse at the Magpies for three years.
He jokes openly about about the expectations that come with being a senior coach: “When we win it’s a team effort. When we lose it’s my fault.”
But going from team player to team builder presents a far different scenario, even at a club which regularly flies under the AFL radar.
“I was very fortunate at Collingwood that Mick delegated a lot of responsibility to me, so I had a good understanding of what I was in for,” he said.
“And I’m relishing the opportunity to put myself to the test.
“It’s very easy being an assistant coach because you can throw up ideas and they either get acted on or not.
“When I make a decision now, it’s my job.”
With 30 players under the age of 23, Scott has impressionable, coachable talent to work with.
Underpinning that is the club’s most important player Brent Harvey.
The 31-year-old skipper missed much of 2009 with a serious elbow injury.
Harvey, ruck-forward Drew Petrie and Brady Rawlings add the experience, while there is genuine optimism Liam Anthony, Jack Ziebell and Andrew Swallow are a power midfield of the future.
Scott Thompson emerged as a quality defender last year, and the return of Ziebell and Anthony from injury means the reliable Michael Firrito will move to a more familiar role down back.
In 2009, little went right for the Roos.
Losing Harvey early, the mid-season resignation of coach Dean Laidley, and a horror run of injuries sunk the Roos to the bottom four.
But North go into 2010 full of life and hope – a far cry from the club on the brink of extinction in 2007.
With a savvy administration confident of making inroads on an estimated $4 million debt and the league’s worst facilities making way for those the equal of any in the competition, North’s job in 2010 is backing up the good work off-field with improved results on-field.
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