North Melbourne Football Club is an interesting beast, and for many years it had been assumed that the club just couldn’t afford to bottom out lest it financially collapse.
So having finished 2021 in the wooden spoon position – the first time since 1972, in the then 12-team VFL – North Melbourne should be by all predictions on the verge of collapse as supporters desert the club with dwindling hope.
And yet the supporters haven’t left and the club is still intact.
A couple of weeks ago the club announced that it is free of debt for the first time in 34 years, since 1987. This is laudable no doubt; doing it during the turmoil of COVID-19 and finishing 17th in 2020 and 18th in 2021 goes entirely against the accepted wisdom. The script was ready but the club ad-libbed brilliantly.
It’s important to acknowledge that a footy club with 152 years of history is more than a plastic franchise, and that is where much of the core strength of support has come to break the shackles of debt.
The ‘give and take’ element of this is seen in the storied history. Good and bad. Life.
(Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
In 2003 former West Coast and North Melbourne premiership player Dani Laidley returned to Arden Street to take on senior AFL coaching. In that debut season Laidley was faced with a bit of everything, starting with a first-up win and a loss down at Geelong followed by a rare draw at a Docklands stadium more reassembling a beach.
In Round 6 former North legend Wayne Carey fronted up as a Crow against his old side in a grudge match very different to most, having resigned from the Kangaroos in disgrace the previous year.
A few weeks later, Round 11, and the Kangas were hosting Richmond at Docklands in the one and only senior game for the year of Jason McCartney. It would also be his final AFL match. The Bali bombings survivor completed a remarkable comeback and provided the full stop moment with a crucial late goal in a three-point win and subsequently announced his retirement in a post-match on-field interview. Talk about an introduction to coaching in Laidley’s first half-season.
Laidley coached 149 games over seven seasons and recently returned, along with another recent former coach, Brad Scott, to Arden Street to help mark the occasion of reaching debt-free status. It was her first time at the club as Dani – another reminder that a footy club is about life. The club and Laidley have earnt tremendous respect – I’ve not heard a bad word said.
With ups come downs: Ben Cunnington has announced he has bigger things to deal with and will be embarking on a chemotherapy course to overcome secondary cancer after his initial 2021-ending testicular cancer diagnosis earlier this year. We hope for the best for Cunners.
Within a week the club had some good news: North has selected its first-ever No. 1 draft pick in young Jason Horne-Francis from the South Adelaide Panthers. Horne-Francis walks full of hope into a wooden spoon club, but a club that’s far from the predicted rabble. He walks into a history and a legacy and a community. He walks into a club that is so much more than a football team.
In recent years North Melbourne has established an AFLW side after a long connection with Melbourne University in the VFLW and has moved to a standalone VFL structure. These parts help piece together a true community club.
Will there be too much focus and pressure on Horne-Smith? I’d argue not. He joins Will Phillips (Pick 2, 2020), Tom Powell (Pick 13, 2020), Jacob Edwards (Pick 1, 2021, midyear), Tarryn Thomas (Pick 8, 2018), Luke Davies-Uniacke (Pick 4, 2017) and Jy Simpkin (Pick 12, 2016) as top-end draft selections who are either just nearing their sweet spot in their mid-20s after just under 100 games and are showing signs of being ten-year players.
It’s worth reminding ourselves that Jacob Edwards was considered a potential top ten had he held off and waited for the end-of-season draft. These players bring with them hope in truck loads.
Horne-Francis is ‘senior ready’, and North Melbourne has shown that bottoming out – on the ladder at least – is far from the worst thing that can happen. It’s what happens next that’s important. After 1972 North Melbourne went on to make the 1974 grand final and win their first VFL premiership the following year in 1975.
And after all, if nothing else, supporting a footy club is an exercise in hope.
J.T. Delacroix
Guest
Fair enough.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
Not at all - - I'm playing to exactly that - - for every team the #1 draft pick is where you suddenly go from the pariah position of wooden spooner to kicking off draft night. And what does the #1 draft pick bring with him? Hope and pressure. I've illustrated that at North Melbourne - rather than being the 'start' of the rebuild - in this case #1 draft pick is effectively the candle on top of the decorated cake. I could have stretched out further - the article - regarding the most recent (August 2021) indications for the Arden urban renewal precinct which shows the 2nd oval that NMFC have petitioned for. That promises to set NMFC up as an iconic inner city community football club - in a vibrant iconic precinct and mark NMFC as a destination club heading deeper into this century. And will leave any talk of Tassie well behind. That's still marginally speculative....and would have dragged the article out too long....wait until it's happened but obviously it adds to the matrix of 'hope'. Far more tangible was the debt free mark so I focussed on that. So.........yes - there's the generic sort of last to first element - - but that's just part of a bigger picture.
