We’re a week into our AFL preview series here at The Roar, and it has already been laced with controversy.
From 18th to 15th, Gold Coast, Carlton, Brisbane and Fremantle have been covered, and there has been plenty of conversation in the comments from our readers. However, all parties have been united as never before on one common theme each day.
“Where is North?”
“Why haven’t you done North?”
“We will not finish behind North!”
“No North. You’re an idiot. Lol.”
Well, a week too late for most people, here it is!
B: Ryan Clarke, Scott Thompson, Marley Williams
HB: Jamie Macmillan, Robbie Tarrant, Luke McDonald,
C: Billy Hartung, Ben Cunnington, Shaun Atley
HF: Nathan Hrovat, Jarrad Waite, Mason Wood
F: Kayne Turner, Ben Brown, Taylor Garner
Foll: Todd Goldstein, Jack Ziebell, Shaun Higgins
Int: Braydon Preuss, Trent Dumont, Ben Jacobs, Luke Davies-Uniacke
Em: Jy Simpkin, Sam Wright, Declan Mountford
The Roos played quite an attacking style last year, similar to Brisbane, but just a better version of them. They posted some big scores, particularly for a side sitting second bottom with one round to go, but as a consequence, they were also easy to score against, especially as the season went on.
In their last five losses, the average score conceded was 122.6 points per game.
North’s strength lies in their experienced spine and on-ball group, which is the best of the bottom tier clubs and can carry them to wins.
Robbie Tarrant has become a very, very solid centre half-back that does everything well, and would probably be a dual All-Australian if Alex Rance wasn’t around.
Scott Thompson wound back the clock a bit in 2017 after a couple of patchy years, perhaps stung into action by so many experienced teammates being let go after the 2016 season.
Jarrad Waite is still a gun when he takes the field, but the only thing more certain than him getting injured at some stage is how much he will get talked up pre-season as being in his best ever physical condition.
He only played ten games last year, but North won four of them. Their other two wins were against Gold Coast and Brisbane, so he remains important.
Ben Brown played deeper than in previous seasons and enjoyed a graduation year taking responsibility as the number one man thanks to Waite’s injuries and the departure of Drew Petrie. 63 goals and 14 Brownlow votes was an outstanding return.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
We can expect a similar profile again, and given Brown is strong on the lead and in the air, he gives North options as a focal point every time they go forward.
Todd Goldstein was the undisputed premier ruckman in the competition in 2015 but fell away thanks to some personal and mental issues that were highlighted in the Herald-Sun last week. From all reports, he is ready to produce his best once more, and is one of few ruckmen that can shape a game through tap-work, ground level follow-up, linking and goals.
Ben Cunnington loves the coalface as one of the best clearance and contested players in the league and should benefit even further from a resurgent Goldstein. Jack Ziebell is a poor man’s Patrick Dangerfield, which is no slight.
It won’t be a lack of hardness around the contest from their leaders that holds North back.
Shaun Higgins is the last of the senior players in important positions, the reigning best and fairest. He’s the classiest player on the list by far, a goal-kicking midfielder that has a measurable impact when getting the ball up near 30 times a game.
These eight players will carry a huge weight, and yes, there are some question marks. Can Thompson back it up at 32 years of age? Will Goldstein bounce back to his best as expected? How often will Waite play? Can Higgins’ body hold up two seasons in a row?
Looking at the next tier of experienced players, and we have names like Marley Williams, Jamie MacMillan, Shaun Atley, Taylor Garner and Nathan Hrovat. You can be forgiven for thinking they’re all a bit ‘meh’, but each has some assets.
Luke McDonald is the best of the wave of youth at this stage, bearing in mind he has only just turned 23. He’s coming off by far his best season, and he will have more impact through middle-forward, helping out at half-back when required.
Mason Wood can look like anything at times but just can’t get any consistency. He’s never played more than ten games in a season, but we can look back to Round 7 last year against Adelaide to see what he can do – 24 touches, ten marks (three contested), five tackles, five scoring shots.
(AAP Image/Tony McDonough)
A criticism of North over recent years has been a sameness about their midfield group, and a lack of outside run. Brad Scott addressed this last year in-season and through the trade period.
Atley and McDonald were moved from half-back into the middle, and Billy Hartung was acquired after being delisted by Hawthorn.
