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DREW Petrie's lean start to 2012 is not a concern, senior North Melbourne assistant coach Darren Crocker says.
After kicking a career-high 48 goals in 2011 and finishing third in the AFL for contested marks (49) during the home and away season, Petrie has struggled to have an impact this season.
The 2011 All Australian has kicked just nine goals from North's first six games in 2012, but is ranked equal sixth in the competition for contested marks (12).
Speaking at Aegis Park on Wednesday, Crocker acknowledged Petrie's form had been down but said the co-vice-captain would do everything in his power to return to his best.
"Drew knows that he's not in the best of form but he'll keeping working hard to turn that around, because he is a pro," Crocker said.
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Crocker stressed that although Petrie's marking and goalkicking output had been down he had still been a valuable contributor for North.
"There was a game there where he had a quiet game, but the coaching staff were really pleased with what he did from a whole team perspective, [with] the amount of opportunities he created for his teammates, whether it was creating a contest or just creating space," Crocker said.
"So sometimes we look at key forwards and their output has to be marks and hitting the scoreboard, but there's also a lot of other things they do that perhaps go unnoticed."
Looking ahead to North's round seven clash with the Western Bulldogs this Sunday at Etihad Stadium, Crocker acknowledged the in-form Brian Lake was a potential opponent for Petrie. But he said North had not yet considered whether they would play Petrie as a decoy forward on Lake, with a brief to draw the Bulldog up the ground and away from the play.
"[Lake] did an extremely good job on Travis Cloke … so we've got to make sure that he has his hands full at some stage," Crocker said.
The Bulldogs will enter Sunday's game on the back of a two-day longer break than the Kangaroos, who are also coming off a return trip to Perth. But Crocker said North had no concerns about this, saying its players had recovered "really well" from their loss to the Eagles, after staying in Perth overnight after the game and doing a recovery session at Trinity College the following day before flying back to Melbourne.
However, Crocker said the Western Bulldogs represented a significant challenge this Sunday, having impressed North's coaching staff last Friday night with their defensive pressure in their 21-point loss to Collingwood.
On possible changes to North's team this week, Crocker said ruckman Todd Goldstein was putting the match committee under pressure to pick him.
"We as a match committee still believe that the Petrie- McIntosh-Goldstein thing can work. It worked against Geelong and we think it can work again," he said.
Crocker also said key defender Nathan Grima and tall utility Lachlan Hansen would be strongly considered for selection after good recent form in the VFL. Neither has played a game this season after suffering injuries late in the pre-season.
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The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
