Sometimes bold decisions are needed to transform the worst list in the AFL. Recruiting guru Gary Buckenara rates every North Melbourne player and likely trade moves.
There was finally some good news for North Melbourne when Alastair Clarkson was appointed coach, but there is no hiding the job he faces transforming a woeful list.
The Kangaroos are 46 games into a rebuild and have zero A-grade talent to show for it.
In fact, I struggle to find many players I would give a B+ to.
To compound that, the Kangaroos have average B-grade talent and too many C-graders not capable of becoming genuine A or B-grade players.
The only players I can see with the potential to become A-grade players are Nick Larkey, Luke Davies-Uniacke and Jy Simpkin.
It’s the worst list in the competition by the length of the MCG.
Watch every match prior to the AFL grand final Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The Kangaroos are paying the price – heavily – for poor list-management decisions over the past five or six years.
Poor David Noble inherited a nightmare in terms of talent. Changing the coach alone is not going to solve the problem, even if the new one is a four-time premiership winner.
Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes for this list, which is a mess. They are years away from building a competitive list, even if they do everything right from now on.
Not for the first time in his coaching career, Clarkson has to rebuild a team, but he needs the best list and recruiting manager the club can get and some hawkeye recruiters to help do it.
In these appointments, they need experience in how to successfully rebuild a club. The appointment of Todd Viney as general manager of football is a good start.
They need to look at clubs like Hawthorn, Geelong, Melbourne, Richmond at the Western Bulldogs – clubs which have rebuilt to a degree and won premierships.
They are the list and recruiting staff they need to be headhunting – go to all of them and see who they might be able to prize out.
Geelong’s long-time list guru Stephen Wells is one of the first people I would be targeting to head up North’s list and recruiting team.
He has stayed loyal to Geelong, but there has been a bit of a changing of the guard there. Could they entice him as someone who could come in and make a difference?
Development coaching is also going to be a critical area to get right and they need to nail what looks like being a fairly strong draft. North Melbourne ignored the draft for too long and that’s why the list is in this position now.
Going down the track of giving away your early picks is just not going to help them because they have brought in too many average recycled players in recent times.
They have just got to bring in young players and take the pain and keep investing in the draft for the next three years.
HOW THE LIST RATINGS WORK
At a club level, player ranking is generally based on gradings of A+, A, B+, B, C+, C and the developing players.
My rankings will focus on A, B, C and for the developing 20-year-old and under players will be rated as rising stars (RS) and those that need more time (NMT).
With the younger players, it is important to consider who is coming through and those who need longer to develop.
The most important areas for clubs to look at is how many A and B ranked players they have as well as the rising stars, who I believe should be A and B-grade players in the future.
A
None
B
Jed Anderson, 28
Aidan Corr, 28
Curtis Taylor, 22
Jack Ziebell, 31
Luke Davies-Uniacke, 23
Ben Cunnington, 30
Luke McDonald, 27
Jy Simpkin, 24
Aiden Bonar, 23
Hugh Greenwood, 30
Nick Larkey, 24
Todd Goldstein, 33
Ben McKay, 24
Tarryn Thomas, 22
Aaron Hall, 31
Cameron Zurhaar, 24
C
Jaidyn Stephenson, 23
Bailey Scott, 21
Jared Polec, 29
Atu Bosenavulagi, 21
Lachie Young, 23
Josh Walker, 29
Callum Coleman-Jones, 22
Kayne Turner, 26
Kyron Hayden, 23
Tristan Xerri, 23
Matthew McGuinness, 21
Callan Dawson, 23
Developing (20 years and under)
Rising stars
Jason Horne-Francis, 18
Paul Curtis, 19
Jackson Archer, 18
Need more time
Jack Mahony, 20
Tom Powell, 20
Miller Bergman, 19
Will Phillips, 20
Charlie Comben, 20
Josh Goater, 19
Jacob Edwards, 19
Patrick Walker, 19
Charlie Lazzaro, 20
Phoenix Spicer, 20
Flynn Perez, 20
Eddie Ford, 19
LIST BREAKDOWN
A Grade: 0
B Grade: 16
C-Grade: 12
Developing – 20 years and under
Rising Stars: 3
Needs more time: 12
LIST NEEDED
The Kangaroos have to go to the draft and capitalize on their early picks. And they have got to nail them. If I were the list manager, I would definitely be looking at Victorian kids that are going to fit the club’s needs. And I think they have an open book on what they can bring in because they need coverage in every area – whether it’s a tall, an inside midfielder or an outside midfielder with skills. Going through the Victorian players with a fine-tooth comb will be really important for them, but not ignoring what is out there from WA or SA. If you rate them as the best player, then you have got to go down that path. But you run that risk of them wanting to go home, especially in a side that is not winning. Another option for the Kangaroos is to look at an experienced player like Brisbane did with Luke Hodge and Grant Birchall. Maybe that could be a template for players like Dyson Heppell, Trent Cotchin, Tom Mitchell or Travis Boak, who would be great to have around the group for a few years. Players at the back-end of their careers, one could be convinced to come and play leadership and development roles as well.
