In our current sports media landscape diverse opinions and fierce debate reign supreme.
It is a rare occurrence for the majority of pundits and sports fans alike agree on a particular topic. However, before the 2018 season began we had our Halley’s Comet, the sporting public marching arm in arm, almost unanimously proclaiming that North Melbourne will endure a horrid season that will most likely end in a wooden spoon.
Fast-forward to the present and North Melbourne currently reside in ninth position, outside the eight only on percentage. It’s fair to say no-one expected the quality of performances North have continuously put forth this season, and rightly so – the season prior they finished a lowly 15th, lost key personnel, and failed to add any big-name players to the mix.
Yet here we are, eight games away from season’s end and North Melbourne are teetering on the edge of the finals with a run home that is at least as, if not more, winnable than the runs home of their closest finals rivals.
Let’s talk history for a moment – to be more specific, the recent history of a little-known team called the Richmond Tigers. Okay, that last bit was a lie, as I’m sure all shop owners in Richmond on the 30 September 2017 would attest.
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Richmond made the finals three years in a row, from 2013 to 2015, then inexplicably missed out in the 2016 season finishing 13th and nearly costing Damien Hardwick his job. The Tigers were too top-heavy, contended the media, they had no talent surrounding the likes of Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin, Jack Riewoldt and Alex Rance. A year later Cotchin emphatically hoisted the AFL premiership trophy in the air and sent the suburb of Richmond into raptures.
If we turn our attention back to North Melbourne, we start to see some surprising similarities. North had a run of three consecutive finals campaigns, including two preliminary finals, from 2014 to 2016 but then faltered in the 2017 season, finishing 15th. North Melbourne dealt with the same criticisms as the Tigers – they do not have enough talent around their core players of Jack Ziebell, Shaun Higgins, Ben Brown, Ben Cunnington, and Robbie Tarrant. However, they have bounced back this season, just as Richmond did. How high they bounce now becomes the question.
Richmond have been applauded for their efforts this season, particularly in avoiding the dreaded premiership hangover. Statistically speaking, North Melbourne and Richmond this season are separated by a maximum of only two ranking places and are nearly identical in every key facet of the game, with the exception of inside 50s, with Richmond ahead by eight places, and contested possessions, with North ahead by five places. No other teams mirror each other so closely. It’s quite staggering.
Speaking of mirroring, have you noticed the similarities between both teams’ top-tier players? If you haven’t, allow me to bombard you with a string of rhetorical questions.
(Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Is Ben Brown, forgetting for a moment the size differential, a sharpshooter and constant threat overhead currently leading the Coleman medal, reminiscent of Jack Riewoldt?
Does Ben Cunnington, a hard-nosed contested ball winner with an incredibly high work ethic, sound a bit like Trent Cotchin?
Is it just me or does the sentence ‘an athletic defender adept at intercepting opposition plays and setting up counter attacks’ descirbe Alex Rance as well as Robbie Tarrant?
Finally there’s Shaun Higgins, a ball-winning, goal-scoring midfield-forward oozing with x-factor and capable of turning a game on its head. Any ideas who that may be?
I realise it may be considered blasphemous to even compare these players to Richmond’s premiership heroes, and I am in no way saying that they are of the same quality. However, it must be noted that these pairings are all made in the same mould. Most importantly, both teams’ top-tier players are evenly spread across the field: one defender, two midfielders and a forward.
The statistics clearly show how close to emulating Richmond’s game North Melbourne really are. With a few minor tweaks and a sprinkle of luck, who knows what might eventuate.
A team led by four or five top-tier players said to have missed their premiership window and who are motivated by a poor last season and determination to prove the doubters wrong. Sounds like the Tigers of 2017 to me.
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