North Melbourne veteran Shaun Higgins says Roos’ fans have a reason to be excited as the club looks to take things to a new level in 2019.
Higgins, who had a career-best season last year, believes the club remains on an upwards trajectory.
“We’ll tinker with our game plan a little bit, and I think fans will be excited to see that going into the start of the season, ” Higgins told SEN.
“Hopefully then, we’ll challenge again.”
“I wasn’t surprised by the performance of the team last year,
“There was a number of us that were slightly annoyed (by the external criticism), but also excited to prove people wrong this time last year, because we knew if everything went relatively well... we could challenge.
“Look, we still fell short, but the pleasing thing is we showed enough as a playing group and as a football club to work on this year and then add some players, which we have done.
North has bolstered its list, adding five players from other clubs, four of which have over 100 games of AFL experience.
Aaron Hall, Dom Tyson, Jasper Pittard, Jared Polec and Tom Campbell all have attributes that they can use to strengthen the team on the field, but Higgins believes the new recruits will have as big of an impact off it.
“They all played (in the match simulation) on Friday, and they all trained really well in the lead-up to Christmas,” Higgins said.
“It’s not too often that you get to bring in five mature-age players that have played senior football and can really add to the playing group.
“It’s going to add to our depth, it’s added to our knowledge and experience already because we probably had a slight void in the 24 to 28-year-old bracket of players, and these guys that have come into our football club, really do fit that.
“These guys have got a wealth of knowledge that we need to tap into.
“Some have played at successful sides, some have been around a long time, and I think they all feel comfortable in our group to speak up if they’ve got something to add.”
Personally for Higgins, who is embarking on his 14th AFL season, his desire to get another taste of finals footy is as strong as ever.
Having played just the one final in three years, the 30-year-old has faith that this current North group has what it takes to satisfy his hunger.
“Making finals would be the aim of a lot of teams, and we’re no different,” he added.
“Personally, I’m coming to the twilight of my career, so over the next couple of years I’m really looking forward to pushing our case deep into September.”
Listen to Shaun Higgins' full interview here:
