Garry Lyon believes North Melbourne “got off lightly” in the aftermath of their 59-point loss to the Gold Coast Suns last weekend.
The Kangaroos were brushed aside by the Suns at Metricon Stadium, kicking just five goals and conceding 14 as they slumped to a 0-2 record under new coach David Noble.
Lyon feels the Roos did largely escape criticism during the week after their disappointing performance and has concerns for them ahead of Friday’s clash with the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium.
“I feel like they absolutely deserve the heat. In fact I think they got off lightly last week against the Gold Coast Suns,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.
“They were so poor, they hardly hit the scoreboard against a team that is still trying to establish themselves and everyone just shrugged their shoulders and went, ‘oh well, how bad is that’, and move on.
“They are under the spotlight tomorrow.
“I tell you what, if you are the Western Bulldogs you will be taking in the most ruthless mentality into that game.”
On Fox Footy’s AFL360 on Wednesday night, Jonathan Brown did put the Roos on the agenda which had club champion David King leaping to their defence.
“They’re an easy whack at the moment the Kangaroos,” King said.
“They’re 200 minutes into a full rebuild. It doesn’t get as far away from the premiership than what they are right now.”
On the back of those comments, Lyon referenced King’s stance when Melbourne were struggling away under Mark Neeld back in 2013.
“We all love Kingy. Last night he was defending North Melbourne, which you do, fine,” he added.
“This is what he said back when Melbourne were going terribly under Mark Neeld: ‘Everyone is sitting back saying give it time. How much time do you give it? This is a club that is on free-fall’.
“That was eight weeks into the season.
“So it’s swings and roundabouts. When you’re in your own team and you’re invested heavily, as you are, he’s begging for time for North Melbourne.
“Of course it is (reasonable), except back when it was a different agenda. It was sack the coach, move on and get it all done eight weeks into a year.
“David Noble has got all that in front of him. Let’s hope he gets longer than eight weeks in the job.”
After two rounds of the 2021 season, the Roos sit at the foot of the ladder with a percentage of just 48.37%.