The struggles of North Melbourne and St Kilda have persisted in 2024, with the teams occupying the bottom half of the table after poor starts to the season.
With a combined three wins in 20 fixtures thus far, and the reliance heavily leaning on young talent, both clubs have found themselves in no man’s land.
Without a large area of Victoria to call home, with just a combined three fixtures at the MCG in 2024, and without a premiership since 1999, the two teams have struggled to find any points of interest for recruiting or maintaining high-level players.
North Melbourne have recruited just three players from free agency in the last 10 years, while St Kilda have managed to attract four.
Amongst Victorian clubs, the Saints and the Kangaroos are yet to nail down an identity in the eye sof former GWS captain Phil Davis.
“The big four stand out straight away - Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond and Carlton,” Davis told SEN’s Whateley.
“If you are coming back to Victoria, a lure for the player is to play for the big four. You get the marquee slots, you get all the big games, you have 100,000 members, you get everything big.
“Then we go down the highway to Geelong. They come into town; they play in big games. They go back to Geelong, they live on the surf coast, they play golf off 13th Beach, they play in front of 40,000 and they win.
“Melbourne and Hawthorn are always trying to nudge up to play with the big boys and they have got their thing.
“The Doggies have got all the northern suburbs; they own everything west of the Westgate Bridge.
“All of this is the long-winded way of saying St Kilda and North have got this really difficult challenge.
“They don’t get the marquee slots; they don’t get all the big games and they are not a big club.
“It makes it very difficult to recruit mature age players. Their strategy is almost based on pay overs and recruit B-graders and stack your team with them.
“Then you have to go to the draft, and you cannot miss at the draft. You have got to get A-graders at the draft.”
North Melbourne have had six top-five picks in the National Draft since 2020.
In 2020, Jason Horne-Francis was taken with pick one before Will Phillips was taken at three.
Harry Sheezel and George Wardlaw were taken back-to-back with pick three and four in 2022, before Colby McKercher and Zane Duursma with picks two four last year.
Of the six players, one has already left the club (Horne-Francis to Port Adelaide), Phillips has managed just three games in the senior side, while Sheezel, Wardlaw and McKercher have already occupied important roles amongst the side.
As for St Kilda, their draft selections in the last decade have been nothing short of a miss.
In 2014, St Kilda selected Patrick McCartin with the number one pick, who managed just 35 games for the Saints due to concussion (before he returned for Sydney).
From 2015 to 2017, two of their three top 20 selections have left the club (Jade Gresham and Nick Coffield), while Hunter Clark has not managed a game in 2024.
Max King, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Mattaes Phillipou and Darcy Wilson followed, and have all played major roles in the side since they debuted.
Sitting in 14th (Saints) and 18th (Roos) respectively, the two clubs still have a long way to go, and with the ongoing recruitment issues, it begs the question as to whether the clubs will find any success in the years to come.
“North have got the A-graders in through the draft, but now they need to go and trade in the B-graders,” Davis said.
“While the Saints at the moment are hoping that the Phillipous of the world turn into those A-graders.”
The winless Roos are next up against Port Adelaide in Hobart on Saturday afternoon.
The Saints will look to win their fourth game of the season when they meet Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.