TRADE TARGETS
It’s worth looking at trade targets, but the Kangaroos need to weigh up what it will cost them. They have been down that path before and unless they can bring in an elite talent, they are better off investing in youth. But I would be looking and asking the question of everybody and what their clubs would want in return. A free agent has the choice. Karl Amon would have been an ideal target, but he has nominated Hawthorn as his preferred destination. So do they go after a similar player but at half the cost in Adelaide’s Lachlan Sholl? Sholl’s uncle, Craig, is a mate of Clarko’s. Or do they go after the pricier Brad Hill? All similar players but it would fill the void where Jared Polec just hasn’t worked. Hill could reunite with his former coach Clarkson at Arden St and would be another good fit. Hill has the pace, endurance and good skills which they need.
Fellow premiership Hawk Liam Shiels would also be a great pick-up. At one stage, I thought he would be the Hawks’ next captain. He would be a great role model and a potential development coach for them as well. Lobb is another one they could look at. He is keen on a move back to the east coast and would help in the ruck for life after Todd Goldstein, who might have a year or two left in him. I’m not sure if Callum Coleman-Jones and Tristan Xerri are good enough, but Lobb can play forward and give them a target.
JASON HORNE-FRANCIS
The No.1 draft pick is generally guarded by clubs, but I would entertain a trade for Horne-Francis. There has been noise about him wanting to return home to South Australia and in terms of value, you don’t get a much better bargaining chip than a young player of his caliber. I would consider a trade with a South Australian club, as long as they were prepared to get a good first-round pick for him – and it would have to be a top-10 pick – which would get them another quality young player. Adelaide currently has pick 5 and if North could get their first pick and third pick, they could do very well in this draft. You could add two talented players for one player and they are the sort of bold list decisions you sometimes have to make.
CRYSTAL BALL
I can’t see the Kangaroos being in a position to challenge for finals for at least another five years. It’s a long time, but I say that because they are starting from ground zero. They have to start all over again, and it is going to take that length of time for any club rebuilding via the draft to become successful again. They must go down the path of investing in talented young players with their first, second and third-round picks, and there might be an older free agent interested, but I would not be giving up any of the above picks in trades. Things can turn around quickly if they make good list management and recruiting decisions over the next three to four years – but that’s only if they do everything right.
I reflect on Hawthorn in 2004 when the club drafted Jarryd Roughead, Lance Franklin and Jordan Lewis, and then Grant Birchall and Cyril Rioli over a few years. Combined with what they already had, the list won a premiership in four years. That was exceptional. But I don’t see the quality of players currently on the North list matching what Hawthorn had. So, it would be five to seven years before Kangaroos supporters could even dream of winning a premiership. Of their current list, there is only a handful of players who might still be there as part of any possible future flag tilt – Larkey, Davies-Uniacke and Simpkin – plus the rising stars in father-son Jackson Archer, Paul Curtis and Horne- Francis, whether he is there or not.
If they could get a great deal for Horne-Francis, they are the courageous moves that sometimes have to be made. I can’t see any team being worse than them – or any list that will be worse than them – again next year.
Originally published as AFL 2022: Gary Buckenara rates North Melbourne’s list at the end of the 2022 season
.