Former Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins has warned North Melbourne against bringing Jason Horne-Francis back through the VFL if they want to retain his services beyond 2022.
The 19-year-old was suspended for two matches for striking GWS' Josh Kelly in Round 13, an act that typified the frustrating year he and his side have endured.
Jason Horne-Francis could face MRO trouble following this incident midway through the third quarter of #AFLNorthGiants pic.twitter.com/X9u9sFzphq
— AFL (@AFL) June 12, 2022
With the youngster free to return next weekend, it has been raised that it may be through the VFL for Horne-Francis, a decision that would leave Jenkins baffled.
“Some will query with decisions like that you may as well just drop him off at the departure lounge at Virgin and send him on his way,” Jenkins said on SEN's Crunch Time.
“Has there ever been this much noise about a first-year number one draft pick moving this quickly?
“From the outside, it looks like North want to change his attitude, behaviour and some of the way he trains and the way he conducts himself with older experienced teammates.”
The 149-game forward believes the decision to drop the number one draft pick would only add to the list of reasons that seem to be piling up for the youngster to leave the Roos.
“Horne-Francis’ view is, ‘What is this mess? They picked me, I didn’t pick them, I can go home, they desperately want me, Adelaide has shown signs that their rebuild is more advanced than North Melbourne’s and Port Adelaide have been in the mix and are still fighting’,” he said.
“There's an attractive lure on multiple fronts for Horne-Francis to go home.
“If he is disgruntled, playing him in the VFL is not going to help.
“The reality is he’s probably their sixth or seventh player picked, there is a heap of guys who have performed to a lesser standard than he has.
“You just open yourself up to a lot of stuff on the periphery. Handle the issues with him from Monday to Friday and allow the kid to continue to play AFL footy. Playing him at 11 am at Arden Street on a Saturday morning’s just going to make him more upset.”
Both North Melbourne’s senior and VFL sides will face Collingwood next round at the MCG and AIA Centre respectively – which ground Horne-Francis will appear at is yet to be seen.