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Felt like Deja vu reading that.Garry Lyon: The planets are beginning to align for Alastair Clarkson and North Melbourne
Despair has been replaced by optimism at Arden St – and four young stars hold the key to the future. But do they have the one thing that defined Hawthorn under Alastair Clarkson? We’re about to find out, writes Garry Lyon.
Garry Lyon
7 min read
April 2, 2026 - 12:27PM
It’s an exciting time to be a North Melbourne supporter.
We haven’t been able to say that for a while and there will be some not yet ready to embrace a world where the Kangaroos are no longer the easy beats of the competition.
But the planets are beginning to align and there is optimism out of Arden St where once there was despair.
And I see it in their coach Alastair Clarkson.
At his peak as the coach of the all conquering Hawthorn, he was the apex predator of the AFL jungle.
Combative and competitive to the point that where his judgment could occasionally land him in trouble, his ability to see the game for what it was and anticipate where it was going allowed him to stay ahead of the chasing pack.
He was a visionary who defined the way the game was to be played.
And Hawthorn played it better than anyone.
But there is a shelf life for every AFL coach and his time at Hawthorn came to an abrupt end.
Even the great ones don’t always get a chance to script their own ending and their were fractures with sections of the club that he lauded over for most of his tenure.
A return to North Melbourne was heralded. A returning favourite son, destined to make the Kangaroos the feared opponent they once were under Denis Pagan.
Circumstances intervened, the Hawthorn racism allegations becoming a burden that threatened his own health, least of all his ability to coach a struggling football club.
A win against the under siege Carlton will have the Roos at three wins and a loss from four games.
To put that into perspective, they won three in total in 2020, four in 21, two in 22, three in 23 and 24 and five last year.
Three wins from four games played would be rare air for this team, and provide a level of impetus that the long suffering supporter base have so desperately craved.
And confidence, which should be never underestimated.
When you are beaten as regularly as they have been in the past six years, your whole sense of worth is questioned.
It is a battle to even feel relevant in the competition, the marquee timeslots are as elusive as are victories and you start to notice the way your club is disregarded.
If he coached his way to the top of the mountain at Hawthorn, the view from his tenure at North has been from base camp.
But there are signs that the Roos are on the move and it can best be personified in the demeanour of their coach.
Clarko is getting his mojo back and the dark clouds that have shadowed him for the last three years are starting to lift ever so slightly.
Whether the sunlight peaks its head in may well be decided on Friday at Marvel Stadium.
A win against the under siege Carlton will have the Roos at three wins and a loss from four games.
To put that into perspective, they won three in total in 2020, four in 21, two in 22, three in 23 and 24 and five last year.
Three wins from four games played would be rare air for this team, and provide a level of impetus that the long suffering supporter base have so desperately craved.
And confidence, which should be never underestimated.
When you are beaten as regularly as they have been in the past six years, your whole sense of worth is questioned.
It is a battle to even feel relevant in the competition, the marquee timeslots are as elusive as are victories and you start to notice the way your club is disregarded.
A win against the under siege Carlton will have the Roos at three wins and a loss from four games.
To put that into perspective, they won three in total in 2020, four in 21, two in 22, three in 23 and 24 and five last year.
Three wins from four games played would be rare air for this team, and provide a level of impetus that the long suffering supporter base have so desperately craved.
And confidence, which should be never underestimated.
When you are beaten as regularly as they have been in the past six years, your whole sense of worth is questioned.
It is a battle to even feel relevant in the competition, the marquee timeslots are as elusive as are victories and you start to notice the way your club is disregarded.
The promotional clips played at the season launch promoting the upcoming year are feared and dreaded for the lack of presence and recognition from the North Melbourne team.
The highlight reel is conspicuously light on.
I’m not suggesting the Roos have regained the sort of swagger of Carey and Schwass, the ferociousness of Archer, Martyn, Pickett and Pike or the class of Harvey, Grant, King and Simpson.
