I’m a big fan of actions over words. Clubs can come out and state that they have this plan, or that plan, and that’s all well and good – but most clubs have these types of plans, don’t they? And only a few are lucky enough, or good enough, to actually see them through to fruition.
Talk is cheap.
It is why I didn’t mind an action that put North Melbourne’s cards on the table at the recent AFL Draft, and that came in the form of trading away their future first round pick to Richmond.
Huh? That was a terrible decision! Is HB on drugs?
Yes, for elevated blood pressure, actually – thanks for asking. However, I am not on hallucinogens, and the fact that North has drawn their line in the sand and demonstrated they believe it is their time to start moving up the ladder is the type of decisive that should have supporters of club excited. Finally, something to indicate upward momentum. Belief. Boldness. Dare.
The alternative was to settle for another poor year and look forward to the draft as the saviour.
Again.
And how many years has it been since the club started doing that? Locking yourself into a perpetual cycle of failure and hope that a magic bullet will come via the draft can be a road to nowhere. If fortune favours the brave, then North were, if nothing else, brave this off-season.
Of course, I understand why so many would be against the move – many expect North to finish in the bottom three again. Many expect this to turn out to be a disaster, and I’ll admit, this decision is associated with enormous risk – there have been plenty of brilliant top five picks in the past, and no doubt, there will be plenty in the next ten years. The Kangaroos may be opening themselves up to ridicule should they fall over in 2025, but what is life, and what is footy, without a few risks?
What if this is the season that the young cohort in blue and white take the next step and elevate the club? What if this gamble actually works?
I heard many supporters lament the decision to trade away the 2025 first round pick to get their hands on Matt Whitlock at pick 27, but from where I sit, it was a move steeped in equal parts courage, belief, and hope.
That moment was like North drawing their line in the sand and saying “Enough is enough. Time to make our move.”
The 2025 season has to be the season North get better. So much relies on it.
On with the season preview.
It’s that time of year, already.
The break after Christmas and New Year is over. The holidays are finished for AFL players, and the hard stuff starts now. Yes, the teams had been training for well over a month prior to Christmas, but as we head into 2025, the stakes are raised, and the intensity increases. Less than two months until the first ball is bounced, and all systems are go.
This is where premierships are won and lost. This is where improvements are made and lists come together. New faces, new colours, old heads with renewed passion… so much feeds into the making of a contender, or a team on the rise. And as the days tick down toward the intra-club clashes, practice games, and eventually the real stuff, questions are raised about each team and how they’re going to perform in this new season.
And that’s where HB and The Mongrel come in.
We don’t do things by halves here, at The Mongrel Punt. When we do a season preview, we go all out to make sure it is the best, most comprehensive coverage you’ll receive. We pride ourselves on it. If you are going to read one season preview for your team, or any team, this series will provide it.
The way it works is as follows.
Each club has a minimum of 15 questions asked about the upcoming season, their coaches, their players, and their expectations. The answers are not glossed over. We dive deep on each and every one of them – some singular answers would normally be long enough for an entire column. The first five questions/answers are free for you to consume. The next 10-14 for each club are for our members, including a special appearance from Mrs Mongrel to throw her two cents in the mix.
Isn’t it a bit early for a season preview? Well, I suppose, but do you know how long it takes to write seven-to-nine thousand words? That’s 18 x 8,000… gets out the calculator… that’s 144,000 words. The average novel is about 85,000 words, so buckle the hell up with these previews.
Also, if there are any issues that arise after the publication of the preview for any team, they will be covered in standalone articles to act as additions to this preview.
You will not read a deeper season preview than this – I guarantee it. This is where we start the run to the new season, and believe me – nobody does it better than The Mongrel.
North, you’re up.
Enjoy.
1 – IS LUKE PARKER ABLE TO PLAY THE ROLE BEN CUNNINGTON COULD HAVE, BUT WAS UNABLE TO?
I was surprised to see the Swans playing pseudo-hardball with the Parker trade. I was a little disappointed, actually, given what he has meant to them. I thought he deserved to be waved goodbye and given the opportunity to finish his career where he was needed and wanted, not used as a way for the Swans to posture about late picks, but I guess they had their reasons. Anyway, when all was said and done, Parker landed at Arden Street, believing he still has some good footy left in him.
I think he just might, as well. And it’ll be as much what he means to those around him as what he provides on the stats sheet.
