North Melbourne: It’s Time.

North Melbourne: It’s Time.

GuyWhoLikesSport

Before landing the role as Tony Stark in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Robert Downey Jr. was talented but troubled, facing rehab and legal issues.

He reminded us of his brilliance with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, then became Iron Man.

I hear he has an island now.

It’s time for Alastair Clarkson to have his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang season.

He needs to remind us he can still do it.

North Melbourne don’t need to make finals this year, but they need to win more than four games.

Since the last time they won four games in 2019, there was a global pandemic, Trump lost, then made a comeback, a couple of wars and global conflict, Melbourne won a flag, and North Melbourne has gone through three different coaches.

I have faith that they can do it.

North Melbourne approached the offseason like Tommy in Goodfellas trying to get Henry to go on a double date with the Jewish lady who is prejudiced about Italians, even in that day and age.

They weren’t subtle about what they want – Veterans.

Firstly, North was in the Dan Houston sweepstakes.

Most interesting is that they were willing to part with two first round picks to get the deal done, along with big money.

They recognised that, on the current list, they have highly pedigreed young talent.

Colby McKercher, Zane Duursma, Cooper Harvey, George Wardlaw, Harry Sheezel, and Paul Curtis are all under 23.

Beyond them, Charlie Comben is 23, Luke Davies Uniacke is 25, and Tristan Xerri and Nick Larkey are 26.

They have the bones of a team.

They were just lacking the connective tissue that having veterans on the list bring with both their on-field experience and their willingness to push standards off the field and they were willing to pay a premium to fix that.

Dan Houston represented the chance to import the tissue.

They didn’t get Houston because the AFL trade market doesn’t work like literally any market in the world so the highest bidder didn’t win but it doesn’t matter.

It was Michael killing the heads of the five families, it was a statement of intent.

It was Clarko was saying “We plan to be good. We don’t need those picks anymore.”

Outside of Houston they also made smaller investments into other adults like Luke Parker, Jack Darling, and Caleb Daniel.

That’s effectively one adult in the midfield, forward, and the back line.

They imported reasonably priced competence into each line.

Last year best avenue to goal was scoring off turnover and from the forward half.

They were also the worst in the league at defending both of those categories.

Stats confirmed what the eyes showed – they were okay at getting and keeping the ball in their front half and capitalising off that but struggled to move the ball from back to front.

Enter Caleb Daniel’s elite ball use from the back half to fix that.

Nick Larkey is their star forward and the player around whom the forward ecosystem is built.

In 2023 he kicked 71 goals at an average of three per game, taking 4.3 shots and was involved in about 5.5 scores per game.

Last year, all of those numbers dropped off because teams didn’t even bother defending Toby Pink or whoever else they trundled out there to help him out.

Enter Jack Darling to at least take away at least one defender, and also to allow Zane Duursma to grow into himself against the third best defender.

Luke Parker can also be a forward line asset for North, he has been a consistent goal threat throughout his career and can also be helpful around the ball.

North’s biggest strength last year was around the ball.

They were 14th in contested ball, 11th in ground balls, 14th in post clearance contested ball, and 10th in total clearances.

It’s not elite, but compared to every other stat it’s astonishing, they’re plainly starting from the inside and building out, prioritising the coal face.

Luke Parker averaged more than 11 contested possessions every year from 2014-2023.

When he’s on the ball, Parker will provide a level of physicality that will help them grow even more in that phase of the game.

I’m not sitting here telling you that any of the three players North Melbourne brought in are going to be on their next premiership list.

They’re not.

They are, however, low cost moves to import competence and professionalism both on the field and in training.

There is real value in going from awful to average, and Clarkson knows it.

It’s time to win seven games.

 

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