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Star North Melbourne signing Nick Dal Santo is quickly learning the flip side of life as a big-money AFL free agent.
Commentator Dermott Brereton has slammed Dal Santo for his performance in the round-one loss to Essendon.
Brereton said Dal Santo’s former St Kilda coach Ross Lyon would have dropped him.
Dal Santo was famously demoted for the first time in his career during the 2008 season, when Lyon sent the midfielder and Saints teammate Stephen Milne to the VFL.
“The one who was a real disappointment and I actually thought he would benefit the team … is Nick Dal Santo,” Brereton said on SEN.
“And it’s more to do with effort.
“If Ross Lyon was coaching North Melbourne right now, he’d drop him for workrate, for effort – non-willingness to physically exert his body into certain situations.”
Dal Santo left St Kilda at the end of last season to join the Kangaroos as a free agency signing, while Lyon is in his third season as Fremantle coach.
Brereton conceded Dal Santo was unlikely to be dropped, but said coach Brad Scott must make sure the midfielder knows what is expected of him.
“He (Scott) needs to get to him,” Brereton said.
“He needs to grab him, shake him and say ‘mate, there are young kids at this club who were rapt to have you here and they’re looking at your every move – teach them right’.
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