During North Melbourne’s bye week, NMFC.com.au catches up with the assistant coaches to get their thoughts on every player on the club's list.

First up, Shane Watson discusses the defenders.

Shaun Atley
11 senior games, 2 goals
“After last year opposition teams are putting a lot more time into him this year. He hasn’t had that attention before.

“He’s still been effective for us and in the last few weeks you’ve seen the running, bouncing and creating which we know he can do. Teams are keen to limit his effectiveness.

“Usually with the better rebounding players, whether that be Ats or anyone else in the competition, coaches will try to take them out of the play. There are a lot of defensive forwards for that role.

“His last few weeks have been really pleasing as he’s worked through the extra attention.”

Cam Delaney
“Cam was injured for a few weeks. He generally plays well alongside his brother so it’s been handy to play them both in the key defensive posts for North Ballarat.

“Conditioning wise he’s still a couple of weeks away before he comes into contention for a possible spot at AFL level. He marks the ball well and reads the play well in the air."

Luke Delaney
“His attitude has been very good while he’s been playing fantastic football at North Ballarat.

“He seems pretty much ready to go if there’s an injury or a form drop-off in any of the guys currently in the lineup.

“After every Roosters' game I’ve watched live, I’ve walked away thinking if anything happens (to a player in the seniors) he’s right to go.

“He does a lot of work on his ground level balls and being sure of himself when the ball is low."

Michael Firrito
11 senior games, 0 goals
“He generally has been playing as the third defender, but now with Lachie (Hansen) coming into the side he’s been playing on a mix of the resting ruckmen and small forwards. Generally he seems to have more effect playing on the talls.

“Spud doesn’t have to play undersized anymore. He’s been reasonably consistent. When he is playing on the talls it’s about his positioning and not bodying them up. He has to get a clean run at the footy to spoil.

“He’s probably at his best when he’s the third man up supporting other defenders and he’s been OK at ground level.”

Nathan Grima
10 senior games, 0 goals
“He’s been good at stopping the opposition from getting the ball without getting a lot of it himself.

“He’s one of those old-style defenders where his focus is just to beat his opponent and then if he gets the footy that’s a bonus.

“He’s had a couple of really good games against Sydney and also Port Adelaide when he played against (Justin) Westhoff.

“An area of improvement would be to join in the attack when we have possession. He generally uses the ball quite well and he’s one of our fittest players.”

Lachlan Hansen
9 senior games, 5 goals
“Lachie has been fantastic since he came to the back line. It started in the West Coast game, where we felt Lachie would be handy again the tall forward line; he had one of his better games for the club.

“His marks weren’t the junky marks, of the 15, six came from opposition marks. Ever since that game his last few weeks have been really good.

"Outside Luke Delaney, Lachie is the real genuine key position height. We just have to get the mix right where he doesn’t have to mark the ball every time he flies for it. But there hasn’t been a drop off in his performance over the month at all.”

Taylor Hine
6 senior games, 0 goals
“In terms of playing full games we haven’t seen a lot in the seniors.

"He’s a real competitor and doesn’t like getting beaten. The other defenders really like that about him and he can really shut out the opposition small forwards rather than getting a lot of possessions. It compliments (Shaun) Atley, (Michael) Firrito, (Aaron) Mullett, (Scott) McMahon, etc.”

Ayden Kennedy
“He’s shown some AFL type qualities in terms of using his speed, both offensively to run and carry the footy and defensively to close space on his opponent. He can also penetrate the game with his kicking.

“The challenge for Ayden is to replicate those qualities consistently at VFL level.”

Scott McMahon
10 senior games, 0 goals
“The beauty of having Aaron Mullett and Shaun Atley as the small defenders means we’re not always relying on Scotty to take the small, crumbing forward. Because he’s so strong he can play on taller blokes.

"With Scott it’s about his ability to play on different types. He’s generally one of our better organisers on the back-line. He’s almost another assistant coach in terms of organising the defence and how we set up.

“He’s probably the first to admit he hasn’t been as consistent as he would have liked but he certainly adds value to the side.”

Aaron Mullett
11 senior games, 5 goals
“If you just talk about the defenders he’s probably been most improved. He’s got a lot better in one-on-one contests, kicks the ball really well and he defends well.

“He’s had a few high possession games this year. Sometimes you worry about that as a defender because they might not actually be defending and just working to get the footy. I haven’t found that at all with ‘Fishy’ this year. The reason he’s getting the ball is because he’s defending well first. That’s something he’s worked on for about 18 months now.

“The footy he’s played this year backs up what he’s been working on.”

Scott Thompson
11 senior games, 2 goals
“He’s been playing on the opposition’s best key forward and been beating them, or at worst breaking even. I would say he’s arguably in All-Australian form for one of those key-defender positions.

“When he’s playing as well as he is, there’s not a whole lot (of weaknesses) to work on. It’s more about continuing to do what he’s doing.

“He’s one of those guys that even though he’s playing well, he still likes to keep working on those things.”

Max Warren
“You could say it’s surprising that Max has been one of North Ballarat’s best but not really.

"When you get a rookie in, sometimes it takes 12 months to get used to what’s going on in the game style. He’s been much improved this year.

“He was our only rookie to be retained last year so it might have been a little wake-up call for Max that it can end pretty quickly.

“He’s developed into a really solid small defender. We always knew he could defend but he’s been able to do it consistently. He’s got a really good balance of when to defend and when to get on his bike and get involved on offence.

“The biggest thing about his game is that he’s playing with a lot greater intensity. He’s put more value on his conditioning which has allowed him to defend better and go off to get the footy.”

Mitch Wilkins
“Mitch has improved his strength over the footy. Being light he was being pushed off the footy a little easily earlier in the year. In the last two or three week he’s been stronger tackling and also stronger to hold on to the footy when he has been tackled.

“He’s naturally a creative attacking defender. Mitch is similar to how Aaron Mullett started, being able to find the ball but the area he needed to work on was one-on-one.

“A lot of the work done with him is around getting the defensive aspects of his game in order. From where he started to where he is now, he’s made a lot of improvements.”