When Ben Cunnington suffered a bout of testicular cancer and was forced to undergo treatment, it effectively ended his reign as the heart and soul of the club, on-field. Sure, he came back, and it took enormous courage to do so – something Cunners was never short of – but he was never the same, and by God, North missed his no-nonsense presence. With Cunnington in there, stiff-arming opponents and standing up for the young blokes, everyone walked a bit taller.
But he wasn’t there, and North was far worse off for it.
A couple of years down the track, and the North midfield is starting to really come of age. Luke Davies-Uniacke is playing the leading role, but his supporting cast of Harry Sheezel, George Wardlaw, and eventually, Colby McKercher, all look like absolute stars. But they’re still young, and whilst North does have players like Jy Simpkin, who can throw his weight around, they needed an old head to stand up and say “enough” when things started getting tough.
And that is exactly the type of player Luke Parker is, and has been for a long while.
Parker will likely take a back seat when it comes to winning the footy in the North Melbourne midfield. His best footy is behind him, but he still possesses plenty in the tank. He was one of the very few to stand up in the 2024 Grand Final, when most of his teammates simply stepped aside. It was as though it was a matter of pride for him, and the expression he wore as the Swans trudged off the ground was not one of acceptance, but one of grim determination. He was disappointed – this was not the way he envisioned going out.
And so, he didn’t go out. He just pivoted, and decided he had more to offer elsewhere.
Parker is a warrior. He is the type of player whose actions scream “follow me”, and he is also the type to hold teammates accountable. North needs a presence like this. They need someone to know when to slow down, when to take the game on, and when someone needs either a pat on the back, or a kick in the arse.
What he brings to this team is something North have historically had in abundance, but may have lost a little due to the age of the current team – mongrel.
They call it Shinboner Spirit at North, and they called it Bloods Culture in Sydney, but they’re very similar.
Parker’s way of playing this game slots in perfectly with what North are, and what they want to be. An old head, a wise head, and a man with something left to prove – it’s a great combination to add to a young team that, at times, lost its way in close games.
Do I expect him to have huge games, where he picks up 30 touches and kicks a couple of goals?
No, I don’t. But what I do expect him to do is the heavy lifting when he does play in the middle, crack in and barge his way into the fray at stoppages, and snag the occasional goal when he rests across half-forward. the bloke knows how to hit the scoreboard.
he is a great acquisition for North, who were screaming out for senior leadership in the middle. And they got themselves someone who fits the role perfectly.
2 – WHAT CAN JACK DARLING ADD TO THIS TEAM?
For starters, we must acknowledge that we’re simply not going to see the Jack Darling of five years ago. Boy… would he have been handy inside 50.
No, what we’re getting is a player whose best is in the rearview mirror, but in the right circumstance, can offer a strong marking presence, someone who is bloody tough to move off the spot, and a player that will be able to draw some heat away from Nick Larkey.
Let’s face it, North have been without a legitimate second marking target for quite a while.
With Charlie Combven battling injury for a couple of years, the club leaned on Cam Zurhaar to do the work, and whilst Cam will work his backside off for the club, he is better suited to the third forward role. The opposition know that the mids are targeting Larkey inside fifty as often as they can. As a result, they sag off their direct opponent, and the full forward is left contending with two or three opponents.
Darling, at the very least, commands that his opponent play him honestly. Whilst his goals per game have been in decline for the last five years, he happily stepped aside and made way for Oscar Allen and Jake Waterman at West Coast. Now, he may well relish the opportunity to be more than a third option with the Kangaroos. He may play as the deepest forward to limit his running, which will free up Larkey to be more than the long, high target he’s been forced to be for the past few years.
The trickle-down effect of Darling’s presence is what could make the biggest difference. I had been critical of Larkey’s inability to take contested grabs in 2023, but with one fewer opposition player to contend with, perhaps this is the year he is able to replicate his 2023 form?
And for Zurhaar? Well, there is a big difference in quality in the AFL when you’re matched up against the second-best defender, as opposed to the third-best. Zurhaar is excellent overhead for a bloke of his size. Competing against the third-stringer should see him take that long-awaited step to become one of the competition’s elite half-forwards.
So, what is a pass mark for Darling in 2025?
His last 30-goal haul was 2022, but that should be around the mark for him this season, depending on how many games he plays. And then we need to look at the output of Larkey, Zurhaar, and even Paul Curtis at his feet, to get a complete picture of just how effective Darling has been in blue and white.