But this team is displaying the first signs of having a presence in a competition that demands it and chews you up if you don’t have it.
And I wonder whether Clarkson sees a little of his uber successful Hawks in this group, in particular what he has at his disposal through there middle of the ground.
His premiership success was driven off the back of Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Cyril Rioli, among others.
Can Harry Sheezel at 21 years of age, Colby McKercher 20, Finn O’Sullivan 19 and George Wardlaw 21 drive this side to the finals in the next couple of years?
They have time on their side – Hodge was 24 when they won their first flag in 2008, Lewis 22 and Mitchell 26. Rioli, was just 19
Comparing the two groups may be premature for the Hawthorn group is about as good as it gets when you are talking about a midfield dynamic.
They were all magnificently skilled footballers – Mitchell on both sides of his body with the vision to see things that most could not, Hodge was a magnificent distributor, Lewis never wasted a possession and along with Hodge read the play as well as anyone could and Rioli was just a freak.
The ‘North Four’ have made brilliant starts to their careers, especially taking into account the lack of team success.
Can they get anywhere near where Clarkson took the Hawks? Picture: Wayne Ludbey
There has been no one to help shield these babies through their formative years. They’ve had to grow up quickly.
Their football ability is beyond question.
Sheezel and McKercher are the most polished.
McKercher with ball in hand will just keep getting better and better.
Sheezel finds it as regularly as any in the competition. The challenge for him is to get maximum bang for his buck.
Wardlaw is the wrecking ball that is as unconditional in the contest as any Kangaroo since the great Glenn Archer.
And Finn O’Sullivan may just emerge as the closest thing to Hodge as we have seen for a while. He is unbelievably tough, single minded in his approach, has a team first attitude that his peers rave about and showed on the weekend that he can match it with, and beat, the best the opposition has to offer.
The game against Essendon gave us an indication what it looks like when these youngsters come together and drive the standards, O’Sullivan was the highest rated player on the ground, McKercher was number two and amazingly off the back of just 55 minutes of football, Wardlaw was number three. Sheezel was no slouch, with 33 touches.
The question I look forward to having answered in time – is whether or not this North quartet have the same intangible quality that the Hawk four demonstrated throughout their careers?
These are qualities that don’t show up on a stats sheet but are as intrinsically critical to any success Hawthorn ever enjoyed.
We are talking about the want to compete to the point that you will not countenance defeat. Whatever that takes. We are talking about a ruthlessness that spares no opposition team or player. We are talking about driving standards within the team that can be affronting and confrontational and places respect from a teammate above likability. We are talking about zero tolerance for those not prepared to put team before individual.
If you wanted to have players play for your life – Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis and Rioli would all be among those first picked. Apart from Cyril – I’ve had a little bit to do with all of them – and they are all, to a man, uncompromising and unapologetic about what they stand for in a football sense. That’s not to say they are always right but they have a strength of their convictions now, that was mirrored when they played.
And they are leaders. Not everyone is comfortable assuming that role because being a strong leader makes you unequivocally accountable. You have to be prepared to stand for something. You can’t coast along and there is nowhere to hide. With that comes the pressure of responsibility. When you are demanding standards of others, there is no taking shortcuts anywhere.
Four-time premiership Hawk Luke Hodge. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images
Early indications are that while they are not there now, there is an emerging edge about this North Melbourne group.
Wardlaw and O’Sullivan are overtly similar to Hodge, Mitchell and Lewis.
There is a ferocious competitive gene that runs through them that is on display every time they play. Sheezel and McKercher are more Rioli and Isaac Smith in the way they play but no less important to the fortunes of the team.
More broadly, there are encouraging signs in the way the Roos are playing the game than there has been for a long time.
Ball movement from the back half and turning those chains into scores is critical in the modern game and North Melbourne have been poor in this area for a number of years.
In 2024 and 25’ they were last in the competition for moving the ball from the defensive 50 to inside 50, last for scores per inside 50 in 24’ and 11th last year.
