One cliché I hate about sports in general, and footy in particular, is the moniker of the ‘honourable loss’.
It’s not so bad when used in isolated spots, but there’s been a blanket use for it excusing rebuilding teams that get crushed by ten goals, but people still find the need to say something possible about a team out of its depth.
My friends know me as someone who’s been critical of North for a while, and I don’t apologise for that. I hated their list management, their draft selections, and until very recently didn’t think they were any closer to getting out of their seemingly permanent home at the foot of the ladder.
However, as harsh as I can sometimes be, I am also fair. I don’t take pleasure in seeing a team rooted to mediocrity (well, except maybe the Crows). After all I am a Port supporter, I lived through an era where we were so bad both on and off the field that our very existence was at stake. Something North fans share, given the AFL was trying so hard to convince them to move to either the Gold Coast or Tasmania, at points.
And on that note, I have to give North their due credit, here. They look so much better. They look like a football team again. I don’t mean that sarcastically, either. In recent weeks, they look like they’ve taken the big step in their development that some people (myself included) were wondering would ever come.
I don’t know exactly what’s happened to make them look this impressive. Maybe the training in the game plan has finally come through, maybe their brigade is more consistent. Maybe playing in the old style blue and white jumper with the Roo emblazoned on the front (top three guernsey in the AFL btw, seriously) gives them some extra bounce in their step.
Capitulation to Collingwood in the second half last week aside, the difference between North in the first ten games of the season to the side of the last three weeks is staggering. Cam Zurhaar finally looks invested again at the Roos and has emerged as a reliable tertiary target to Nick Larkey, who’s again in the top ten of the Coleman Medal race (as of writing). Zac Fisher has been a bit hit or miss at times, but has been huge in recent weeks for the team. Players like Tristan Xerri, Charlie Comben, and Luke Davies-Uniacke have also found a different level.
And the youth brigade that North have spent time cultivating is starting to pay dividends. Harry Sheezel is an excellent distributor. George Wardlaw is relentless, Jackson Archer has found his feet in the AFL, and Colby McKercher looks like someone worth the price of admission alone to see a North game in the next five years if they can stop the Tassie Devils prying him away.
And that’s not even mentioning kids that have the talent to make big steps in the future. I mean the likes of Zane Duursma, Kallan Dawson, Riley Hardeman and Brayden George, once he recovers from his injury.
No longer are North a team that sides can take for granted that they can pummel for four quarters. They’re a team that are willing to come at you hard and are finding the legs to do it more consistently, too. And yes, they really did fuel their detractors a bit when Collingwood came back, but we should also preface that by remembering how shocking it was they managed to get that far up in the first place.
‘Rooball’ has found a new meaning in the last few weeks. Direct, free-flowing football that even tough teams can find hard to defend against at times. North aren’t going to be consistent enough to win many games for the rest of the season; that’s the hard reality of where they’re at after all, but they’re now in a spot where for the rest of the season they must be given due respect by teams or else they risk being given a black eye.
But that’s also the impressive thing. In mere weeks they’ve gone from a team we genuinely worried would go 0-23, to a team that’s been able to scare good teams. When their young core gets more consistent and their performances begin to have a better level of consistency, who knows where their game plan might take them?
There’s a saying from the great wartime leader, Winston Churchill: “This is not the end, or the beginning of the end. But perhaps, it is the end of the beginning.”
This is where North are now.
They still need to find key position players for the future, and they still have to keep trying to land a big fish with their cap space, but perhaps they’ve finally readied their young group of budding stars beginning to flower, coinciding with the game plan to get them from the basement to true Shinboner relevance yet again.
Which allows me to boomerang back to the beginning of this article. I hate using honourable losses to describe the sport, but these Roos are an exception. The honourable losses they’re beginning to show us might also end up being the beginning of a new era for the blue and white.
Maybe just keep playing that amazing jumper with the Roo on the top too. Just in case.
