The following letter was emailed to members yesterday from North Melbourne coach Brad Scott.
At the beginning of this season, we called upon our loyal members to unite behind our young team and to trust the process the club put in place.
With a potential finals berth on the horizon for us and another strong year off the field, on behalf of everyone at the club, I sincerely thank you for helping us reach 41,046 members in 2018.
Your passion and commitment never goes unnoticed and your vocal support on game day has no doubt helped us over the line on more than a few occasions this year alone.
Together, we’ve watched our young brigade step up and flourish. From Jed Anderson’s incredible turn-around off the back of an uninterrupted run, to Trent Dumont’s growing stature as a hard-nosed midfielder, to Majak Daw’s stunning grasp of a new role down back and Jy Simpkin’s development on the ball.
We’ve brought in some fresh blood with the encouraging debuts of Paul Ahern, Luke Davies-Uniacke, Tom Murphy, Alex Morgan and most recently, Will Walker – I’m sure you’d agree; all have shown very promising signs.
Building a competitive list is always balance and you must have the right mix of old and new and I think our list management team and recruiters have done a great job. Having our young players blend with the likes of Ben Cunnington, Shaun Higgins, Scott Thompson, Robbie Tarrant, Ben Brown, Jamie Macmillan and Jarrad Waite has been extremely effective.
When we have our best 22 on the field, we are a formidable side that is capable of beating any team in the competition, provided we play our way.
Our leader Jack Ziebell has also been incredible playing mostly as a forward this year. I cannot speak highly enough of Jack as a young man and player. He is someone that always does what needs to be done in order to bring about success. We are lucky to have him at Arden Street and we are extremely fortunate to have him leading the boys up the race and onto the field every week.
With eleven wins next to our name on the ladder and three games remaining, we need to do everything right and hope some other results go our way, to make the finals. This week we spent some additional time on the Gold Coast in order to freshen up the players both mentally and physically. We feel this rehabilitation initiative will be a great advantage and already, the players have responded well to it.
With a refreshed playing group, it has given us an opportunity to refocus on the task ahead. This Sunday marks our last home game for the season and if the last clash with the Doggies is anything to go by, then you won’t want to miss this weekend. It’s a huge game for us in the context of the season.
Hopefully we get to play in September and if we do make it, we need you there right beside us. As we’ve seen over the last couple of seasons, anything can happen come finals. If we are in it, we won’t be making up the numbers and have already shown this year that we can beat the top sides. We fear no one.
I am extremely proud of the club we are and I hope you are as excited as we are for what’s around the corner.
Thank you for trusting our process; we wouldn’t be in this position without you.
Go Roos.
Brad Scott