Encouragingly, last Saturday they scored 30 points from their defensive 50, which is their fourth best result in the last 10 years.
The Luke Parker move has helped – a calm head who won’t be rushed – while McKercher, one of their best ball users, had 70 per cent of his 35 possessions in the defensive half of the ground.
Their clearance game has been in very good order, sitting third for clearance differential and fourth for points from clearance. They have dominated the uncontested game, both marks and possession in their last 2 wins, and while it has worked well against low pressuring sides it will be stress-tested in weeks to come against better opposition.
They don’t want to get caught in the habit of playing the game in the back half, chipping sideways looking for a way forward.
In Larkey, Trembath – who has been so impressive in a short period of time – Curtis and Zurhaar, they have enough dangerous options forward to want to move the ball with some degree of urgency.
Good Friday football has not been good for the Roos. The messaging out of Arden Street this year is that enough is enough, it’s time to make a move. Clarkson is getting back to his defiant best. “You’ll have to carry me out in a casket” was a message to the fans that he is deeply committed and to his critics, who are lining him up, that they underestimate him at their peril.
Have Sheezel and co. got the ruthless streak in them that defined Clarkson’s teams of the past?
We’re about to find out.
Garry Lyon: The planets are beginning to align for Alastair Clarkson and North Melbourne
Despair has been replaced by optimism at Arden St – and four young stars hold the key to the future. But do they have the one thing that defined Hawthorn under Alastair Clarkson? We’re about to find out, writes Garry Lyon.
Garry Lyon
7 min read
April 2, 2026 - 12:27PM
It’s an exciting time to be a North Melbourne supporter.
We haven’t been able to say that for a while and there will be some not yet ready to embrace a world where the Kangaroos are no longer the easy beats of the competition.
But the planets are beginning to align and there is optimism out of Arden St where once there was despair.
And I see it in their coach Alastair Clarkson.
At his peak as the coach of the all conquering Hawthorn, he was the apex predator of the AFL jungle.
Combative and competitive to the point that where his judgment could occasionally land him in trouble, his ability to see the game for what it was and anticipate where it was going allowed him to stay ahead of the chasing pack.
He was a visionary who defined the way the game was to be played.
And Hawthorn played it better than anyone.
But there is a shelf life for every AFL coach and his time at Hawthorn came to an abrupt end.
Even the great ones don’t always get a chance to script their own ending and their were fractures with sections of the club that he lauded over for most of his tenure.
A return to North Melbourne was heralded. A returning favourite son, destined to make the Kangaroos the feared opponent they once were under Denis Pagan.
Circumstances intervened, the Hawthorn racism allegations becoming a burden that threatened his own health, least of all his ability to coach a struggling football club.
A win against the under siege Carlton will have the Roos at three wins and a loss from four games.
To put that into perspective, they won three in total in 2020, four in 21, two in 22, three in 23 and 24 and five last year.
Three wins from four games played would be rare air for this team, and provide a level of impetus that the long suffering supporter base have so desperately craved.
And confidence, which should be never underestimated.
When you are beaten as regularly as they have been in the past six years, your whole sense of worth is questioned.
It is a battle to even feel relevant in the competition, the marquee timeslots are as elusive as are victories and you start to notice the way your club is disregarded.
If he coached his way to the top of the mountain at Hawthorn, the view from his tenure at North has been from base camp.
But there are signs that the Roos are on the move and it can best be personified in the demeanour of their coach.
Clarko is getting his mojo back and the dark clouds that have shadowed him for the last three years are starting to lift ever so slightly.
Whether the sunlight peaks its head in may well be decided on Friday at Marvel Stadium.
A win against the under siege Carlton will have the Roos at three wins and a loss from four games.
To put that into perspective, they won three in total in 2020, four in 21, two in 22, three in 23 and 24 and five last year.
Three wins from four games played would be rare air for this team, and provide a level of impetus that the long suffering supporter base have so desperately craved.
And confidence, which should be never underestimated.
