After a tight defeat at the hands of Sydney in Round 22, North Melbourne is unfortunately locked in last place on the ladder for the 2021 AFL season.

A strong run of form post-bye has not been enough to lift North from the bottom of the table, but the improvement and growth of the team’s young group is a shining light going forward.

After impressive victories over the likes of Carlton and Gold Coast since Round 12, the Kangaroos have taken the fight right up to finals contenders Geelong, Richmond and now Sydney in recent weeks.

Despite bringing the margin back to four points midway through the final term against the Swans, North ultimately fell short in the second last game of the year.  

“I’ve been clear since Round 1, I don’t want to lose. I’m not coaching to lose, I’m coaching to win. Every game we lose I’m not happy,” coach David Noble said.

“It’s disappointing to get that close and not be able to continue to maintain the pressure and level of intensity we needed to.

“There’s learnings out of it, and there’s an understanding we need to make sure our players are really crystal clear in how to go about it.

“We’ve got to the point where we don’t consider that as an honourable loss. We’re not in the business of doing that and I hope our fans understand that its certainly unacceptable.”

Saturday’s clash was a tale of two halves, with North entering the main break five goals down, having kicked just three goals in the first half of football.

In the second half, however, the Kangaroos came out swinging, booting nine goals to five to narrow the final margin.

Noble says while the second half performance was pleasing, the manner in which is side played in the opening two terms was unacceptable.

“We didn’t change anything radically at half-time, because we hadn’t really brought enough energy into the game that would have allowed us to activate any of our systems or structures.

“We showed the players some clips and were really clear with what we wanted. Pleasantly, we got a response.

“We were really disappointed we didn’t put our best foot forward. Then to chase them (the Swans) down to within four points was a really good sign, but we just couldn’t stem the flow.

“It was a good response, but it was a pretty poor effort in the first half.”

In positive news, Ben Cunnington’s recovery is progressing well, with the likelihood of the star midfielder needing further treatment following recent surgery, slim.

While he certainly won’t play again this season, Noble says Cunnington being cleared of any serious, ongoing illness is the best news anyone could hope for.

“We were greatly relieved for Ben, Belinda, the kids and their extended family that they got some really good news. He’ll still need to be vigilant going forward, no doubt,” Noble added.

“He’s been down to the club a few times. He’s come down to main training sessions and given us a bit of a hand with some coaching and mentoring. He’s in a terrific headspace from that side of things.

“He should be in a position that when we get back to pre-season … he should have recovered from the surgery at that point in time.

“We might need to go a little bit slower with him as he returns, but I think all things are pointing towards him coming back to start pre-season in full capacity.”