Throughout the season, young players in different areas of North Melbourne’s side have been gaining huge praise, from both inside and outside the walls of Arden Street.

At the start of the season the likes of Ben McKay and Aiden Bonar were locking down the back half of the ground, blanketing dangerous opponents in the absence of key defensive veterans.

Then it moved to North’s young midfield, with the likes of Tom Powell, Luke Davies-Uniacke and Jy Simpkin garnering praise for their performances.

Now, however, it’s the young Roos in the forward 50 who are in the spotlight, with the likes of Charlie Comben and Eddie Ford coming into the side to make an immediate impact.

In just his third senior game, Ford recorded a game-high 10 score involvements, while hitting the scoreboard with 2 goals of his own.

Taken with pick 56 in the draft, Noble says Ford’s improving strategic football brain has enabled such rapid improvement.

“The last couple of weeks Eddie has done some really nice things … tonight he did extremely well,” Noble said.

“He’s now reading the game really well. It’s hard as a young guy to come in because we require them to play such a system-based structure at times.

“You have to give them a little bit of licence to explore and experiment with finding their feet within that system.

“He presented really well, we like that little tick-up lead through our mid/forward area, and he did that really well.

“He was able to get on the scoreboard, so [we’re] really encouraged.”

After almost two full seasons on the list, Comben finally made his AFL debut against the Swans, featuring after 18 months on the sidelines due to stress fractures in his back and then his tibia.

The young forward was exciting with his attack at the contest, imposing himself in contested marking situations and showing athleticism to work himself around the ground.

After capping a promising performance with his first senior goal after the final siren, Noble says Comben deserves all the praise coming his way.

“He’s been working behind-the-scenes for a really long period now, it’s not just been his recent few weeks in the VFL. He’s had a pretty solid couple of months-worth of work under his belt,” Noble said.

“We thought the time was right and his form was in a good spot, [so] it allowed us to get him into the team to get that exposure.

“I was pleased he got on the scoreboard at the end. He’s a beautiful kick and a natural competitor who moves up at the ball really well.

“He’s got a natural movement up at the ball … he’s keen to compete [and] he loves jumping into packs … I think our fans can look forward to Charlie playing a lot of football up in that forward end for our club for a long period of time.”