When you are beaten as regularly as they have been in the past six years, your whole sense of worth is questioned.
It is a battle to even feel relevant in the competition, the marquee timeslots are as elusive as are victories and you start to notice the way your club is disregarded.
A win against the under siege Carlton will have the Roos at three wins and a loss from four games.
To put that into perspective, they won three in total in 2020, four in 21, two in 22, three in 23 and 24 and five last year.
Three wins from four games played would be rare air for this team, and provide a level of impetus that the long suffering supporter base have so desperately craved.
And confidence, which should be never underestimated.
When you are beaten as regularly as they have been in the past six years, your whole sense of worth is questioned.
It is a battle to even feel relevant in the competition, the marquee timeslots are as elusive as are victories and you start to notice the way your club is disregarded.
The promotional clips played at the season launch promoting the upcoming year are feared and dreaded for the lack of presence and recognition from the North Melbourne team.
The highlight reel is conspicuously light on.
I’m not suggesting the Roos have regained the sort of swagger of Carey and Schwass, the ferociousness of Archer, Martyn, Pickett and Pike or the class of Harvey, Grant, King and Simpson.
But this team is displaying the first signs of having a presence in a competition that demands it and chews you up if you don’t have it.
And I wonder whether Clarkson sees a little of his uber successful Hawks in this group, in particular what he has at his disposal through there middle of the ground.
His premiership success was driven off the back of Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Cyril Rioli, among others.
Can Harry Sheezel at 21 years of age, Colby McKercher 20, Finn O’Sullivan 19 and George Wardlaw 21 drive this side to the finals in the next couple of years?
They have time on their side – Hodge was 24 when they won their first flag in 2008, Lewis 22 and Mitchell 26. Rioli, was just 19
Comparing the two groups may be premature for the Hawthorn group is about as good as it gets when you are talking about a midfield dynamic.
They were all magnificently skilled footballers – Mitchell on both sides of his body with the vision to see things that most could not, Hodge was a magnificent distributor, Lewis never wasted a possession and along with Hodge read the play as well as anyone could and Rioli was just a freak.
The ‘North Four’ have made brilliant starts to their careers, especially taking into account the lack of team success.
Can they get anywhere near where Clarkson took the Hawks? Picture: Wayne Ludbey
There has been no one to help shield these babies through their formative years. They’ve had to grow up quickly.
Their football ability is beyond question.
Sheezel and McKercher are the most polished.
McKercher with ball in hand will just keep getting better and better.
Sheezel finds it as regularly as any in the competition. The challenge for him is to get maximum bang for his buck.
Wardlaw is the wrecking ball that is as unconditional in the contest as any Kangaroo since the great Glenn Archer.
And Finn O’Sullivan may just emerge as the closest thing to Hodge as we have seen for a while. He is unbelievably tough, single minded in his approach, has a team first attitude that his peers rave about and showed on the weekend that he can match it with, and beat, the best the opposition has to offer.
The game against Essendon gave us an indication what it looks like when these youngsters come together and drive the standards, O’Sullivan was the highest rated player on the ground, McKercher was number two and amazingly off the back of just 55 minutes of football, Wardlaw was number three. Sheezel was no slouch, with 33 touches.
The question I look forward to having answered in time – is whether or not this North quartet have the same intangible quality that the Hawk four demonstrated throughout their careers?
These are qualities that don’t show up on a stats sheet but are as intrinsically critical to any success Hawthorn ever enjoyed.
We are talking about the want to compete to the point that you will not countenance defeat. Whatever that takes. We are talking about a ruthlessness that spares no opposition team or player. We are talking about driving standards within the team that can be affronting and confrontational and places respect from a teammate above likability. We are talking about zero tolerance for those not prepared to put team before individual.
If you wanted to have players play for your life – Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis and Rioli would all be among those first picked. Apart from Cyril – I’ve had a little bit to do with all of them – and they are all, to a man, uncompromising and unapologetic about what they stand for in a football sense. That’s not to say they are always right but they have a strength of their convictions now, that was mirrored when they played.
