News North Melbourne Have Lost the Shinboner Spirit.

Jun 26, 2012
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https://amp.heraldsun.com.au/sport/.../news-story/993f600823a244c9da4940277973459f?


North Melbourne has lost the Shinboner spirit, writes David King

DAVID KING HERALD SUN APRIL 24, 2019
“Visitors” being short-to-medium term occupants who either don’t believe in North Melbourne’s heart and soul — The Shinboner — or have not embraced the club’s beliefs. The Shinboner is a unifying, overarching ethos that not only embraces the struggles of the past but sets the bare minimum standards that this once great football club demands.

North Melbourne’s culture was born from the Shinboner and has always been about its people, past and present.
Often it was all we had. So the question need to be asked: Is Brad Scott a visitor? After 10 years at the helm, if it all finished today, what would his legacy as coach look like?
To my mind, Scott either misinterpreted or simply wasn’t a subscriber to “The Shinboner Spirit” upon arrival at the club.

Perhaps it’s more important for the rusted-on Kangaroos fan and the football club that our ethos remains intact. But right now it’s significantly more important to Scott and his side than any tactic or moving of player magnets. Did Kangaroos coach Brad Scott buy into North Melbourne’s famed “Shinboner spirit”?

Relationships are in fashion, regarding coach to player and coach to staff and so on. We’ve witnessed Damien Hardwick and Nathan Buckley shift their focus over the past couple of seasons to redefine their priorities, with stunning success. Has Scott undergone that same transformation? All great cultures possess tremendous player unity driven by the stars, from Wayne Schimmelbusch to Wayne Carey. Or even further back, as legend has it, by Les Foote and John Dugdale types. But I can only identify with the Carey model that had all players, trainers and staff on the same equal peg. Carey was a true cultural driver who stamped a one-in, all-in philosophy. Does this playing group enjoy the same bond?

The loss of Geoff Walsh as director of football cannot be understated. His preparedness to engage in difficult conversations and arrest areas of concern, or at bare minimum raise an alarm, are missing right now. On-field, the game plan is failing. Opposition sides score against North Melbourne with an uncomfortable ease and it’s been that way for years. Disturbingly, the much-lauded brutal contested ball asset has dissipated to the point of becoming docile.

When all else is lost clubs retreat to their core foundation, their identity and what they stand for, but what are the current non-negotiables at Arden St? We don’t want Scott the coach, we want Scott the player. Ben Cunnington and Scott Thompson have played in the right manner with 100 per cent effort, 100 per cent of the time. They never throw in the towel and make Kangaroo fans proud, but others must get on board. When was the last time the captain grabbed a game by the throat? The spotlight is on North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell.


Jack Ziebell cannot have a repeat of last week’s six disposal, zero tackle stat sheet. His physical presence has such an emotional influence on this group, but he must spend time at the coalface, in the true midfield on Friday night.

Has the glut of free agency acquisitions of the previous four to five years watered down and diluted the deep-seated passion for the club, over and above the pure financial gain?
Are these “consultants”, who have been selected for a specific needs in the short term, buying in to the total team requirements? The uncontested nature of how some are playing would suggest there are worrying signs. Jared Polec, Aaron Hall and this season’s version of Shaun Higgins are swanning around the ground prioritising uncontested football and personal statistical reward over the team needs, which include all defensive actions.

Regardless of all else the spotlight of Friday night football, when the club has its back to the wall, has always been the domain of the “Shinboner”. Playing Port Adelaide provides the perfect opportunity for North to reignite a season drifting aimlessly into the abyss. The Power are following the outstanding leadership of Travis Boak, Ollie Wines and Tom Jonas, but still possess much inexperience. North Melbourne must seek to ambush the Power in the same manner as Richmond only a fortnight ago.

When these Kangaroos pull on the royal blue and white vertical stripes they must be prepared to fight tooth and nail for victory with a desire that doesn’t settle for near enough is good enough. It’s season on the line at the Adelaide Oval. It takes a lot for the North Melbourne faithful to stir, but they are agitated.

I’m convinced there will be an all-club review, from top to bottom, at season’s end and I fear a broom will be swept through Arden St. But just how long those brushes will be could be determined over the next three months.

I accept that when discussing North Melbourne, I’m accused either of being too supportive, or the contrary, turning on the club that gave me all that I enjoy.

But I write this because I care.

What I’d give to select Glenn Archer, John Law and Jimmy Krakouer at the selection table tonight, not on talent, but effort alone.


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Decent article, agree with a lot of what King is saying. Something is deeply amiss with the club's soul. It feels.. plastic.

Interested to see what the BF crowd think of this.
 
Jun 26, 2012
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No please keep this one going. Needs a thread for discussion. I personally hated it when Scott came in and stated that he wanted to go away from the Shinboner Spirit. Didn't sit right with me then and here we are now!

Happy to do so, the crisis thread has turned into some sort of debate about racists, sexists and homophobes. Classic BF.
 
May 24, 2005
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Happy to do so, the crisis thread has turned into some sort of debate about racists, sexists and homophobes. Classic BF.
Society is fraying at the seams. Everyone wants to be outraged.
Clokey reckons he’s gonna have a minute of science before our game tomorrow night.
 
Mar 14, 2002
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Jun 26, 2012
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Iirc Scotts argument re SSpirit was to reinvent it into a modern form instead of ‘poor old North’

Don’t have a problem with that, but how he went about it was the error of his ways
Yea i remember the pitch of it being like, when we do well people reckon its cause of a spirirt rather than because we are actually good or talented, so less of that and more recognition.
 
Jun 26, 2012
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Or how about we just leave this one here for those that aren't interested in the SRP stuff, eh?

JUSTICE

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Jun 26, 2012
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Stays here

When DKing (ACoach) and Simmo hold up the Cup at Arden St in 2023 we know where it started...with this article

Watching Dennis Pagan wrap a medal around Adam Simpsons neck wearing west coast colours made me want to laugh and puke at the same time.
 
Mar 14, 2002
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Yea i remember the pitch of it being like, when we do well people reckon its cause of a spirirt rather than because we are actually good or talented, so less of that and more recognition.

I don’t remember it too much being used in the 90’s tbh.. I have all the newspapers from the 96 and 99 Finals and I would be stretching to say that many blokes used it as a motivation

I do remember it appearing in the 00’s and that tag ‘poor North’ and SSpirit used to pop up amongst real life conversation especially around the Gold Coast move and that really ticked me off.
 
Mar 14, 2002
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Watching Dennis Pagan wrap a medal around Adam Simpsons neck wearing west coast colours made me want to laugh and puke at the same time.

Thought it was cool actually

Pagan left a legacy for many in that team that will last some generations
 
Jan 23, 2019
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Society is fraying at the seams. Everyone wants to be outraged.
Clokey reckons he’s gonna have a minute of science before our game tomorrow night.

Clokey looked resplendent in army uniform at our Good Friday game against *, felt bad for him though when he got kicked out at half time for trying to get a two-up game started.
 
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