The transition from junior football to senior football is tough at any standard. The transition from NAB League to the AFL is one of the biggest jumps in Australian sport.

Jason Horne-Francis has made the jump, and Miller Bergman had a taste, while the rest of North Melbourne's first-year players are on the way to success in their own right.

Each has improved immensely, from Horne-Francis who has played nearly every game, to Paul Curtis who has embedded himself in the team, Miller Bergman who made the leap but now finds himself injured, and Jackson Archer or Josh Goater who are pushing for senior debuts.

North Media sat down with Head of Development Gavin Brown to take a dive into the progress made by all five players in their first season in the AFL.

Jason Horne-Francis - pick 1

"He's certainly shown flashes of the player he can be. He's a unique talent, really. He's shown glimpses of the real brilliance that he's capable of. He's such a dynamic and aggressive hunter of the ball and the opposition when it's in his area. He's shown exactly why the club went out and got him.

"Of course he's disappointed that he's got a couple of weeks. and we're disappointed that he got a couple of weeks suspension, but he'll certainly be looking to finish the year off really strongly when he comes back."

Josh Goater - pick 22

"He hasn't played a hell of a lot down back before this season, traditionally he's been more of a midfielder but he did play down back a little bit in his junior years. It's a different ball-game, senior back-line play versus playing at the junior level. It's very system-oriented and team-based, whereas he's come through a system where it's more individual-based.

It's taken a little bit of time for Josh to get the hang of that but in the last couple of weeks he's really got going and he's really embraced it. Some of his elite attributes have really started to come to the fore, especially on the weekend when we saw him running off his opponent, bouncing the ball, using his long kicking and taking some nice marks.

"His strengths are really coming out now he's been able to learn that team defensive system."

Paul Curtis - pick 35

"I think he's surprised us all. The first time we laid eyes on him in the pre-season we thought he could be quite special, and then in the games he grew even more. He's a highly intelligent player, a beautiful user of the ball, he's hard and has a big, strong body already. He's a natural forward and a natural goalkicker and he's getting better every week.

"I have no doubt he's going to be a very, very good footballer for this club. You talk about a value pick, wow, he's started off with a real bang."

Miller Bergman - pick 38

"It's such a shame Miller's season is done. He's very unique in that he managed to embrace the aspects of team defence very quickly. He learned it straight away and it didn't take him long at all to get over that pretty steep learning curve. He got the hang of things really early which is why he got that opportunity at senior level.

"He put a really good block of footy together and had a really consistent patch of games that earned him that opportunity. Had he not got injured I think he'd be there playing in that back six or seven because of his attributes. He's got an elite tank, he's a very intelligent footballer, he's very clean and he's a beautiful user. He has a lot going for him.

"It's a shame he got injured because I have no doubt he'd be playing every week if he was fit. He does have an opportunity to go away and work on his strength for next year though which I think he needs to do, and keep learning the education. It's onwards an upwards for him after an impressive start."

Jackson Archer - pick 59

"We've been impressed with all of our first year players, they've been fantastic. 'Arch' is no exception. His competitiveness is as good as anyone on the list, and that's some compliment given he's a first-year player. In the pre-season we had him up forward at training and he looked like a natural forward purely down to the way he was competing.

"Over the last couple of weeks he's really got the hang of it. He's starting to get a bit more of the footy, he's starting to use it really well, and his composure is really good. He's not panicking and he's making the right decision by hand and by foot. He's strong in the tackle, he wins his one on ones and he embraces the defensive structures as well as anyone.

"He's going really well, extremely well even. He's been especially fantastic in these last two or three weeks."