Leigh Tudor says Sunday’s performance by North youngsters will make it tough to pick the team next week, with several Roos expected to return to action.
Speaking after the side’s two-point win against the Swans in Coffs Harbour, Tudor was full of praise for North’s efforts.
“You can see already, blokes put their hand up today and probably deserve another chance next week,” the stand-in coach said.
“Josh Drummond will be coaching next week and he’s got some decisions to make, because there’s some really good players coming back.
“It’s a great spot for North Melbourne to be in, having so many players that can play a role for us.”
With a number of new faces taking the field, Tudor was pleased with the efforts.
“There’s things that we’ve been looking at working on throughout the pre-season and to see them try and do that, for a couple of our young backs to be in the right position – maybe they get beaten for strength a few times, but we’re just really happy with their effort and the way they tried to pressure.
“We made a few skill errors, but our intent to win the contested ball and our effort in the contest, we were rapt.
“They showed an understanding of the way we want to play. I think the North supporters will be really happy they saw 10 or 11 new faces and they all had a go.”
Braydon Preuss caught the eye in the ruck, battling solo from siren to siren, ending with 29 hit-outs.
"If you (Preuss) put in effort like that and you just keep getting up, hitting the deck and getting up again and again, that's us at North Melbourne, never beaten.
“If he keeps doing that, he's going to give himself every chance to play a (senior) game," Tudor said.
Nathan Hrovat was another to impress, finishing with 17 disposals and two final quarter goals.
“He’s (Hrovat) pretty polished, he’s a smart player. He knows what to do and he’s fitted in really well to the group.
“I think we’ll see a bit more of him.”
Meanwhile Tudor suggested fans would be happy with the performance of Ed Vickers-Willis.
“He (Vickers-Willis) got himself in the right position and showed he understands the way we want to play.
“There’s been a lot of talk about Ed in the pre-season from North fans, and I reckon they’ll be pretty happy with his first up effort for us.
Ultimately – even though it was only a JLT Series clash – the Roos will be able to take momentum out of the result.
“We’re a learning club but we’re here to win games of footy.
“To get the result, as much as we can talk about the effort, they’ve won a game of footy and you can’t beat that with a young group.”
