Are North still in a rebuild phase?

[ferball]

Remember when Hawthorn pulled a racism scandal out of their arses to **** up our new coach?

 

[Sprint Artisan]

Remember when Hawthorn pulled a racism scandal out of their arses to **** up our new coach?

No...

 

[THE_GUN]

2026 is a very important year for the Roo's and i think no more excuses and a 10 win season at the very worst is now expected. Clarko will be in danger of getting the chop and some players really need to show why they were rated so highly and start dominating ( LDU especially )

Injured players are also would be hoping to get going and start showing their talents
Goater , Wardlaw , George

Players that will be playing for their careers should be
CCj - Fisher - Daniel - Darling - Logue , McDonald - Corr all experienced players that now need to show why they should be retained

 

[AFL By The Numbers]

I dont think they have ever properly tried to rebuild. At lease West Coast are willing to trade out some of their older players to bring in some good young tallent. It looks like North think they can build a premiership off two or three good young players.

 

[Mr.X]

They are probably past the worst of it, and seem to be heading upwards. The bottoming out is behind them

Still at least two years away from having a shot at finals

 

[Yoda_]

I dont think they have ever properly tried to rebuild. At lease West Coast are willing to trade out some of their older players to bring in some good young tallent. It looks like North think they can build a premiership off two or three good young players.

funny you say this, I've felt similar with Essendon, we've been saved from ourselves with Draper being a free agent for example. The old regime would have overpaid for him and that would have burned some salary on an average player, this way we've got ourselves picks to move into the pointy end of the draft.

 

[209751819]

Only injuries can stop them from making the top 9.

 

[timokane]

yes for another say 2-3 years like richmond

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I dont think they have ever properly tried to rebuild. At lease West Coast are willing to trade out some of their older players to bring in some good young tallent. It looks like North think they can build a premiership off two or three good young players.

Its hard to tell really. The high draft picks are, understandably, pick the apparent best players. Which is fine, if they all develop there is trade value in any surplus.

Unfortunately, Horne-Francis, Thomas and Phillips happened.
Three high rated picks that didn't develop at the club, not much the club could have done except with hindsight on Will Phillips but that 2020 draft was crapshoot and he's hardly the only early pick total flop but probably the biggest flop, which meant the apparent over-stocking on mids (Thomas more a mid-sized forward to be fair) never gained a surplus to trade in to fill the gaping holes. And all three for very little, just the JHF trade the other two for nothing.

A rebuild certainly looked like a plan at some stage. It is very hard to tell whether there was any intent to follow through. I think there was, but from the position the club was in by 2021 (only Fitzroy has been lower in the AFL ear, mayve 1992 Sydney come close) even if things had gone right from that point we probably wouldn't be much further advanced on where we are. And things certainly have not gone right.

 

[THE_GUN]

What are peoples consensus on when North actually started this rebuild , For me its when they selected LDU with pick #4 at the 2017 national draft when they finished 15th with 6 wins just ahead of 16th Carlton 17th Gold Coast and just 1 win from a last place Brisbane on 5 wins. 2017 was also the year that North finished up Harvey,Petrie,Firrito & DelSanto

Whilst they did have a bounce in 2018 (9th) 2019 (12th) then hit rock bottom with 17th , 18th,18th,17th,17th,16th

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

What are peoples consensus on when North actually started this rebuild , For me its when they selected LDU with pick #4 at the 2017 national draft when they finished 15th with 6 wins just ahead of 16th Carlton 17th Gold Coast and just 1 win from a last place Brisbane on 5 wins. 2017 was also the year that North finished up Harvey,Petrie,Firrito & DelSanto

Whilst they did have a bounce in 2018 (9th) 2019 (12th) then hit rock bottom with 17th , 18th,18th,17th,17th,16th

For me, your conclusion is wrong because it’s based on flawed logic (using ladder position and the selection of LDU as the only factors to determine when the rebuild started). It’s not that simple. Here’s a more detailed timeline of events.

