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Extending his contract with North Melbourne was a no-brainer for Shaun Atley at the start of the AFL season.
He says it remains so now, even though North’s season appears destined to be a case of so close, and yet so far.
Despite a year which promised finals but will probably just fail to deliver, defender Atley says there’s a sense something great will eventually come out of perhaps the AFL’s most heartbreaking season of close losses.
“The sort of feeling around the club is success isn’t too far away,” Atley told AAP, reiterating his decision to extend his contract to 2015 before this season started was the right one.
“Whether it’s this year, next year or the year after, you can sense it around the club with the younger guys getting older, and the older guys sticking around.
“It gives the boys a lot of confidence knowing we can go into games and match it or at least win, as opposed to the last couple of years when we were getting beaten by 100-plus points.
“In that sense, we’re going in the right direction.”
After five losses this season by less than a goal, North tuned up for Friday night’s battle with flying Geelong at Etihad Stadium with a 122-point belting of uncompetitive Melbourne last weekend.
The Cats also come off a triple-figure win – theirs over St Kilda.
One of North’s close losses came the last time they played the Cats in round two.
But 20-year-old Atley, who has blossomed since moving to the half-back line last season, is confident the Kangaroos still have plenty to play for.
He says they have not having given up entirely on making finals despite needing an unlikely amount of favours to do so.
“It is hard when you lose those close ones because you contemplate ‘what if’.
“We could be far higher up the ladder if we’d got over those close ones.
“We’ve copped a bit for that, but that just brings us closer and gives us something to prove for the end of this year and going into next year.”
The North-Geelong match is also set to raise awareness of Greenaid – an innovative charity which fights poverty and works to free slaves by raising funds through selling sticking plasters.
North will be without skipper Andrew Swallow, who suffered a serious Achilles injury last weekend and defender Nathan Grima (back).
Geelong have included ruckmen Trent West and Mark Blicavs, while Jimmy Bartel returns from suspension.
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