North have needed someone to do the heavy work inside 50 for a while. They need someone who can stand in a contest and not be outmarked, and they need someone who can hold off his direct opponent and make sure the opposition don’t get clear passage to the contest. Some of it may not be reflected in his stat sheet, but I reckon when we look at the output of Larkey, Zurhaar, Curtis, and a couple of others, it is only then we might see the value Jack Darling adds to the forward line.
He’ll play game 300 this season, and whilst it is a shame he didn’t get to do that in blue and gold, that he gets to do it in blue and white is a pretty great outcome for him.
3 – IS CALEB DANIEL THE HALF-BACK FLANK THIS TEAM HAS NEEDED?
I’m going in on the mature-aged recruits, early, huh? That’s because I think North did a great job in getting the right ones.
The little man is my pick for recruit of the year.
Out of favour at the Whitten Oval, Daniel saw the Dogs opt for Bailey Dale as their half-back distributor, with Ed Richards and Lachie Bramble both leapfrogging him in the pecking order, as well.
It left Daniel without a position – a skilled ball-user and decision-maker without a role to play. And though he was trialled as a mid, a wingman, and a half-forward, it was painfully clear that his best role was on the half-back flank, and his most valuable assets were at their best in that position.
Daniel is an elite kick of the football – not in terms of penetration, but his ability to pull a kick and hit a target is exceptionally good. In a recent online discussion on our Mongrel Punt Facebook Group, great kicks of the football were discussed, and what made them great was a topic of conversation. One thing I added was around the ability to change the angle of a kick, inasmuch as a player can see someone approaching to smother and change their ball drop to almost kick around the oncoming player. The only player I’ve seen do this as well as Daniel was Sam Mitchell. It is an art form rarely practised, and even more rarely praised.
North have juggled their half-back role over the last few years, going from Aaron Hall, to Harry Sheezel, to Zac Fisher, and then to Colby McKercher in 2024, and whilst I understand the necessity to bring kids through in a role that is out of the cut and thrust of the midfield, good sides have that permanent rebounder who makes good choices with the footy.
And that is what Caleb Daniel brings in spades.
By playing him as the composed defender and the D50 rebound player for the Roos, North can release McKercher into a more damaging role, getting him into positions where his run, carry, and long kicking can open the game up. Daniel is the one to bite off the tough kick into the guts to split the game open, and McKercher is the one (along with Sheezel, LDU, Wardlaw) to run to space and reap the benefits of his ball use.
And in the interest of fairness, it is important that we look at the perceived weakness of playing him in the half-back role, and that would be teams trying to exploit him due to a lack of height.
I used to watch the Dogs play him as the rebounder, and was astonished just how seldom teams would attempt to gain isolation on Daniel. Whenever they did, it seems as though he either a) had the body strength to hold his own, or b) the cavalry arrived in time to help him in the contest. In the team-defence era of the AFL, genuine isolation doesn’t occur that often, and even less so for a HBF. I used to think it might be an issue. I no longer do.
As long as North retain structure across half-back, they should be able to cover any perceived mismatch for Daniel. I am certain he’ll be caught out here and there, but at that stage, watch how he uses his body to ensure his opponent doesn’t get a clean run at the footy and jump over him. he’s been dealing with this for years – it is not his first rodeo. As I said, I was astonished he was not preyed upon by opposition coaches, but a good coach, and a good defensive unit will ruin any plans to capitalise on his size, pretty quickly.
4 – CAN HARRY SHEEZEL TAKE THE NEXT STEP AND ‘DAICOS’ IT?
I’ll just consult the magic eight-ball, here…. Give it a shake… all signs point to yes, apparently.
Good work – 12 bucks well spent on Mrs Mongrel’s stocking stuffer.
I’m preaching to the choir, here, but Sheezel is all class. Whilst he lacks the burst of speed that Daicos possesses, his composure and refusal to be rushed is likely better compared to another Collingwood player, many years his senior. That bloke is Scott Pendlebury.
If I sat here a couple of years ago and stated that North were about to draft their version of Pendles, I don’t think one person would have been disappointed. What we’re seeing from Sheezel following his move from half-back into a middle is a man prepared to take on more. The way he adapted from the half-back role to midfielder seems to be the blueprint for high draft picks whose bodies may not immediately be ready for the life of an AFL mid. You could argue that both he and Daicos were absolutely ready from the outset, but both North and Collingwood were wise to bring them on a little slower and give them time to adjust to senior footy.
Is he a future captain of the club?
Quite possibly, and with a contract that sees him signed, sealed, and delivered at North until the end of the 2030 season, the club are very content building their structure around what could be their most important piece.
