DAVID Noble is entering his second season as North Melbourne coach, but in some respects, this is his first pre-season that he has been able to shape.
He was only appointed as Rhyce Shaw’s replacement on November 19 last year, by which time pre-season training had been mapped out and was already underway. He inherited the existing medical and high-performance staff.
Which means that he has taken to this summer with gusto. He was able to bring Kevin White to the club from Collingwood in August and together they overhauled the staff and reshaped the training program.
Last year was difficult.
"You come in and it’s hard to make change in such a short period of time. We made some tweaks to how we wanted to play and that folded back into how we needed to train," Noble said on Wednesday.
"But this is the first year to really get hold of it, pull it apart and put things in place to service our game plan.
"He (White) brings great ideas and terrific experience that comes in and that rejuvenates players a bit. Different stimuli and some slightly different ways we do around the running component so that’s great.
"He has set an early platform for our guys to work through changes to our program. They knew what was expected when they came back to training so they’re in terrific condition."
The excitement at North Melbourne centres around No.1 draft selection Jason Horne-Francis. He has been at the club for barely a week and didn't train on Wednesday, with the draftees spending a night out of town with development coaches. As it is, they are only on a 60 per cent training load before the Christmas break.
"He has fitted in really well. I haven’t seen anything I haven't liked," Noble said.
"He's smooth, is a great kick and everything we saw, we’re seeing on the track."
The Kangas are aware of the hype and Horne-Francis appears to be embracing it.
"He wanted to go No.1 so that comes with that. He has a confidence about him, not an arrogance, but he knows his capabilities and as we go through the pre-season, it will put a lot of pressure on our coaches and our players to get better."
Noble was delighted with the acquisition of former Adelaide and Gold Coast midfielder Hugh Greenwood because of the various options it opens up through his midfield.
"I just love internal competition and it forces the players to get better, train better, be sharper and put their best foot forward.
"It gives us versatility. It might allow us to roll some players through the wing. I think Hugh pays a huge leadership role, so he might play wing and half-forward. We have a versatility in there and that's something we’re really conscious of going forward."
Former Melbourne defender Marty Hore is training with the club, but a decision won't be made about whether to claim him during the Pre-Season Supplementary Signing Period until closer to the start of the season.
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And apart from champion midfielder Ben Cunnington, who Noble said is recovering well as he deals with another bout of cancer, and defender Aiden Bonar, who suffered a wrist injury last week, the Kangaroos are relatively healthy.
Bonar is expected to be available for the season-opener against Hawthorn at the MCG, which will be just the club's fifth game there in the last five seasons.
"To go to the MCG where finals are played in round one, our members have been so loyal so for them to come back and watch us is unreal," he said.
And Noble is already determined that the club make amends for the humiliating Good Friday loss to the Western Bulldogs by 128 points, perhaps the lowest point last season. The Kangas and Dogs will meet again on Good Friday next season.
"We didn't play very well that day so you work through the ramifications of 'do you, or don’t you’' but the club has worked really hard and we have a really clear understanding of what that day stands for with young kids who aren’t travelling well, so we want to put our best foot forward."