Justin Leppitsch has encouraged new North Melbourne coach David Noble to not neglect playing experienced players during the club’s rebuild phase.
Noble will take the reins at Arden Street after the Kangaroos had a forgettable 2020 campaign where they narrowly avoided the wooden spoon with a 3-14 win-loss record.
Leppitsch, who was tasked with rebuilding Brisbane during his three seasons as coach, says North Melbourne should blood youth but combine that with some experienced heads to ensure they remain competitive in 2021.
“I don’t think North Melbourne is in the state that it was when I took over Brisbane,” the triple premiership Lion told SEN Brekafast.
“It’s getting more maturity in the group. I know it’s easy to play young kids and lots of them, but I think the supporters need to see a bit of hope and not see 80-point losses.
“Because as we know with young kids there is inconsistency so the more you have the more inconsistent you are.
“So just adding a sprinkling of experience just to keep the team more competitive while you’re still trying to reach those end goals of having a team in finals, not just for one year or two years, but you want it for a long period of time – you want a four or five year crack at it which you might get two or three Grand Finals out of it.
“I think that should be the goal of all clubs.”
North Melbourne enter next week’s AFL Draft with picks 2, 11, 30, 39, 71, 81 up their sleeve.