And they are leaders. Not everyone is comfortable assuming that role because being a strong leader makes you unequivocally accountable. You have to be prepared to stand for something. You can’t coast along and there is nowhere to hide. With that comes the pressure of responsibility. When you are demanding standards of others, there is no taking shortcuts anywhere.
Four-time premiership Hawk Luke Hodge. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images
Early indications are that while they are not there now, there is an emerging edge about this North Melbourne group.
Wardlaw and O’Sullivan are overtly similar to Hodge, Mitchell and Lewis.
There is a ferocious competitive gene that runs through them that is on display every time they play. Sheezel and McKercher are more Rioli and Isaac Smith in the way they play but no less important to the fortunes of the team.
More broadly, there are encouraging signs in the way the Roos are playing the game than there has been for a long time.
Ball movement from the back half and turning those chains into scores is critical in the modern game and North Melbourne have been poor in this area for a number of years.
In 2024 and 25’ they were last in the competition for moving the ball from the defensive 50 to inside 50, last for scores per inside 50 in 24’ and 11th last year.
Encouragingly, last Saturday they scored 30 points from their defensive 50, which is their fourth best result in the last 10 years.
The Luke Parker move has helped – a calm head who won’t be rushed – while McKercher, one of their best ball users, had 70 per cent of his 35 possessions in the defensive half of the ground.
Their clearance game has been in very good order, sitting third for clearance differential and fourth for points from clearance. They have dominated the uncontested game, both marks and possession in their last 2 wins, and while it has worked well against low pressuring sides it will be stress-tested in weeks to come against better opposition.
They don’t want to get caught in the habit of playing the game in the back half, chipping sideways looking for a way forward.
In Larkey, Trembath – who has been so impressive in a short period of time – Curtis and Zurhaar, they have enough dangerous options forward to want to move the ball with some degree of urgency.
Good Friday football has not been good for the Roos. The messaging out of Arden Street this year is that enough is enough, it’s time to make a move. Clarkson is getting back to his defiant best. “You’ll have to carry me out in a casket” was a message to the fans that he is deeply committed and to his critics, who are lining him up, that they underestimate him at their peril.
Have Sheezel and co. got the ruthless streak in them that defined Clarkson’s teams of the past?
We’re about to find out.
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Yep, would have more weight if it came out after us smashing the blues by 60. If it was anyone else writing that, I would have taken it for a 100% piss take setting us up for a huge smack down.
every time there's an article written that talks us up, we shit the bed. Every. time.Garry Lyon: The planets are beginning to align for Alastair Clarkson and North Melbourne
Despair has been replaced by optimism at Arden St – and four young stars hold the key to the future. But do they have the one thing that defined Hawthorn under Alastair Clarkson? We’re about to find out, writes Garry Lyon.
Garry Lyon
7 min read
April 2, 2026 - 12:27PM
It’s an exciting time to be a North Melbourne supporter.
We haven’t been able to say that for a while and there will be some not yet ready to embrace a world where the Kangaroos are no longer the easy beats of the competition.
But the planets are beginning to align and there is optimism out of Arden St where once there was despair.
And I see it in their coach Alastair Clarkson.
At his peak as the coach of the all conquering Hawthorn, he was the apex predator of the AFL jungle.
Combative and competitive to the point that where his judgment could occasionally land him in trouble, his ability to see the game for what it was and anticipate where it was going allowed him to stay ahead of the chasing pack.
He was a visionary who defined the way the game was to be played.
And Hawthorn played it better than anyone.
But there is a shelf life for every AFL coach and his time at Hawthorn came to an abrupt end.
Even the great ones don’t always get a chance to script their own ending and their were fractures with sections of the club that he lauded over for most of his tenure.
A return to North Melbourne was heralded. A returning favourite son, destined to make the Kangaroos the feared opponent they once were under Denis Pagan.
Circumstances intervened, the Hawthorn racism allegations becoming a burden that threatened his own health, least of all his ability to coach a struggling football club.
