Harry Sheezel and his fellow bunch of exciting youngsters are giving North Melbourne more hope than at any stage in the past five years. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES.
If a week is a long time in footy, then a month is an eternity.
It wasn’t that long ago that we were all still wondering when the pain was going to finally end for North Melbourne.
The Kangaroos began the year by making their worst start to a season since 1972 as they lost their first 11 games by an average of 52 points.
At that stage, North had won only 12 of their previous 95 games. Indeed, it looked like the Kangas’ long, cold five-year winter was showing no signs of ending.
But just as all hope appeared to lost, a crack in the ice appeared in Round 13 when North travelled to Perth to beat West Coast.
And ever since then, a long-awaited thawing has occurred.
Remarkably, over the last five rounds, the Kangaroos have been one of the most competitive teams in the league, beating the Eagles, losing to top-eight hopefuls Collingwood, Melbourne and the Bulldogs by a combined 21 points, and then rolling another finals contender Gold Coast on the weekend.
In four of their last five games, the Kangaroos have won the tackle count and finished with more clearances and contested possessions.
Their hunger, aggression and pressure has been unrecognisable from recent seasons, and they are now routinely harassing opponents, and forcing them into mistakes and turnovers.
North conceded a ton in each of their first 11 games this year as they averaged 118 points against in that period. But since then, they have been a different team as their defensive work rate has gone through the roof, and they have given up just 83 points per game in the past five matches.
Little streams are now starting to trickle over the icy surface.
And one of the main driving forces behind North Melbourne’s turnaround has been their exciting bunch of youngsters.
The likes of Harry Sheezel, George Wardlaw, Colby McKercher, Paul Curtis, Jackson Archer, Will Phillips, Tom Powell and Charlie Comben are dragging their perennially struggling club in the right direction.
It’s no secret that Sheezel is a future superstar of the competition. After all, he became the first VFL/AFL rookie in over 40 years to win a club best-and-fairest last year.
But at risk of putting too much pressure on the kid, it’s hard to ignore the fact that with each passing week he is starting to resemble Scott Pendlebury more and more.
Obviously this writer is not saying that Sheezel is, or will be, as good as Pendlebury. If the young Kangaroo has half the career that Pendlebury has produced he’ll be in a very good spot. But it’s evident that he plays in a way that is eerily similar to the two-time premiership Magpie.
His skills are sublime (it didn’t take him long to become North’s best ball user), he hardly ever misses a target, he always seems to have plenty of time and space, it’s extremely rare to see him make a wrong decision, he can play inside or outside with aplomb and he relishes the clutch moment, as evidenced by that brilliant goal from the boundary late in the third quarter against Gold Coast on the weekend.
PLEASE HELP US CONTINUE TO THRIVE BY BECOMING AN OFFICIAL FOOTYOLOGY PATRON. JUST CLICK THIS LINK.
After starting his career down back, to give the Kangaroos some much-needed class in that part of the ground, thankfully for all footy lovers, especially North supporters, we’re now starting to see just how good he can be in his natural habitat of midfield-forward.
Sheezel played arguably the best game of his fledgling career on the weekend as he racked up 35 disposals as well as personal bests in contested possessions (14) and clearances (10). He might be only 19, but he is already doing things on a footy field that suggest he could become one of the best players in the league in a few years’ time.
And how about McKercher? In his first game back in two months, the whizz kid produced his best game that saw him rack up 37 disposals and 13 rebound-50s – the best of which clearly was that epic run from defensive 50 and up the wing as he took four bounces before setting up Nick Larkey for a shot on goal.
Curtis is becoming an exciting and reliable forward, Archer is developing beautifully down back, Comben has been a revelation since switching to defence after an injury-ravaged start to his career and Wardlaw was announcing himself as a midfield star of the future before he suffered an unlucky concussion at training recently, ruling him out for a couple of games.
Just wait until Zane Duursma returns to the side as well.
And when you have talented senior guys like Luke Davies-Uniacke, Nick Larkey, Cameron Zurhaar, Tristan Xerri, Jy Simpkin and Bailey Scott to sprinkle over the top, it all adds up to the very competitive outfit that we’ve been seeing from North Melbourne in recent weeks.
Davies-Uniacke in particular has been phenomenal during this mini revival that the Roos are experiencing. The 25-year-old has averaged 27 disposals (13 contested), seven clearances, four tackles and kicked two goals in his past five games to help lead the way for his battling club.
His effort on the weekend was probably the pick of the bunch as he teamed up with Sheezel to will his side to victory in that tense final quarter.
Davies-Uniacke has only experienced 20 wins in his 101 games at Arden Street, and has re-signed until the end of next year when he becomes a free agent.
But if he had ideas of potentially exploring free agency in 2026, his team’s recent form might make him think otherwise.
Importantly, North might be making its ascent from rock bottom just in time to win Davies-Uniacke’s signature long-term.
And when those little icy streams turn into raging spring-time torrents, Davies-Uniacke and his precocious support cast of joeys could very well be at the forefront of North’s next long-awaited era of success.
