IT WAS a season of two halves for North Melbourne.
Entering the year with only one player – Louis Cunningham – remaining from their 2019 squad, the Kangaroos were abjectly uncompetitive in the opening rounds.
After round five, they were 0-5 with losses of 79, 65, 107, 107 and 108 points, had a percentage of 29.5 and it seemed little hope of being anything but a whipping boy this season.
The footy gods were also against them, especially in round four against Southport when they had to play the last quarter and a half with just 16 on the field due to a glut of injuries.
But then came a turnaround that stunned everybody except the Kangaroos and their coach Leigh Adams.
North ventured up the road to face next-door neighbour Essendon at Windy Hill in round six and pulled off a remarkable 15-point victory despite a five-goal haul from in-form Bomber Patrick Ambrose.
Former Brisbane Lion Josh Clayton and ex-Hawthorn player Mat Walker booted three goals each, but the catalyst came from big man Tristan Xerri, who played one of the great VFL games with 36 disposals including a record 30 contested, nine marks, six tackles and 27 hitouts.
It gave the Kangaroos belief and they went on to win four of their last five games and run undefeated Footscray to 11 points in the other – their percentage in that period was 108.2 as they increased their scoring from 39 to 76 per game and reduced their points conceded from 132 to 71.
Adams knew his team was going to improve as the season went on, but even he didn't anticipate the extent of the revival.
"We had those big losses at the start of the year but we always managed to find a couple of positives here and there and things were tracking in the right direction," he said.
"That Essendon game, although we didn't have a lot of AFL-listed players with us that day, we started to get the majority of our senior VFL-listed players playing so we thought it was an opportunity for us – we thought we were building in the right direction, coupled with the fact we had our most senior VFL team on the field.
"It was good to get a win after a difficult five or six weeks, but it wasn't completely out of the blue as much as outside people would have thought.
"We definitely knew we were going to improve in the back half of the year and get more of our AFL boys back, and we knew that with more of our VFL boys playing together as well that they were going to gel and understand the game plan more.
"(I was) maybe a little bit surprised at the extent that we did win games of footy, but we were really bullish that our second half of the year was going to be better and I think we could have made a late run for finals if we had had an uninterrupted COVID year.
"It wasn't to be but it was a really positive finish to the season."
Adams said it was a conscious decision to refresh the list, but the cancelled 2020 season also played a role in Cunningham being the only survivor from 2019.
He praised his squad for how it handled the constant interruptions to the season after they recovered from a late start to pre-season training.
"We needed to get a new-look team in here, we hadn't been performing in years gone by as well as we would have liked to," he said.
"That 2020 season with no footy, it was going to be hard to keep the majority of the list, but I think it was more the challenge of guys not getting to train together until late January or early February and then we only had six to eight weeks of trying to get it all together.
"It wasn't so much we didn't have too many of our blokes returning, it was more we just didn't get started quickly enough.
"Our boys dealt with (the interruptions) really well, which has made it quite easy – our VFL-listed guys had a fantastic attitude all year and when they've got the opportunities to train together they've made the most of them, and when we've been locked down and games shifted they've adapted to get themselves fit and ready to go.
"My job has been quite easy because of the attitude of our boys to keep soldiering on and get better week-in week-out – it’s obviously disappointing we've had all these different things, but the list we've put together brings you a real understanding that when they're not in a full-time AFL environment – all I'm worried about is footy, but some of the boys aren't working or have to work and then not work, which puts footy into a smaller perspective."
The list of leaders who helped make Adams' job easy was headed by first-year captain Flynn Appleby, while fellow AFL delistees Harry Jones and Mat Walker were also important.
"The leadership group really bought in – Flynn Appleby was coming off the disappointment of being delisted by Collingwood, Louis Cunningham has been here for a long period of time and we were lucky enough to get Kade Answerth across from Sandringham. The leadership those guys provided allowed our young guys to flourish," Adams said.
"We've got a few former AFL players who want to get back on AFL lists – Harry Jones had a big year at half-back and on the wing and unfortunately Matty Walker dislocated a shoulder late in the year, but he was having a great year as well.
"While our No.1 goal is to get AFL players playing AFL footy and develop them as quick as we can, we want to give VFL guys who want to get back on AFL lists that opportunity – and they are two blokes who had great years.
"We're really rapt we had five of our six first-year players debut, which is obviously the No.1 aim of our VFL program, so they were really proud moments as well."
Adams said the season's biggest highlight was the win over Werribee at Arden St in round 11 that showed true grit.
"To be able to turn (the season) around is a proud moment, and I was really proud of them when we played Werribee here," he said.
"They are obviously a really strong, mature standalone club over the past few years with a lot of games played on average and ex-AFL players. I think we only had five or six AFL-listed guys that day and we ended up one or two short on the bench.
"We got a pretty strong lead early in the game … Werribee just kept coming at us and the ability for our boys to keep standing up and absorb that pressure and still hang on was a really mature effort.
"Coburg was another (tight game) and our boys stood up in the moments that counted and hung on and won those games.
"It was a pretty proud moment that they were able to stick to the game plan as opposed to the start of the year when we were getting blown out a fair bit."
4-6 win-loss, 15th
What went right: The second half of the season was a massive highlight for the Roos as they turned what could have been a disastrous season into a terrific platform to build for the future. Winning back-to-back games by three and five points shows they have composure when the pressure goes on.
What went wrong: The start of the season was a horror show with five losses by more than 10 goals, three of them by triple figures, including one where they finished with 16 on the ground. The late season injury to Mat Walker hopefully won’t be a setback to his hopes of being redrafted.
Best and fairest prediction: It is a wide open race. Harry Jones is probably the favourite, but any of Tristan Xerri, Will Phillips, Flynn Appleby, Josh Clayton, Charlie Lazzaro, Tom Campbell, Patrick Walker and Kade Answerth could also win.
Best young players: Jacob Heron and Connor Byrne played every game and impressed, mid-season picks Jack Edwards and Charlie Ham got a taste late and looked good, while Jones and Mat Walker are both still very young and deserve another chance. Lazzaro, Eddie Ford and Jack Watkins also played good football.
Coach status: Leigh Adams is likely to return for a third season and is keen to continue the work he started, but the VFL season review is still to be completed. “I’m pretty sure I’ll go around again … hopefully we’ll keep as many boys around as possible and touchwood get a better run with injury and finish better than this year,” he said.
Twitter: @BRhodesVFL
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