Friday, March 17, 2006

North Melbourne Season Preview 2006

By Arden Fast

With the three year deal with the ACT government coming to a close, The Age's Caroline Wilson has helpfully suggested that North should look at playing some home games on the Gold Coast. This sort of speculation has been helped along by Commissar Demetriou re-starting talk about mergers and relocations, and of course this sort of negative media spotlight inevitably comes to rest on the battling Shinboners.

Meanwhile the club is getting on with business taking no notice of the knockers/experts who predict failure every single year and the end of the club every other year. A deal with the City Council and the State Government to revamp Arden Street into a prefessional training base has been struck and with new CEO Graham Duff formerly boss of the VRC and new number one ticket holder Ricky Ponting on board the off-field future is looking good.

On field, it's underdog status as usual. New full back Jon Hay admitted in an interview with the Herald Sun that he was baffled by the lack of credit given to the Roos by the media and the public:

"I think there's heaps of talent here and I don't understand it," he said. "Last year they finished fifth and even this year I had a look they're paying $2.50 to make the eight, which is one of the bottom four sides. I'm thinking, 'What's going on there?' They won 13 games and finished fifth at the end of the regular season and no one still rates us.

"I think we've got a really strong side all over the ground. It's great, I reckon, always being the underdog."

The addition of Hay at full back and the emergence of Jesse Smith has solidified the back line, the midfield looks even more potent with the rise and rise of youngsters like Daniel Wells and Daniel Harris alongside the Commander Adam Simpson and Brady Rawlings and the maturation of the big men such as David Hale and Hamish McIntosh. Up
forward there's plenty of tall timber with Nathan Thompson, Drew Petrie and the evergreen Sav Rocca and of course the dangerous Shannon Grant is always lurking. I reckon we'll give the eight a shake again and if we have luck with injuries the top four is not out of the question.

The devastating loss to Port in last years finals is a burning fire in the belly of Dean Laidley and his men and the best way to start to avenge that is to give those Teal wearing wankers a hiding in round 1, but the rage will drive the club on to make another appearance in the finals. The Shinboner spirit can only be avenged through finals glory!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Down with Teal wearing wankers!Hear hear!
And down with every other kind of wanker exccept for the real True Blues of Carlton!!

True Blue

9:28 am  

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