The young star has already claimed a Syd Barker Medal (in year one!) and should be the nucleus of a midfield that gives the opposition fits for years.
But what is his ceiling, and can he eclipse the level Daicos has obtained after three seasons? What did Daicos do in year three, and can Sheezel match it?
Firstly, it’s a bit of a loaded series of questions. Daicos is required to do things at Collingwood that Sheezel is not required to do at North. Daicos is required to win clearances, and he did, with 7.7 per game in 2024. Sheezel would need a jump of 4.2 per game to match that in year three, and it emphasises that these players are different breeds. Both young stars of the game. Both in the midfield, but vastly different in the way they go about it. Sheezel’s role, alongside crash-and-bashers like LDU, Wardlaw, and Simpkin, is a more linking, creative one, so we should probably stop looking at numbers, as they’ll never quite match up.
What we do need to look at is impact, and how Sheezel can elevate his game to further enhance both his own impact, and that of his team.
One aspect I took note of from the 2024 season was the way Daicos powered from one contest to the next. He was probably the best in the league at doing this. His work ethic is second to none, and whilst Sheez gets across the ground with no problems, the sense of urgency that Daicos provides would be something the young North star could look to emulate. It is as though Daicos is driven to remain in the play. He charges off the mark after he disposes of it, in case he can help again. Sheez doesn’t have that.
Not yet, anyway.
It is most apparent when Daicos get the footy in the midfield and makes a thirty metre pass. Immediately, he is on his bike to receive again. And I am not talking three-quarter pace – he is going flat stick! As much as I like Sheezel, he runs at three-quarter pace in those moments. If he is able to add that to his arsenal, we’re looking at an unstoppable force.
So, 2025 ceiling?
What I’d like to see is his score involvements jump to over six per game. A full season working in the midfield (he was in defence for the first six-or-so weeks of 2024) should see that occur. I also expect an uptick in the scoring of the Roos, so going from 5.2 per game to over six score involvements should not be a huge task. Seven is not out of the question.
North’s issue is not the midfield – it is due to players like Sheezel that this part of their list is incredibly healthy, and we’ll get to the other positions as we go. However, if the formula was to firstly build a midfield that could stand up against the league’s best, North are just about there, and this bloke is the one that’ll likely stand out from the pack.
5 – WHERE IS THE BEST SPOT FOR ZAC FISHER?
This is a tough one, because as much as he has no trouble collecting the footy, he doesn’t seem to be able to do a hell of a lot with it!
When he was at Carlton, he played as a half-forward/wing, and in that role, you’d expect him to hit the scoreboard. However… he just didn’t. His 18 goals in 2022 were the only time he kicked double figures.
And so, at Arden Street, it was quickly realised that he is not an offensive weapon. As such, he was allocated a role at half-back, with the view he could use his run and carry, as well as his supposedly good foot skills to open up the game.
Only… he couldn’t really do that, either.
Which leads us to where we are at the moment. I use the term “Nowhere Man” to describe players who don’t really fit anywhere. Someone like Jack Lukosius is a Nowhere Man – he can play anywhere, but he doesn’t own a position, and Fisher is of the same ilk… only not as potent or versatile.
So, what do you do with him?
High half-forward?
Throw him on the wing?
North have him contracted until the end of the 2027 season – Fisher is now part of the furniture at the club – they simply have to find the role he is best-suited for.
Perhaps he is one of those players who plays a role and gets better as the team improves around him? He is definitely not on an island in that regard – every team has players like this. In 2024, he had 10+ R50s on three occasions, and had 30+ disposals six times (including a run of five games on the trot), so he is not going to starve when it comes to locating the Sherrin. The issue is what he does with it, and the hope would be that as North spreads the load across their improving list, that Fisher will become a little more relaxed with the footy, not as rushed when he tries to dispose of it, and finds his niche… wherever Clarko decides to deploy him.
His performance, and more importantly, his impact on games, might be one of the barometers for the Kangaroos in 2025. Does he make the step from Nowhere Man to being an integral part of the team, or is he playing the role of Mr Right-Now until Mr Right comes along?
The next 14 questions are for our members. Option to join below.
This is just under a third of our preview. The rest is available exclusively to our members. People, we give value. No same old gabage you’re going to hear from ten others, taking turns in mimicking each other. No played out opinions. Thoughtful and comprehensive – that’s what we aspire to provide in these previews, and your support makes them bigger and better every year. Jump on board.