Admittedly, this isn’t exactly Robbie Flower and Doug Hawkins on the wings we’re talking about, but it at least addresses a need. North liked to switch the ball at all costs last season, and the delisted Sam Gibson was often a linkman in this kind of play, so there is a hole that needs to be filled.
Ben Jacobs and Sam Wright are professional footballers that give North a little bit of depth, and they have a host of players in their early 20s that we haven’t seen much of that may step up and surprise.
But right now the list does appear to fall away badly, and if they do get a run of injuries to the key group, things could get ugly. That said, this is going to be equally true of the other cellar-dwellers too.
Luke Davies-Uniacke has a lot of expectation given he is the only untried player at North that has been taken in the top 20 in the last three drafts. He is expected to play immediately and have an impact in the manner of Dustin Martin or Ollie Wines in their first seasons.
The bad sign for North going forward is that Davies-Uniacke is likely to be the only Rising Star nominee from the Roos this year – not a great sign for a side in full rebuild mode. The bigger danger for this club lies beyond 2018, moreso than this season.
(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
North are not going to be good, and the neutrals certainly won’t be lining up to watch them, but their attacking style of play can get some wins as it did last year, and fans need to see good signs from those coming through before a new batch of draftees arrives for 2019.
Can Sam Durdin or Daniel Nielson improve enough to lock down a spot and possibly bump Thompson out? Will Nick Larkey progress when he gets his chances, probably when Waite is injured?
If we treat the expected bottom five teams as a group (Brisbane, Carlton, Fremantle, Gold Coast and North), the Roos get the most games against the others of this five, so this is an asset.
And we have to remember, they had a much higher percentage than the others in this group last season.
Three games in the wind of Hobart gives them a distinct home ground advantage that they usually use well, and their edge in the quality of experienced players is enough to think they can finish higher than a few other teams.
Prediction – 14th
Cam Rose’s ladder prediction
14th: North Melbourne Kangaroos
15th: Fremantle Dockers
16th: Brisbane Lions
17th: Carlton Blues
18th: Gold Coast Suns
andrew
Guest
goldy was serving up his usual tripe in the first JLT match. totally outpointed by gawn in the ruck. zero marks . he is so bad overhead north actually strcuture up to avoid him and his opponent from the kick ins. todd stands very 'central corridor', his opponent goes with him. a long kick is usually to a leading half forward. its not a bad stragety, but pretty sad you need to 'hide' your ruck. todd got 2 kicks for the match in JLT. one was the first of the day from a centre square infringement. his other kick was also in the first q. he basically rucked solo the entire match, so it wasnt like he was on the bench or posted forward 50. preuss took more marks and got more kicks in half an AFLX match. its no brainer who should be starting ruck. but scott wont have the balls to do it. and the biggest shame is i cant find a market for the liston medal as pruess will be good bet dominating VFL whilst we put up with excuses each week for todd.
Shine McShine
Guest
Good synopsis there Cam with the only change to your team being Simpkin in and Jacobs out. If we are going to progress in years to come, we need to get games into Simpkin now. Given we will lose more games than we win, a tagger doesn’t add much to the team...
deccas
Guest
I read it to mean that of the wins without waite, two were against brisbane and goldcoast. So if Waite played against the GC then they shouldn't count in the Wins Without Waite (WWW) column.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
My estimation of you will rise if you have Collingwood, Hawthorn and West Coast as your next 3.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Have you seriously evaluated the Suns, Josh? 18 teams would be a lot for any team of expert writers to get across, but I haven't seen a shred of evidence that any of you have actually evaluated the list and come up with a reasoned explanation for why all of you have this assumption that the team will be hot garbage. There's talk here about how other bottom teams have improved their lists, but no real praise for the Suns development from last season to now. Obviously, with Gaz, Saad and Matera leaving there's been headlines about a further talent drain, however, they were adequately replaced in Trade week by Lachie Weller, Harrison Wigg and Aaron Young. Returning from injury interrupted seasons are Rischitelli, Barlow and Hanley, who are handy leaders to have around so much young talent. In the ruck, Jarrod Witts was rated 5th in the AFL and is only going to get better. The Suns players have had the benefit of world class gym facilities for the first offseason in their existence and have come out of preseason looking like men, as opposed to the skinny kids who have getting bashed around for all these years. What the wider media don't talk about is how Tom Lynch and Touk Miller carried around injuries for the whole of 2017, while guys like Kade Kolodjashnij, Rory Thompson, Jesse Lonergan and Sam Day were missing with injury for long periods. They were replaced by emergent young players like Jesse Joyce, Jack Leslie, Jack Bowes and Ben Ainsworth, who all cemented places in the lineup. If the forward line players all kicked their best season totals, the side would have Lynch 76 + Wright 35 + Young 37 + Day 19 + Ainsworth 14 + Martin 24 = 205 goals. Some of those guys are on track to kick way more and each one has kicked a bag of 4 or more in the last 2 seasons. The backline isn't just looking good this year, it is also looking deep, with 5 talls to choose from and at least 3 AFL level players bound to miss each week. Same goes for the forward line, which likely see 3 to 4 players with 50+ games experience playing Reserves. The Midfield is the deepest unit in the club, but 4 or more first round draft picks possibly missing selection on Thursdays. I haven't even mentioned David Swallow, Aaron Hall, Steven May, Jarrod Harbrow, Brayden Fiorini or Jarryd Lyons, who are all game breakers and none over 26 years of age. This list is the most talented in the AFL, with 14 first round Draft picks (16 if you include Lynch and May) plus a new coach who comes with serious chops. You fellas need to re-evaluate in a big way instead of listening to the echo chamber.
