Coach Brad Scott has declared the club won’t back down from its attacking style because of a few tight losses last season.
“We’re not going to change drastically the way we play, what we’ve got to do is execute the way we want to play better,” Scott said on Tuesday.
“But the plan hasn’t changed. We went down a path a few years ago with the way we want to play and we executed that pretty well at times last year but not for long enough.”
The younger Roos were back at work with running and skills with games fast approaching.
“It’s right around the corner…Feb 15 we play Carlton so it’s not far away.”
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Before the NAB series begins, Scott admits his men will be aiming to tighten up in some areas.
“We were top eight in defence last year, so defence in itself wasn’t a significant problem; it was a significant problem in parts of games.
“There’s a significant amount of work to be done to get to where we want to be.
“To get out to good leads against some genuinely good opposition I think showed some good signs, now we’ve got to continue on coaching what we were coaching last year, with some slight modifications and I’m sure we’ll see results coming from that.”
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North will be tested early with hit-outs against three of the AFL’s biggest teams and Scott has welcomed the challenge.
“I think it’s fantastic. We play Carlton in Ballarat which will be fantastic for the region, we’ve got a lot of supporters up in Ballarat so we’ll have our community camp up there and a game against really good opposition in Carlton.
“Then down in Tasmania in another really important region for the North Melbourne Footy Club…down to play Hawthorn; clearly the best opposition going around at the moment so that will be great for us.
“Then a final practice game against Geelong down at Simonds Stadium so that’s a perfect lead in for us and will give us really good match practice.”
Despite the fact the club finished outside of the final eight, expectations are building.
“The hype is great for the club and we really embrace that,” Scott commented.
“The club itself is really excited about what 2014 and beyond holds and I think that’s fantastic for our football club.
“Our supporters are really looking forward to the season and I think there is a really good vibe around the footy club but as coaches, my job is to make sure that we work really hard…and we don’t take our eye off what’s really important.”
Scott is quick to point out it’s one thing to talk about finals but another thing to play in them.
“It’s a huge jump, we’re not there yet. We were competitive against everyone last year but didn’t win enough games to play in the finals.”
If things are to go the Kangaroos’ way in 2014, they’ll need everyone available for selection including the captain, Andrew Swallow.
“We probably had a few more in rehab than we would have liked but look, we know we’re not going to have Andrew for the majority of the pre-season. He still thinks he’ll be very close to being up for selection Round 1, hopefully that’s the case.”
