There’s no denying North Melbourne has been an impressive team to watch over the second half of the 2021 season.
The ability for the young side to improve over the course of the year and challenge genuine, premiership-contending opposition for four quarters in such a short space of time has been nothing short of astounding.
North’s last two weeks have quite possibly been two of its most impressive this season, with a third quarter demolition of Carlton resulting in victory, followed by a tight and competitive loss to a strong and experienced Geelong outfit.
Despite the continued growth of his side, David Noble says the most pleasing aspect of his tenure at the club is the environment that has been cultivated at Arden Street.
“I think we’ve created an environment where our players and staff are wanting to come into work and continue to improve,” Noble told AFL360.
“The level of energy for us to continue to perform on a regular basis is there consistently, [so is] the thirst for learning.
“Internally our leadership group has been fantastic this year and are really driving the standards in terms of our methodology.
“We set a pretty simple template early and we’ve stuck to it rigidly … we think our education has been really point and that allows our players to be functional on the ground.”
With North set to take on Richmond this weekend, a victory for the Kangaroos could put a major dent in the Tigers’ finals hopes.
Richmond currently sits 11th on the ladder, just one win outside of the top eight, with a higher percentage than both GWS and Fremantle.
North, on the other hand, sit one game and percentage behind Hawthorn and are looking to rise off the foot of the ladder.
Playing at the MCG for the first time since 2019, Noble says taking on finals contending opposition in the run home offers great learning experiences to the playing group.
“We love the fact that in the four games that have remained, from last week going home, we potentially play three finalists,” he said.
“The Cats were the first one, the ‘Tiges’ are still in the hunt for finals, and we play Sydney beyond that.
“For our young group the excitement is in putting our best foot forward, continuing to get experience and learn going into next year.”
