Aaron Black is only too happy to play his part in North Melbourne's "structured offence" but the forward is constantly working on ways to get more involved in Brad Scott's game-plan.
After two years ruined by groin injuries, and having flirted with the idea of returning home to Perth, Black produced a breakout season in 2013, kicking 33 goals in 18 games.
Black resisted a tempting offer from Fremantle, signing a three-year contract to remain at North until the end of 2017.
Many thought the 23-year-old would reach greater heights in 2014 but his output has diminished this season as opposition teams have put more time into restricting his impact.
Scott has stressed the need for Black to remain patient, yet driven to improve every aspect of his game.
"I speak to ‘Scotty’ each week and we go through things to work on and he's been pleased with the team role I've been playing," Black told AFL.com.au.
"Whether that be creating space for Drew (Petrie) or getting back and laying blocks.
"It would be good to play really good football all the time but that's not realistically going to happen."
Black admits he hasn't quite hit his straps this season.
"Statistically I'm not going as well as last year. But last year I could get away with things playing on guys that had never seen me play," Black said.
"This year, I guess it's a compliment to myself, that I'm getting looked at harder and getting manned up a lot tighter."
Despite Black contributing less on the scoreboard, Scott has been thrilled with the pressure the tall forward has been putting on the opposition.
"Aaron Black's copped a bit of criticism for his form but he's played some terrific team roles for us and did again on Friday night (in the semi-final win against Geelong)," Scott said on Fox Footy on Monday night.
Scott said forwards coach Shane Watson deserved a lot of credit for the way the forward line - which has benefited from the inclusion of Ben Brown and the improved form of Petrie in the past two weeks - was functioning.
"There's been a subtle shift towards structured offence," Scott said.
"We talk so much about defence in the past and a lot of coaches are defensively minded, and for good reason.
"To counter a good defence you need to have a really structured offence and we've worked on that over a long period of time."
