Injuries are a part of football, that’s an indisputable fact. How teams respond and react to injuries is when the true culture of a football club is shown.
With the likes of Robbie Tarrant, Luke McDonald, Aidan Corr, Aiden Bonar, Jed Anderson, Jared Polec and Jaidyn Stephenson all currently out injured, North Melbourne’s depth has been tested over the course of 2021.
This has allowed new faces to step into the breach and take the game by the scruff of the neck, and it’s allowed plenty of young talent to be exposed to the rigours of AFL football.
North ruck and development coach Anthony Rocca says the opportunity afforded to every player on North’s list has been a breath of fresh air this season.
“It’s tough when you have so many injuries, but the opportunity it gives for our younger players coming through is massive,” Rocca said during the latest Member Q&A, presented by AIA.
“Will Phillips will get an opportunity, and we’ll have more have an opportunity. Eddie Ford and a couple of others [could] go through there.
“We might see ‘Big X’ (Tristan Xerri) get through there in the next few weeks because he’s having some good form in VFL football … the opportunity it gives our younger players is massive.”
It isn’t just North’s young players making the most of their opportunities and senior level this season, with Tom Campbell seamlessly stepping into the secondary ruck role behind Todd Goldstein.
After playing eight straight games for just the second time in his career, Campbell has kicked 6 goals and accumulated 90 hitouts, arguably in career-best form.
Rocca says seeing the 29-year-old stake his claim at senior level is a complement to the work he puts in on the training track.
“The other opportunity is for the guys like big Tom Campbell, who have been in and out of the side … it’s given him the great opportunity to try and maintain his status in the side,” he said.
“He just wants to learn, sometimes he wants to learn to much, but he’s always on the ball, always trying to improve himself, trying to bring other guys along with him.
“It’s been good opportunities for the young and good opportunities for the old as well.”
To hear Rocca discuss his time at Collingwood, Charlie Comben’s development and the improvement of the side in full, check out the full Members Q&A below.
