Trent Dumont has made it through his first competitive game of football in 2021, with the wingman getting just over a half under his belt.
Dumont has been missing from action after suffering a calf injury over the Christmas period last year, during his off-season program.
VFL coach Leigh Adams says the performance of Dumont is a definite a silver-lining for what was a tough night for his side.
“He looked like he was moving well, got plenty of the footy and was able to use it pretty well. That’s probably the one positive out of tonight,” Adams told North Media.
“I’d say we might have him for another game but the seniors might want to get him back in. His form looks good enough but I’m sure that will be more of a medical call than anything.
“He looked really good and was definitely one of our best in the time he played.”
Dumont was not the only player to stand tall in loss, with Dom Tyson and VFL-listed players Josh Clayton and Tyler Roos all battling hard in the middle of the ground.
Clayton finished with team-highs in disposals (30), marks (8) and tackles (7), while Roos and Tyson finished with 26 and 27 touches respectively.
Adams says while there are players who can hold their heads high, the whole team needs to lift their standards of effort and execution.
“We had too many individuals that didn’t pull their weight to be completely honest,” he said.
“We got outworked again and this is the second week in a row that’s happened.
“We had some good individual performances, but as a team we were left wanting far too much.”
With Round 3 in the rear-view mirror, North head into its clash with Southport with a number of key areas to improve on.
Despite the 0-3 start to the season, Adams says his side needs to target a handful of key areas to improve in as soon as possible, and that there’s no need to panic in this early stage of the season.
“I think we just need to find two or three clear areas where we need to get better and just go in and work on those,” he said.
“It’s about not overcomplicating things by trying to fix every issue at once. We just need to find a couple of things we can get some big gains in quickly.
“Hopefully next week we’ll put in a better performance than tonight.”
North Melbourne 3.6.24 – Casey Demons 19.17.131
Goals: Scott, Gunther, Polidoros.
AFL-listed players
Dom Tyson – 27 disposals
Bailey Scott – 19 disposals, 1 goal
Will Walker – 16 disposals, 6 marks
Tristan Xerri – 35 hitouts, 16 disposals
Patrick Walker – 15 disposals
Trent Dumont – 13 disposals
Eddie Ford – 9 disposals
Taylor Garner – 8 disposals, 5 tackles
