No Daniel Wells, no Nick Dal Santo and eventually no Jack Ziebell for North Melbourne’s match against Port Adelaide last Saturday night; Trent Dumont could have been forgiven for letting his mind wander to thoughts of a potential senior debut.
Instead, his focus was solely on putting a good performance the following day in the VFL.
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“That’s the first I’d thought about it actually,” Dumont confessed when quizzed on the topic following North Ballarat’s victory over Collingwood.
“I was just working on my game and doing what I had to do.”
Dumont filled up the stat sheet at Eureka Stadium, notching 25 disposals, 11 tackles and 5 clearances. The majority of his impact came in the second and fourth quarters.
“I was still trying to work to do the same things (in each quarter) but it was just the way the game worked out,” Dumont told NMFC.com.au.
“I was just trying to play my role and in the second and fourth and I probably put myself in a position where I could influence the ball a little bit more, based on what had happened in the first and third.”
The Roosters’ forward line setup could help Dumont's prospects for a North Melbourne debut.
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With Aaron Black, Braydon Preuss and Orren Stephenson (when not in the ruck) often close to goal for the Roosters, there are three tall forwards – the same setup North has used almost exclusively for the last couple of years.
Dumont said the presence of some key big men in attack gives the midfield more options after winning the ball.
“You feel a lot more comfortable kicking long to a contest.
“Especially against a side like Collingwood that had (Ben) Reid, (Jono) Marsh, (Darcy) Moore, you need a contest from your talls against those guys because they’re very good at peeling off and intercepting.
“If you can just create a contest that changes so much.”
On field it was an odd dynamic between North Ballarat and Collingwood.
The two sides met the week prior to Round 1 in their last pre-season encounter, and the learning experience proved incredibly valuable to the Roosters.
It was almost a 10-goal turnaround between the games, with North Ballarat rebounding from a 26-point loss to win by 35 in the season-opener.
“We understood how Collingwood wanted to play and last week we got a rude awakening in the second half of how they can play,” Dumont said.
“We knew if we could tighten up on their outlets and the way they wanted to move the ball from the backline with multiple switches, then we’d be able to make it more contested and that would be our best way of winning.”
