The Roar
The Roar

AFL
Advertisement

North Melbourne fans chomping at the bit

Autoplay in... 6 (Cancel)
Up Next No more videos! Playlist is empty -
Replay
Cancel
Next
Roar Pro
11th October, 2018
16

At the start of the 2018 Toyota AFL season, North Melbourne was tipped to have a very ‘ordinary’ year and had a team lacked ‘depth’.

Fast forward to the end of the 2018 season and North Melbourne proved all the doubters wrong finishing ninth, only missing out finals by percentage.

For the Kangaroos, 2018 has seen them produce some amazing upsets, well-earned gritty wins but they still seem to be the Roos of old.

North Melbourne has been known to blow leads in the dying stages of games. This year was no different for the royal blue and whites.

North would have been the surprise packet for the year if they had only hung on to win just one more game they should have won, fans and officials would have relished knowing the fact that all ‘experts’ had written them off before the start of the season.

No mistake though – players, fans, coaching staff and officials should be over the moon with the groundbreaking year the boys have had.

A lot of North players cement themselves as a force in the competition. Young hard nuts Jy Simpkin and Kayne Turner continue to prove that they will be future life members for North Melbourne.

Turner has seen himself as the go-to small forward in North’s best 22, but has also pushed up the ground as he was born to be a ball chaser.

Advertisement

Simpkin is still yet to answer questions surrounding if he will ever reach his full potential, but as 2018 as shown, Simpkin is definitely almost there. He in averaged 14.9 disposals, 3.6 tackles and booted 12 goals in 2018.

If those numbers say anything about a 2nd-year player, it is that Simpkin is going to be a long-standing member of North’s best 22. On the other hand, Turner’s statistics do not show the potential he had after bursting into the competition after the 2014 draft.

Jy Simpkin North Melbourne Kangaroos AFL 2017

(AAP Image/Dan Peled)

This year, Turner averaged 11.3 disposals, 3.4 tackles and kicked eight goals. If Turner is going to reach his full potential, North need to decide where they are going to commit on where to play him. Play him as a permanent small forward, then he is expected to kick between 25-35 goals in 2019. Play Turner as a mid, then expect no less than 18 disposals on average.

Kangaroos’ veterans Shaun Higgins and Ben Cunnington cemented themselves as elite midfielders in 2018. The latter being stiff on not making the 2018 All Australian Team, but it did see Higgins get a well deserved All Australian jacket.

At 30-years-old, Higgins turned back the clock and played a career-best season. For a team that was lacking a bit of class on the midfield and forward half of the field, Higgins absolutely shined and helped North prove all the haters wrong.

Cunnington, on the other hand, became a top five inside midfield player and one of the best-contested ball winners in the league. Cunnington polled a record-breaking 32 contested possessions in a ten-point loss to the reigning premiers, Richmond.

Advertisement

A lot of North fans and experts were expecting 2018 would be the year young ruckman Brayden Preuss would become the number one man at his position and push aging veteran Todd Goldstein to the reserves.

In a twist, Brad Scott stuck with Goldy in the opening game. Goldstein tallied 35 hitouts, one behind and 14 disposals in a 16-point loss to Gold Coast in the opening game.

Scott and the committee obviously thought that was a good enough game to keep in the number one spot. Goldy ended up playing all 22 games, averaging 14.5 disposals, 0.5 goals and 35.6 hitouts.

Whilst Preuss became understandably frustrated dominating at VFL level for North’s reserves, he eventually requested for a not-so-shocking trade to another team at season’s end.

North Melbourne’s backline saw Majak Daw turn his career around as a surprising key defender. Robbie Tarrant continued to be one of the best intercept marks in the league alongside West Coast’s Jeremy McGovern.

Scott Thompson continues to defy the aging clock and be one of North’s best one-on-one defenders. This was a frustrating year for young gun Ed Vickers-Willis who started the year so well.

It was supposed to be the passing of the baton from Thompson to Vickers-Willis this season but that did not happen. Among concussion issues and a leg injury, it saw Vickers-Willis only play the first half of the year and left fans wanting more from the young defender.

Advertisement

After the departure of Drew Petrie at the end of the 2016 season, everyone was asking if Ben Brown would shine or fail as North’s main target up forward.

Ben Brown North Melbourne Kangaroos AFL 2017

(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Well, everyone got their answer as Brown became the best tall forward in the league. Brown booted an impressive 61.25, which is an incredible strike rate. At the 2018 All Australian awards night, Brown was absolutely robbed of a jacket.

He finished an impressive fourth in his team’s Best and Fairest count for 2018. Heading into 2019, Brown will be the odds-on favourite for the 2019 Coleman Medal and a place on the All Australian team.

Considering Brown was playing the second half of the year with an injury, he will be looking to have a completely fit season and once again be the best tall forward in the comp.

It was no secret that North was going gung-ho for West Coast’s Andrew Gaff whose contract was expiring at the end of the 2018 season.

North offered over eight million dollars over six years to Gaff who looked absolutely guaranteed to make the move to Arden Street.

Advertisement

If it was a backflip decision, or he had never made a decision, Gaff made the shock announcement he was staying at West Coast.

The Kangaroos will be crushed they once again failed to catch a big fish, but after securing Jared Polec and Jasper Pittard from Port Adelaide, North players, fans and officials should be very chuffed at their arrival.

Gold Coast’s Aaron Hall also made a shock announcement that he nominated North as his primary landing destination. If a trade does get done, the Roos will be hoping they get the 2016 Aaron Hall who was one of his side’s most important players.

North have also landed Melbourne’s Dom Tyson in a trade which saw Brayden Preuss find a new home at Melbourne. Tyson will be a great midfield top up player next year.

In 2019, expect to see North finish no lower than sixth and have a real crack in September. If they can land GWS’s Josh Kelly, they will be flag contenders for 2020.

close