A win against the under siege Carlton will have the Roos at three wins and a loss from four games.
To put that into perspective, they won three in total in 2020, four in 21, two in 22, three in 23 and 24 and five last year.
Three wins from four games played would be rare air for this team, and provide a level of impetus that the long suffering supporter base have so desperately craved.
And confidence, which should be never underestimated.
When you are beaten as regularly as they have been in the past six years, your whole sense of worth is questioned.
It is a battle to even feel relevant in the competition, the marquee timeslots are as elusive as are victories and you start to notice the way your club is disregarded.
If he coached his way to the top of the mountain at Hawthorn, the view from his tenure at North has been from base camp.
But there are signs that the Roos are on the move and it can best be personified in the demeanour of their coach.
Clarko is getting his mojo back and the dark clouds that have shadowed him for the last three years are starting to lift ever so slightly.
Whether the sunlight peaks its head in may well be decided on Friday at Marvel Stadium.
A win against the under siege Carlton will have the Roos at three wins and a loss from four games.
To put that into perspective, they won three in total in 2020, four in 21, two in 22, three in 23 and 24 and five last year.
Three wins from four games played would be rare air for this team, and provide a level of impetus that the long suffering supporter base have so desperately craved.
And confidence, which should be never underestimated.
When you are beaten as regularly as they have been in the past six years, your whole sense of worth is questioned.
It is a battle to even feel relevant in the competition, the marquee timeslots are as elusive as are victories and you start to notice the way your club is disregarded.
A win against the under siege Carlton will have the Roos at three wins and a loss from four games.
To put that into perspective, they won three in total in 2020, four in 21, two in 22, three in 23 and 24 and five last year.
Three wins from four games played would be rare air for this team, and provide a level of impetus that the long suffering supporter base have so desperately craved.
And confidence, which should be never underestimated.
When you are beaten as regularly as they have been in the past six years, your whole sense of worth is questioned.
It is a battle to even feel relevant in the competition, the marquee timeslots are as elusive as are victories and you start to notice the way your club is disregarded.
The promotional clips played at the season launch promoting the upcoming year are feared and dreaded for the lack of presence and recognition from the North Melbourne team.
The highlight reel is conspicuously light on.
I’m not suggesting the Roos have regained the sort of swagger of Carey and Schwass, the ferociousness of Archer, Martyn, Pickett and Pike or the class of Harvey, Grant, King and Simpson.
But this team is displaying the first signs of having a presence in a competition that demands it and chews you up if you don’t have it.
And I wonder whether Clarkson sees a little of his uber successful Hawks in this group, in particular what he has at his disposal through there middle of the ground.
His premiership success was driven off the back of Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Cyril Rioli, among others.
Can Harry Sheezel at 21 years of age, Colby McKercher 20, Finn O’Sullivan 19 and George Wardlaw 21 drive this side to the finals in the next couple of years?
They have time on their side – Hodge was 24 when they won their first flag in 2008, Lewis 22 and Mitchell 26. Rioli, was just 19
Comparing the two groups may be premature for the Hawthorn group is about as good as it gets when you are talking about a midfield dynamic.
They were all magnificently skilled footballers – Mitchell on both sides of his body with the vision to see things that most could not, Hodge was a magnificent distributor, Lewis never wasted a possession and along with Hodge read the play as well as anyone could and Rioli was just a freak.
The ‘North Four’ have made brilliant starts to their careers, especially taking into account the lack of team success.
Can they get anywhere near where Clarkson took the Hawks? Picture: Wayne Ludbey
There has been no one to help shield these babies through their formative years. They’ve had to grow up quickly.
Their football ability is beyond question.
Sheezel and McKercher are the most polished.
McKercher with ball in hand will just keep getting better and better.
Sheezel finds it as regularly as any in the competition. The challenge for him is to get maximum bang for his buck.
Wardlaw is the wrecking ball that is as unconditional in the contest as any Kangaroo since the great Glenn Archer.
