In a sign of the club’s faith in his ability, the 20-year-old forward has been handed a new two-year deal. Wood delighted to secure his future at Arden Street.
“Having only played VFL footy they’ve (the coaches) obviously seen something in me and it was a pretty easy decision to sign on,” Wood told NMFC.com.au.
“I couldn’t think of anyone that would want to leave because I think we all know we’ve got something special here.”
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Named as an emergency several times this season, Wood is clearly close to making his long awaited debut. His biggest challenge is winning a spot in a side already boasting a number of talls in attack.
“It’s huge competition which is good. We are all pushing each other,” he said.
“Browny’s (Ben Brown) had a go, Maj (Majak Daw) had a go, Blacky (Aaron Black) and Drewy (Drew Petrie) have been really good, so hopefully there’s a spot for me in the next few weeks.”
The versatile left-footer is confident his chance will come soon, but realises he must continue to perform at Werribee.
“I just had some defensive things in my game to get right and also hitting the scoreboard, and getting a mix of ball up the ground and inside 50 as well. Just having that complete game is what we’ve been working on in the last few weeks.”
Surgery midway through last year saw Wood go under the knife to repair an old fracture at the bottom of his right thigh bone.
Despite a delayed start to pre-season training, the number 32 played two NAB Challenge games at the start of the year. Using that experience, he burst out of the blocks at VFL level, booting 16 goals in the opening six rounds to lead the competition.
In his last outing against the Northern Blues, Wood again pushed his case with three majors.
“I didn’t have many games last year, so I’m starting to feel like I’m running better towards the back end of the season, covering a lot of k’s (kilometres) and feel like I’ve been playing good footy again now after a bit of a gap through the middle of the year.”
Taken at pick 41 in the 2012 National Draft, Wood's new deal will see him remain at North until at least the end of 2016.