J.T. Delacroix
Guest
“From last to first pick.” The writer seems to imply that’s some sort of incredible achievement. Nothing against North, but doesn’t that happen with the reigning wooden spooner every season?
Shinboner 1971
Roar Rookie
Hawthorn would be the better option, perhaps St. Kilda or Carlton if they can't clear their debt. North, with the new developments taking place nearby, will be secure at Arden Street for decades to come.
Shinboner 1971
Roar Rookie
It's an exciting time to be a North Melbourne supporter, for the first time since the early nineties we have some young joeys with genuine talent and a team of coaches that can take us from pretenders to contenders. A great time to be a NMFC fan.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
I'd argue no - - and that's largely because of the amazing niche that North Melbourne football club can play in the inner suburban area. While Hawthorn have flown out to Waverley/soon Dingley; Essendon out to Tullamarine......North Melbourne in at Arden St will become culturally iconic as the Arden urban renewal precinct continues to evolve. The big hope is that a second oval is provisioned - the August 2021 VPA documents show a second oval - - this will be huge for an inner city club and effectively lock in the future of NMFC in this precinct. So far from being an irrelevance - - the club will become iconic and a destination club. That LAST thing you'd do now would be to pack up and move out and the only way I could see the AFL encouraging that would be if Essendon/Footscray or Carlton were agitating to take up residence there!!!
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
The big thing for North is the style of play being developed. The major vulnerability is the lack of a true 2nd tall up forward. Larkey and Zurhaar do need someone like Ben Brown.........that said - - for North to move forward over the coming 6-8 years then they need Charlie Comben and/or Jacob Edwards to develop. Callum Coleman-Jones coming in is certainly not insignificant. Down the backline - the other element of the generational transition is Sean Atley - a 200+ game player however he had no more 'upside' and he was serviceable. North are going to try for a smidge more class coming out of the backline I suspect. And Tarrant moving on - I'm happy with - I felt McKay had found his spot first half 2021 and when Tarrant returned McKay was somewhat lost. The 2nd half of the season - - we showed enough - - I didn't really want us worried too much about wins - - what we got was pretty well ideal - - an improved outcome for the 'hope' but the continuing development of key players. Those valiant losses. Stretching top teams. Jy Simpkin for example finished the year aged 23 1/2 and on 95 games. Good young midfielders often transition to 'great' across age 24 and 100 games.......consider Petracca, G.Ablett Jnr.....Simpkin was more consistently hitting around 30 -/+ possessions. LDU is half way there........50 games and turned 22 mid year. He was hitting mid 20 possessions far more this year - i.e. playing 3/4 games and finally with 38 in Rnd 21 he had a 4/4 game. The 'tank' develops; and as the endurance improves the skills and decision making improves deeper into games. Tarryn Thomas..........is just a jet. Can't wait to see him continue. 21 1/2 at season end and 47 games - he does it all - had half a dozen 20+ possession games; but he tackles and he kicks goals. And Jaidyn Stephenson - I didn't mention as he was traded in - - #6 2017 draft. We now have from that draft #4 LDU, #6 Stephenson (Coll), #11 A.Bonar (GWS) and #20 Coleman-Jones (Rich). This is where North have generationally loaded up across 2017-2021 in particular (but slot Simpkin in as almost the leader of this wave of players).