- 2016: Boomer and Co. retired after an 8th placed finish, which is North’s most recent finals appearance. Simpkin at pick 12 was their only 1st round selection.

- 2017: Finished 15th, although they would have finished 18th if they had lost their last game of the season v Brisbane. With pick 4 they selected LDU (their only 1st round selection in 2017). A reasonable player at that pick, although to this day, he still hasn’t reached his full potential.

- 2018: Brad Scott’s last full year in charge. A 9th placed finish with one win and a shiteload of percentage off making the 8; a typical Brad Scott year. They traded out a range of picks (including pick 11) to bring in Hall, Pittard, Polec and Tyson; hardly the decisions of a club starting a rebuild. They also selected Tarryn Thomas as an NGA player with pick 8.

- 2019: Scott resigns after winning 2 of the first 10 games. Scott reportedly told the club that the list was no good and they needed to embark on a full rebuild. The board disagreed, Scott resigned and Rhyce Shaw took over.

Performances spiked under Shaw in the back half of the season, so the board were happy to back him in. Shaw also shared their views about the state of the list - ie they had the capability to play finals in 2020.

At the end of 2019, North traded in Josh Walker, Aidan Bonar, and swapped their 1st round pick to Melbourne who used that to select Kozzie Pickett. North received Melbourne’s future 1st in return. No 1st round picks taken by North that year.

-2020: COVID year. Shaw left at the end of the season. North delisted 12 players - this was probably the start of the rebuild, coinciding with the hardest draft year ever due to the pandemic.

North selected Phillips at pick 3 ahead of Logan McDonald and Elijah Hollands. With hindsight, Hollands wouldn’t have worked out at our rabble and McDonald (from WA) wouldn’t have stayed. North selected Tom Powell with pick 13 from the Melbourne pick swap (he’s the only 2020 selection who remains on the list). More poor trades that year too - Stephenson, Bosenavulagi, Lachie Young and Aidan Corr.

-2021: Nobel’s first year at North, they finished last. Selected JHF with pick 1. Another NMFC draft impacted. This time by a player who said one thing in 2021 and then did the opposite during 2022; requesting a trade within 12 months. The other two best players in the draft (Daicos and Darcy) were off limits.

-2022: Noble didn’t see out the year. Clarkson announced as coach in August (about 6 weeks before the findings of Hawthorn’s leaked Binmada review went public). About two weeks after the Binmada review went public, JHF requested a trade. North subsequently selected Sheezel and Wardlaw in the 1st round of the draft (pick 3 and 4).

-2023: Clarkson missed some of the pre-season as well as 10 games due to the fallout of the Binmada review. North selected McKercher, Duursma, Goad, Dawson, and Hardeman in the 1st round and infamously gave up the chance of having pick 1 by beating Gold Coast in the final round of the season.

-2024: Clarkson’s first full season in charge with 3 wins. Tarryn Thomas was sacked during the pre-season after running out of chances for repeated poor behaviour. North selected O’Sullivan at pick 2 and shocked everyone by trading out a future first to secure Matt Whitlock (with 27) and Richmond’s future 2nd round pick.

-2025: Slight improvement with 5 wins and a draw to finish 16th. Their highest position, percentage, and most points since 2019. Will Phillips delisted at the end of the season. A series of pick swaps culminated in them selecting Dovaston (pick 16) and Thredgold (26).

When you analyse North’s list management decisions then it’s obvious the rebuild didn’t start in 2017.

Have they made a bunch of coaching, trade and draft blunders since then? Absolutely! Those blunders combined with a lot of bad luck has prolonged the rebuild process. In my view:

• The decision to rebuild was made after the 2020 season.

• The actual list rebuild didn’t start properly until after the 2022 season firstly due to COVID, and then due to JHF jumping ship.

• The rebuild of the footy department and game plan was also supposed to start at the end of 2022, but it was severely interrupted until the end of the 2023 season due to the Clarkson situation.

