With only 23 players selected to play AFL football each week, sometimes a list size of 44 players can seem slightly excessive, but it ensures quality can be maintained throughout the side when players inevitably become injured or unavailable.

With North Melbourne players missing a combined 137 games so far in 2021, there was a struggle to maintain the internal selection pressure required for a team to thrive across both AFL and VFL level.

However, with the recent returns of Jaidyn Stephenson, Luke McDonald and Robbie Tarrant among others, and the likes of Jared Polec, Taylor Garner and Jed Anderson seemingly not too far away, competition for spots in the senior side is increasing every week.

David Noble says this competition for spots ensures players are champing at the bit should they be afforded an opportunity at AFL level, and that no player’s spot in the side is a given.

“Tristan Xerri got an opportunity with his form, Atu (Bosenavulagi) is knocking on the door, Patty Walker had his best game for us last week,” Noble said.

“There’s no doubt (Eddie) Ford and (Will) Phillips particularly are knocking on the door with where they’re at … Lachie Young was the sub last week so he’s another … putting his hand up this week.

“There’s some internal pressure now building on selection which is what you need … we’re at a point where we’re not going to throw our senior guys back in because they’re there. They’ll need to deliver some performance at VFL [level].”

After a draw against the Giants and a competitive showing against the Lions, North looks to have turned a corner coming out of the bye with its mechanisms and game plan really starting to click.

While David Noble has made no secret of his side’s desire to improve, he says the growth that can be seen in the side on a day to day basis is cause for excitement.

“We know there are still some bumps in the road ahead, we’re not saying it’s all going to be smooth sailing … but I think it’s important we keep striving for that continuous improvement in certain elements within our game,” he said.

“If our energy and our effort is consistent then we know the outcomes we can deliver from that are better, you can continue to strive for those improvements in certain elements of our game.

“Our fans and our members should know our players have got a great thirst to improve and get better, and they’re really on point with what that now looks like.

“The group’s … been really clear on what they want to achieve in the back end of the year, driving even harder standards, training levels, and there’s no doubt our training levels correlate into our game.”

Number one mid-season draft selection Jacob Edwards joined up with the main group for the first time this week.

With the addition of Edwards and fellow mid-season recruit Charlie Ham, North now has seven first year players on its books, and the future is well and truly on show.

David Noble says the club is going to take a slow approach with Edwards’ development over the rest of 2021, but the young ruck/forward is enthusiastic to get stuck in.

“There’s a fair bit of assessment we need to go to about where his body is, the technical pieces of what his cores strength looks like, what he’s like in the gym, his fitness levels,” Noble said.

“We’ve been able to get him into the club which is hugely exciting to see him sitting in the front row of the meetings with Charlie Ham.

“If and when we can its appropriate and he’s at the right level then we’d love to get him into our VFL structure … we’ll take it really quietly.”

North returns to Hobart for the third game in a row this weekend and will be looking to improve on its high-quality performances of the last two weeks.

Noble says he loves returning to Tasmania as much as possible during the season, and wants a big crowd to come and support his side against the Suns.

“We love playing down there. Our form line in Tassie, both Launceston and Hobart, has been pretty solid overall,” he said.

“Last week we had our members able to get in for free, I think this week all kids under 15 are free, so we’d love to see a big crowd down there.

“In the first couple of weeks out of the bye we’ve really set our sights on the consistency of four quarters, so we’re really looking forward to getting down there again.”