North Melbourne coach David Noble will lean on Paul Roos throughout the 2021 season for advice as he prepares to take the reins at Arden Street.
Roos was a part of the committee appointed to select the new Roos coach, following the departure of Rhyce Shaw at the end of the 2020 season.
Noble was ultimately appointed, with Roos set to stick around in an advisory role for both the football department and club executives.
The new Kangaroos coach said he plans to utilise the Sydney premiership coach’s wealth of knowledge.
“We’ve had regular communication and he’s back in the country now. He’ll be a sounding board for myself in regards to the coaching,” Noble told Sportsday.
“He’ll be a great connection for our admin and our board to use as a tool internally.
“So I’m going to do everything I can to use his experience to our advantage.”
Roos has worked in the media since finishing up his tenure as coach of Melbourne at the end of 2016.
One of Noble’s first big decisions at the helm was who the club would draft with pick three in the National Draft.
With the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide both selecting talls, North Melbourne had their pick of the pool’s midfielders.
They ultimately settled on Oakleigh Chargers star Will Phillips.
Noble said the youngster’s defensive smarts and versatility were key to their decision.
“I think it was the combination of a few things. He naturally as a midfielder can run defensive patterns really well,” he said.
“A lot of the young midfielders that come through tend to only head one way, so it takes them a while to learn about the defensive structures, Will does that naturally.
“He’s a highly intelligent footballer that understands patterns, ball movement, plays the game with that intelligence, very rarely loses his feet, so we think he adds another dimension of speed and ball winning ability and can play wing, can play half forward and fits into that flexible mode.
“I don’t think you can ever have too many good midfielders in your club.”