• The sacking of Tarryn Thomas in February 2024 was symbolic of the Clarkson era finally being able to commence without any of the baggage/dysfunction that had been associated with the club since the decision to delist Harvey, Petrie, Firrito, and Dal Santo back in 2016.

 

[Dazb86]

They have a terrible defence. Worse than ours which is hard to do.

 

[Leeda]

wildcard baby!

If you have to ask the question....scientists say...get a grip

 

[TheUnicorn]

They have a terrible defence. Worse than ours which is hard to do.

This

North will struggle until they get that defence sorted. Hard to see them taking a big step forward otherwise.

 

[CURVE]

I dont think they have ever properly tried to rebuild. At lease West Coast are willing to trade out some of their older players to bring in some good young tallent. It looks like North think they can build a premiership off two or three good young players.

Since the end of the 2020 season, we have shoved 65 players out the door totaling over 5000 games experience, leaving only 7 players that debuted before 2020 remaining at the club, so to say we haven't properly tried to rebuild is a little incorrect, the problem is, we've had a couple of false starts since the end of 2016 which may confuse the non-North fans and only angers us North fans.

I do feel that we are past the worst of it, (2022, 2023 and early 2024) when watching North play was so depressing that I would look forward to going for a walk during wet and cold winter's day in Canberra just for a pick-me-up. I am hoping that with a favourable start to the season we can build the teams confidence with some early wins and perhaps challenge for a top 10 finish.

 

[Chip Scab1]

Remember when people were saying their rebuild was two years ahead of Hawthorn's..?

Are suggesting you win a flag before us? Hahahahahh

 

[Count_Zero]

They have a terrible defence. Worse than ours which is hard to do.

This

North will struggle until they get that defence sorted. Hard to see them taking a big step forward otherwise.

Yep, couldn't agree more with both these comments.

Are they going to play the Whitlock fella as a Defender? Might be the right move as they have a decent forward line with Larkey and Zurhaar.

 

[EBERT THE KING]

2026 is a very important year for the Roo's and i think no more excuses and a 10 win season at the very worst is now expected. Clarko will be in danger of getting the chop and some players really need to show why they were rated so highly and start dominating ( LDU especially )

Injured players are also would be hoping to get going and start showing their talents
Goater , Wardlaw , George

Players that will be playing for their careers should be
CCj - Fisher - Daniel - Darling - Logue , McDonald - Corr all experienced players that now need to show why they should be retained

Clarko will always be at risk as long as Adam Simpson is not a current head coach within the AFL system.

Clear as day he will be the next North coach unless offered a grandfather deal by another club (Carlton, Essendon, Adelaide)

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

Yep, couldn't agree more with both these comments.

Are they going to play the Whitlock fella as a Defender? Might be the right move as they have a decent forward line with Larkey and Zurhaar.

Not sure; Whitlock’s a genuine swingman. During the back end of last year he was mainly playing forward in the VFL, although Trembath made his AFL debut in R22 and proceeded to kick 9 goals from his first 3 games. Therefore, his development and whether he becomes a permanent fixture in our forward line might determine where we play Whitlock (ditto with Duursma).

Wil Dawson and Comben can play at both ends as well; however, Dawson was drafted more as a back, while Comben was a forward. Now we’ve got Thredgold as well. He’s a little shorter than the others (194cm), but he has a huge leap and has impressed so far. All of those young key selections we’ve made are still a few pre-seasons away from having a decent impact IMO.

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

I dont think they have ever properly tried to rebuild. At lease West Coast are willing to trade out some of their older players to bring in some good young tallent. It looks like North think they can build a premiership off two or three good young players.

I’m sure they would have tried to trade a few players, but let’s be real, they’ve brought in a succession of incredibly average players via trades and the draft for so many years that it wasn’t really an option.

The players that other clubs wanted were the few good ones we had like LDU, Xerri and Zurhaar. Horne-Francis was the only good player that springs to mind who we were able to trade throughout that time and that deal was initiated by him, not North. Got a cracking deal for McKay as well via free agency.