Two-time North Melbourne premiership player David King has run his eye over the 10 Victorian teams ahead of the AFL season restart on Thursday night.
Speaking on Sportsday WA, King gave his thoughts on where each team is at and what to expect from them in Round 2 and beyond.
See his thoughts below:
“I think the biggest win for the Blues was seeing what Jack Martin was able to do in that forward line. There’s been big wraps on his pre-season and how he’s come down and changed the physicality at Carlton wanting to tackle and train hard and that’s permeated through the group.”
“They didn’t start well against Richmond, they probably weren’t expected to win that game, but they made a game of it late when they found a bit of rhythm.
“I’m expecting them to be pretty solid performers given what David Teague has been talking about saying they’ve come back in terrific shape. They’re a young group, of course that’s a concern.
“No Charlie Curnow, but the availability of Harry McKay, I think this kid is a star. I just can’t wait to see what he’s going to deliver as a power contested marking beast in that forward line.”
“They don’t get an easy draw coming back, they get the Tigers first-up and they’ve got a few injury question marks so they’ve got their issues there’s no doubt about that, but they’ve been such an impressive side and that win against the Western Bulldogs, they just totally shut them down and they couldn’t move the ball.”
“I think you evaluate teams without possession, what are you like when you haven’t got the ball? That’s been the big shift. The thirst to defend is evident with a Nathan Buckley coached team in 2020.”
“I think we all love the way they play and they’re trying to adopt that forward handballing game, but they still lack key forward targets.”
“I know Shaun McKernan will play that role, there’s no James Stewart, clearly there’s no Joe Daniher for the foreseeable future.
“So they’re going to have to score differently. They’re going to have to play a fast brand of footy, but it won’t be random.
“One thing Blake Caracella has talked about is that they will act in a very predictable manner to each other and they’re going to be very difficult to play against, this high-octane Bombers team.”
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“They’re keen (for Jack Steven) to be another spark player, we know what we’re going to get from Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield and these types. Obviously no Tim Kelly there this year.”
“They need another wildcard with speed so they’re desperate to have a look at Jack Steven if they can.
“I thought they were really impressive (in Round 1), I know they got beaten by six goals, but I thought they were really impressive against the Giants.
“They would have beaten most teams in Round 1 playing at that standard, so I think it’s just more of the same from the Cats particularly at home.”
“Big wraps about the pre-season of Chad Wingard and he obviously had a fantastic first round and hit the ground running.”
“Alastair Clarkson’s ability to recruit big-name players and get an impact out of them.
“I don’t know exactly what to expect from Jon Patton, but gee he’s a great target to kick to. We’re looking forward to seeing Tom Mitchell, Jaeger O’Meara is touch-and-go as to whether he gets to the line or not, but if you put Wingard into that midfield it becomes pretty exciting pretty quickly.
“If there’s going to be a team that’s going to change because of the shorter quarters and be the first to start well, it will be Alastair Clarkson. He’ll have something ready for us that he’s been cooking up for 10 or so weeks.”
“I really like the way Christian Petracca has come back from pre-season this year. He looks light, he still looks powerful, he’s going to spend more time in the midfield and I think that’s going to be the shift in the game.”
“These powerful burst-running forwards who can play as midfielders, instead of having one stint per quarter in the midfield and then having to go to the bench or deep forward, they may have two and really spin those rotations given you’ve still got the 90 rotations in 100 minutes. I’m expecting a huge season from Christian Petracca.
“Max Gawn has done a lot of talking, the Dees have done a lot of promising, the Demons have talked a big game – To Hell and Back only works as a theme if you actually come back.
“Right now, all eyes go to Jake Lever and Steven May and these guys down back and the big-name recruits of the last couple of seasons.
“They’ve gone and got Adam Tomlinson, they’ve gone and got Ed Langdon, they’ve got their wings set those magnets won’t move.
“So big expectations – they’d want to show more than they did in Round 1, but all things are positive.”
“We talk a lot about you handle the break and that sort of thing, they basically made contact with each player every day.”
“They had something to do. They had a task to perform. They had a fitness assessment to detail back to the club.
“They kept a really high level of contact with these guys and I think given what we hear from Andrew McLeod and the Crows at the moment, one of the things (North) did was ring the past players to (call current players) and introduce themselves and have a chat. Five minutes here, 10 minutes there.
“I thought it was fantastic. I think they’ve had some significant gains as a football club in these last 10 weeks.
“If the Giants don’t come ready to play, don’t be surprised if the Kangas rattle their cage in Round 2.”
“They’ve just got talent to burn at the moment. You’re going to see the next wave of Tigers come through I think early in the season.”
“Shai Bolton has been a solid player over the last couple of years, but he’s going to become a top-line half-forward flanker in the competition.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing what they do in the ruck. There’s murmurings that Marlion Pickett might play that Shaun Grigg style role as a second ruckman, enabling them to pick the one ruckman and keep the speed up.
“They’re going nowhere. They’re the clear clubhouse leader. They’re just so professional and the pressure for spots is hot given that next wave coming through.”
“I went back and watched that second half on behind the goal vision just to see what went wrong with the Saints (in Round 1).”
“They looked unorganised to me and I know that’s a harsh thing to say … but I’ve sort of got a theory that if you come into Round 1 unorganised you have no hope to correct it. You’re still going to be unorganised.
“So let’s see if that’s the case, particularly down back. I mean, Ben Cunnington led from the goal square, he’s probably the slowest bloke in the AFL, he shouldn’t be leading from the goal square and taking a mark on the lead against anyone.
“He got into the goal square and out-marked them once and he got out on the lead and out-marked them another time.
“Defensively, the Saints were awful in that second half, so they are going to have to lift and lift quickly given they’ve got the Dogs looking at them who are also looking down the barrel.”
“They’ve had a horror period haven’t they? The Lachie Hunter situation was a cherry on top to a poor start to the year.”
“I think that they just expected things to happen in Round 1 and they ran into a really hot Collingwood who didn’t give an inch and they got whacked between the eyes.
“I expect them to be a serious footy team this year. They’re too good in that midfield, they’ve got the answers down back and they’ve now got the answers up forward.
“I don’t know if Aaron Naughton will be a bit of a swing man for them, but Josh Bruce will kick 35 to 40 goals and just be that stable forward that they need.
“Since Barry Hall moved on, they’ve never really replaced that role. I think that they’re going to be a serious football team and I wouldn’t be surprised if they went on a run of winning four or five games and finish top four.”