North Melbourne’s group of 2023 draftees have all impressed early in their first pre-season in the AFL system.
The Kangaroos left the 2023 AFL Draft with a fair haul having selected five players inside the first 23 picks.
Colby McKercher (Pick 2) and Zane Duursma (Pick 4) arrived at Arden Street with massive reputations having starred at Under-18 level.
North’s new head of development, Mick Barlow, says the pair have come in with a great attitude and and have quickly settled into life as AFL listed players.
“All I can do early days is judge on attitude and effort,” he said on SEN Mornings.
“That sounds quite cliche but I just love seeing guys coming in to understand and realise they’ve fulfilled their dream of getting into the system.
“Our challenge now is to make sure it’s a prolonged existence in that system.
“Colby and ‘Duurs’ (Duursma) in particular, there’s been a lot of focus on them as the higher picks and rightfully so.
“High talent, high attitude. They’ve come in with the ability to absorb and take on coaching from day dot.”
Barlow also spoke glowingly of young defender Wil Dawson (Pick 22) as well as ruck prospect Taylor Goad (Pick 20) and Riley Hardeman (Pick 23).
“Wil Dawson, he just has an appetite to improve. He’s really raw, he’s a 200cm key defender who only turns 18 (this week),” he added.
“We had a fairly solid condition/skill session (last week) and to use a vernacular that I love, he emptied out, his breakfast may have come up, but he got straight back into the next drill.
“He did all with a smile on his face, so he’s got great attitude does Wil, as well as ‘Hards’ (Hardeman) and ‘Goady’ (Goad). He’s a big ruck who will take some time to develop.
“Coaching and being involved with these guys that are just figuring it out is pretty cool at this stage. Our job is to try and fast-track them and make them AFL players as quickly as possible.”
There are a duo of recent draftees who are also showing plenty at North training in the lead-up to the 2024 season.
Charlie Comben, who was drafted in 2019, suffered a fibula fracture and syndesmosis injury early in the 2023 campaign but has been working hard to build his fitness and condition.
The 22-year-old has been switched to defence this off-season and has been growing in the role as the weeks tick on.
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“Charlie is coming along. He’s been integrated into some training in the last couple of weeks,” said Barlow of Comben.
“He’s a bigger body so sometimes with those breaks and lower leg ailments, the bigger bodies take a while to adjust to the load. He’s in really good physical condition, now it’s just about building that volume to be able to play and compete.
“It’s been made fairly known that we’ll have a look at him across half-back in a key position role behind the ball. It’s to allow him see the ball coming at him. We’ve seen some nice stuff in the very limited bits of play he’s been involved in.”
The other North youngster whose attitude is shining through is Brayden George, who was drafted in 2022.
The 19-year-old ruptured his ACL in his draft year before sustaining an elbow injury in a freak gym accident in October, but he continues to front up to training with a smile on his face.
George is yet to play at AFL level but is doing everything in his power to make an impression this pre-season, according to Barlow.
“Brayden George, this kid has got great resilience,” Barlow said of the talented medium-sized forward.
“I’ve only known him for a month. He had a knee reco last year and then an elbow injury, and all he’s done is rocked up to work with a smile on his face and a great attitude to be the best teammate and person he can around the club.
“What he’s done is shown he’s a great role model for others to understand the great position they’re in, just to be able to compete and train and do this for a living. It’s been taken away from him for longer than he’d like.
“He’s one that I have no doubt, with the attitude he’s got, he’ll come in and show some real things for North. We’re looking forward to getting him back involved in the footy program in the next month or so.”
The Roos recently spent time on the Gold Coast for a pre-season training camp. They are back in training at La Trobe in Bundoora this week with Arden Street closed for resurfacing.
Images supplied by NMFC.