And Finn O’Sullivan may just emerge as the closest thing to Hodge as we have seen for a while. He is unbelievably tough, single minded in his approach, has a team first attitude that his peers rave about and showed on the weekend that he can match it with, and beat, the best the opposition has to offer.
The game against Essendon gave us an indication what it looks like when these youngsters come together and drive the standards, O’Sullivan was the highest rated player on the ground, McKercher was number two and amazingly off the back of just 55 minutes of football, Wardlaw was number three. Sheezel was no slouch, with 33 touches.
The question I look forward to having answered in time – is whether or not this North quartet have the same intangible quality that the Hawk four demonstrated throughout their careers?
These are qualities that don’t show up on a stats sheet but are as intrinsically critical to any success Hawthorn ever enjoyed.
We are talking about the want to compete to the point that you will not countenance defeat. Whatever that takes. We are talking about a ruthlessness that spares no opposition team or player. We are talking about driving standards within the team that can be affronting and confrontational and places respect from a teammate above likability. We are talking about zero tolerance for those not prepared to put team before individual.
If you wanted to have players play for your life – Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis and Rioli would all be among those first picked. Apart from Cyril – I’ve had a little bit to do with all of them – and they are all, to a man, uncompromising and unapologetic about what they stand for in a football sense. That’s not to say they are always right but they have a strength of their convictions now, that was mirrored when they played.
And they are leaders. Not everyone is comfortable assuming that role because being a strong leader makes you unequivocally accountable. You have to be prepared to stand for something. You can’t coast along and there is nowhere to hide. With that comes the pressure of responsibility. When you are demanding standards of others, there is no taking shortcuts anywhere.
Four-time premiership Hawk Luke Hodge. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images
Early indications are that while they are not there now, there is an emerging edge about this North Melbourne group.
Wardlaw and O’Sullivan are overtly similar to Hodge, Mitchell and Lewis.
There is a ferocious competitive gene that runs through them that is on display every time they play. Sheezel and McKercher are more Rioli and Isaac Smith in the way they play but no less important to the fortunes of the team.
More broadly, there are encouraging signs in the way the Roos are playing the game than there has been for a long time.
Ball movement from the back half and turning those chains into scores is critical in the modern game and North Melbourne have been poor in this area for a number of years.
In 2024 and 25’ they were last in the competition for moving the ball from the defensive 50 to inside 50, last for scores per inside 50 in 24’ and 11th last year.
Encouragingly, last Saturday they scored 30 points from their defensive 50, which is their fourth best result in the last 10 years.
The Luke Parker move has helped – a calm head who won’t be rushed – while McKercher, one of their best ball users, had 70 per cent of his 35 possessions in the defensive half of the ground.
Their clearance game has been in very good order, sitting third for clearance differential and fourth for points from clearance. They have dominated the uncontested game, both marks and possession in their last 2 wins, and while it has worked well against low pressuring sides it will be stress-tested in weeks to come against better opposition.
They don’t want to get caught in the habit of playing the game in the back half, chipping sideways looking for a way forward.
In Larkey, Trembath – who has been so impressive in a short period of time – Curtis and Zurhaar, they have enough dangerous options forward to want to move the ball with some degree of urgency.
Good Friday football has not been good for the Roos. The messaging out of Arden Street this year is that enough is enough, it’s time to make a move. Clarkson is getting back to his defiant best. “You’ll have to carry me out in a casket” was a message to the fans that he is deeply committed and to his critics, who are lining him up, that they underestimate him at their peril.
Have Sheezel and co. got the ruthless streak in them that defined Clarkson’s teams of the past?
We’re about to find out.
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watch us shit the bed this week and they'll all be after us..
Yep, on the biggest stage of the year for north.
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At some point we have to get beyond that as well. It may as well be this point now.
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They tend to blow up on us the week we play football
We can't control a slow news day.
Reckon it's that one. At the time I thought all the posters saying we'd run away with it were delusional.