Simoc
Roar Rookie
The best thing North Melbourne could do for AFL is move to Hobart and become a Tasmanian team. It would be great for the game, the AFL and for Tasmania.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
That's an interesting point. Before the Suns and Giants (mainly the Giants, but that's a different discussion) compromised the drafts, Hawthorn, Sydney and Geelong were established and dominated the competition in those years where other clubs couldn't as easily reload a single draft. Collingwood could have gone with them but for their awful succession plan, while the Saints didn't have any plan for staying at the top. Hawthorn's timing gave them a 3-peat, although it has been argued that they hadn't had a decent draft since 2004 and they'd bought a host of players to win their flags. Then along came Richmond, who had actually done the greater part of their recruiting before the Suns first draft, then made some very astute picks in some rookie drafts, while also poaching players in trades and in free agency. Now, we are out the other side of compromised drafting and competition equalisation has begun to reassert itself, so although the AFL will probably give Richmond, Carlton, Collingwood, Melbourne and Essendon 18 games each in Victoria (which is the last impediment to equalisation) there quite likely be a more even season than any we've seen.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
If you were to make a ladder of all clubs in the closing 10 rounds of the season, North wasn't the worst-performing. Not even close. Port 9/10 Cats 7/10 Lions 7/10 Swans 7/10 Demons 6.5/10 Giants 6/10 Bombers 6/10 Bulldogs 5/10 Hawks 5/10 Saints 4/10 Dockers 4/10 Blues 4/10 Kangaroos 3/10 Suns 3/10 Tigers 2.5/10 Crows 2/10 Magpies 2/10 Eagles 2/10 Ok, so it was close, but considering 5 of the losses were against finals sides, another against Richmond, then the final match against Adelaide was a dead rubber. The point here is that North had something when after going into the bye at 1 and 10 with a rookie coach as the youngest team in the competition nobody expected anything out of the second half of the season. It wasn't a hot finish for North, but I'm not here to sink the boot in. I don't think finals in 2023 was a wise choice to predict, but I do think 2 more drafts will complete the rebuild. You have a junior ruck division to support Goldy, Ziebell and Hall can hold up your defence until they are overtaken by younger talent, plus there are others going past 30 who will also be naturally replaced over the next 2 seasons.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
Across this time frame a very major disruptive factor has been the admission of GWS and Gold Coast. It’s distorted things rather greatly. The last few years have seen ‘cleaner’ drafts. We’ve also seen the trade element of the Suns and Giants lessening - - there were years where because of trade deals they’d traded their way back into dominate the top 10. As it is - - all I assert is there’s ‘hope’; and that’s based on so much more than 2020-2021 ladder positions.
Chris M
Guest
Congratulations to North on not trading but keeping their first ever No 1 selection and taking Jason Horne-Francis. While nothing is assured, by all accounts the expectation is that he will be a star. The club seems to be otherwise building its list from the ground up nicely. Nonetheless, I still think trading Ben Brown to Melbourne was the wrong move for North (though not for Ben now that he is a premiership player). While there is reason to be optimistic and nothing is written in stone, owning the No 1 pick due to having the wooden spoon doesn't frequently result in future premiership success during the career of that selected player at the club. The last premiership player to be taken with the No 1 selection (by GWS) was Tom Boyd and he won the premiership after being traded to the Western Bulldogs. I think the most recent player prior to that to be taken as the No 1 pick and win the premiership with the club by which he was selected was Luke Hodge, drafted in 2001. A few other former no 1 picks such as Nick Riewoldt, Brendon Goddard and Lachie Whitfield have played in losing grand finals with the clubs that selected them. Brett Deledio may have played in a Richmond premiership team if he hadn't joined GWS. Another No 1 pick will play in a premiership team with the wooden spoon club that selected him....eventually.
Paul Thomson
Guest
Well said. Hope for all supporters is the reason why supporters shell out and become members. North has shown that thru a period of mid table to preliminary final results, there is now time and financial stability to reset and move forward. The supporters and members will stick around, comfortable in the knowledge that the foundations are solid and the Arden Street precinct will supply the surroundings with stability and growth. No more manoeuvres to relocate or resettle interstate.
Terry Franklin
Guest
I’m a 50+ year member of the NMFC. I was there for the 1975 & 1977, and 1996 & 1999 premierships. Our premiership window is fast approaching. We have the players, the coaches, and the administration to become a successful era in the 2020’s.
Davo
Guest
As a Sydney resident and Swans fan I have like many Sydney Siders have a soft spot for Norths. Always seemed to be picked on my the bigger Melbourne Clubs and certain journalists like Caroline Wilson but they have always punched above their weight. Also a progressive club as the first to stop pokies even though financially that would have helped and what a great idea the Huddle is. With the Arden Street development, no debt and I think one of the best list of young talent behind the Swans off course things are looking up for the Roos.