“Does he have the courage?”: The “statement” King wants to see Roos coach make after Round 3 loss
North Melbourne great David King has called out his former club’s game plan and lack of effort following their disastrous 108-point loss to Brisbane on Saturday night.
The game couldn’t have played out much worse for the Roos, who lost every quarter and were out-hunted all night.
One particular stat that will startle North fans was Brisbane’s 26 marks inside 50, compared to just five from the Roos.
While there were glaring problems, one stood out most to King, who still can’t see the Roos’ identity.
“I’ve talked about this for weeks, I still can’t see this plan. Whether it's with the ball or without it, I can’t see it,” King told SEN’s Whateley.
“There’s no asset at all. What is the one thing you say, ‘well, we’re going to bring this’.
Carlton and Hawthorn - two teams who lacked an identity coming into 2022 – have sold their respective supporter bases hope after showing identifiable traits across their first three rounds.
However, North Melbourne are yet to show as such, losing to the Hawks before defeating a COVID-depleted West Coast outfit in Round 2.
David Noble was extremely disappointed in his men post-game, saying the club is well short of where it should be.
“We let ourselves down enormously, we should be embarrassed,” Noble said.
“I think the coaches are putting a high demand on what we require and we need our players to toe the line.
“If you don’t bring your energy, you get that result.
“We’ve got to go back and have a bloody good look at ourselves. That’s the bottom line.
“It’s not acceptable.
“It’s really poor on our standards.”
However, King needs more than just words from the man in charge of the Roos.
“They’re all words to me… ‘standards’, well we can’t measure standards. All the things that David Noble are throwing up, we can’t measure,” he added.
The Roos now face a telling game against Sydney this week for multiple reasons.
It’s not just an opportunity for the team to respond, but King believes it also might be an opportunity for Noble to “make a statement”.
He believes it would be easy for the Roos’ coach to drop a fringe player, but this wouldn’t address the "core" issue.
“I’m hard on senior players, if they don’t lead the way then what are the young kids going to follow? They’re going to learn bad habits and it’s actually going to put you back further than it should,” King continued.
“So Hugh Greenwood for me is a significant piece. You get this guy as a senior core player, no Ben Cunnington, no Jed Anderson, he’s going to go in and replace them.
“Well, he’s got to show the work rate post a lost clearance or a won clearance that shows Jason Horne-Francis, ‘okay, now I’ve got to switch on and I’ve got to chase or do whatever’.
“Some of the efforts to defend or get involved in the game after it left the clearance were embarrassing.
“Actually, it’s not embarrassing, it’s counter-productive to everything you’re trying to set up.
“So I don’t want to hear the words, and it’s easy to drop a (player like) Jared Polec.
“But if you look at the root cause of the problem, it’s not engaging with the game when the ball’s 50/50 in dispute, or just about to leave the clearance one way or another.
“That’s where I’m critical of the senior core players.
“Does he have the courage, David Noble, to make a statement with one of those guys? Because that’s the core of the problem.”
North Melbourne’s VFL side also got thumped in a dark day for the club, recording a triple-figure loss to the Lions.
Listen to the Monday Means Test with David King below