Ditto
Guest
I've pegged North 17th, but picking a team that finished 15th one year and picking them 14th the next year isn't criminally insane territory and I get that more consistently ordinary thing, but Goldstein Sandilands Ziebell vs Fyfe Cunnington Neale Higgins Walters I know which side I'd back.
Cameron Rose
Expert
I don't know how the line is inaccurate. It's the definition of accuracy.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
The Suns were robbed against North in Round 6 last year and the Kangas late scoring made the rematch at Metricon look close when it was far from it. Umpires admitted that they got some calls wrong and the Roos had something like 7 goals from line ball free kicks. By the way, Waite played in both games against the Suns in 2017, so the line about Waite "He only played ten games last year, but North won four of them. Their other two wins were against Gold Coast and Brisbane, so he remains important." is an error. The first game the Suns were without Steven May and Rory Thompson, then played with 3 talls in the return match. The sides play in Round 1, it will be interesting to see if GCS play 3 tall defenders again, possibly swinging Day back from the forward line.
Mattician6x6
Guest
Made a preliminary from eighth, you weren't going to challenge
Slane
Guest
Nice.
Perry Bridge
Guest
Yeah - hopefully he can continue to become a 'handy' contributor - someone who can do a job and now and then bob up - at very least. Not expecting him to be a 'Boomer' replacement anytime soon. A good Mill Park boy too - would've looked great in the Stallions royal blue and white.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Princess Gary has indeed always belted our blokes. I'm intrigued to see how Geelong go with the Big 3.
bilo
Guest
the best the Lions can do against North is to draw so 2 points would be about your limit
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Hey Perry. I reckon The Rat will get better. He's quite handy at times.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Love it RooBoy.
Perry Bridge
Guest
Dropping away later in the year was pretty natural for the number of younger players who were tried out - we even had to bring Swallow back in as injuries started to hit. There were a couple of blow out games - but in the main it was exactly what I'd hoped for pre-season - a bottom 4 finish showing a bit (a few 'honourable losses' - not good when contending but great when rebuilding!!). What is important is the better ball use and efficiency in the forward half.
Kangajets
Guest
Your lordship Thanks for the invitation to play at your esteemed venue . After we leave with the usual 4 points (16-0) , make sure you leave some of that posh plonk that your type drink , we can skull it all on the tram back to Arden St .. Say gidday to bazza when he wakes up, and who is this Carey bludger you talk of ??
Kangajets
Guest
I like the way you think . A North Melbourne dynasty of 5-6 grand finals in a row ... Just imagine the ...kick north out campaign then . Might be relocating Carlton to Hobart instead .
Kangajets
Guest
Matt 2015. I hate those years when you just make a prelim final and lose by only 4 goals at Subiaco Should have tanked the whole season instead of trying to win a flag .
Paul D
Roar Rookie
No idea old boy. Last time I saw him was at the test match, he looked to have been anesthetised by a combination of Penfolds and Alistair Cook's 244* and was snoring gently under one of the tables in the Frank Grey Smith bar No doubt dreaming of September glory and North taking a one way flight to Hobart You Arden St types should be grateful for the grand old club. Your games against us and Collingwood are the only times the AFL is letting you into the G this season. The last time North pulled a crowd interested in their affairs was when Wayne Carey emerged from a bathroom with a teammate's wife