Emerging midfielder Trent Dumont says he is feeling “pretty comfortable” in North’s squad after having featured in three games at the elite level so far this season.

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The 19-year-old played his first full AFL game last Sunday against Collingwood after being used as the substitute against Geelong in round four and Fremantle in round eight.

Dumont said he had strong belief in his ability after being given the nod to step in for skipper Andrew Swallow, who was a late withdrawal against the Magpies due to a right thumb injury.

“I feel pretty comfortable out there,” Dumont told NMFC.com.au.

“I’m confident in myself so I’d like to play every week and think I could play AFL every week.

“On the field, I just keep it as basic as possible and try to do it consistently well, follow instructions and work hard.”

Dumont finished with 18 disposals (10 kicks, eight handballs), including a game-high 15 contested disposals against the Magpies.

The No.30 selection in the 2013 national draft said the speed of the game against the Pies was the most noticeable difference compared to his two previous appearances.

“When I went out there, the intensity was a lot higher than starting as a sub when everyone’s pretty buggered, so it took me a while to find my feet,” Dumont said.

“Later in the first quarter, I did do that and started to get the ball and I tried to keep it as basic as possible.”

Despite his respectable contribution, Dumont gave an honest assessment about his efforts and highlighted his outside running game as an area of focus over the coming weeks.

“I didn’t get a whole heap of the ball on the weekend so I’ll just continue to improve there and become a more damaging player,” he said.

“I don’t think I played my best on the weekend but I think I held my own.

“I’ve got to be aggressive, drive through the ball, be clean and make good decisions – a lot of football is as basic as that.”

Dumont’s valiant performances for VFL affiliate North Ballarat were rewarded with a dream debut against the Cats at Simonds Stadium after the Roos withdrew defenders Luke McDonald and Jamie Macmillan from the squad due to injury.

Released as the sub in the third quarter, the inside midfielder’s first kick at AFL level came with a spearing pass to forward Jarrad Waite.

Dumont used his fresh legs to his advantage, running inside 50 and handballing the ball just as he was about to be tackled by his opponent Mark Blicavs.

The youngster’s handball into open space found forward Ben Brown, who waltzed into the open goal to put North eight points in front with just over 13 minutes remaining in the final term.

Dumont followed up his scintillating start just a few minutes later, slotting a critical crumbing goal with the outside of his boot.

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“If I can just keep playing my role and hold my spot, I’m sure everything will work out,” he said.

Dumont said North was determined to stand up in the absence of senior coach Brad Scott, who has been sidelined for the next month to have back surgery.

“With Brad going, we really want to come together and hopefully we can look back on it and say, ‘That period was a defining moment for us where we really stood up as a team,’” he said.

“It’s going to be a bit different without Brad, but ‘Crock’ (interim coach Darren Crocker) and the coaches know exactly how we want to play.”