Current Ladder Position 12th
Wooden Spoon Odds $15.00
Top 8 Odds $51.00
ContestedFooty’s start of the year preview
5th to 7th. Another year and some of the Kangaroo’s senior players stepping up again had us tipping an improved performance this year and a top 8 finish. See the preview here.
Current Situation
The Kangaroo’s are struggling in the bottom half of the ladder and their coach has just resigned so at the moment it is an exciting time down at the football club. The most interest over the next few weeks will be surrounding off-field issues which you can read more about here.
Backline
North Melbourne’s defense has been solid this year without being spectacular, when you consider how the team is performing as a whole the Kangaroo’s backline is actually going quite well. The addition to Grima has proven to be a decent pick up and looks promising going forward.
Midfield
The loss of Brent Harvey has been a huge blow to the Kangaroo’s so far in 2009 and the hurt in the midfield is about to be turned up a bit again with young Ziebell going down with a broken leg. Pleasingly the Kangaroo’s have fought on and tackled well all over the field. They are lacking a bit of extra class and Wells really needs to shake off his soreness and deliver for there to be any bite in the Kangaroo’s midfield.
Forwards
Yet another cub that has seriously struggled to put threatening scores on the board on a consistent basis this year. David Hale has been their biggest goal kicker so far this year which is an indictment on their strike power as he has only managed 18 goals.
Including Hale the Kangaroo’s only have 5 players who have kicked 10 or more goals so far this year, St Kilda by contrast have 6 with the top 3 managing 40, 28 and 21 goals; the Kangaroo’s firepower clearly needs a lift if they are to compete with the better teams in the competition.
Coach
Dean Laidley has served his club well over the journey and everyone should remember that, what his successors achieve in the near future will determine how highly he is rated in the future.
Best Performed Player
Hamish McIntosh- Has really delivered first use of the ball to his team on a consistent basis so far in 2009, Hamish is also threatening around the ground accumulating a fair bit of the ball and occasionally sneaking forward for a goal in what has been a pleasing year in his career.
Looking Forward
It is clear now that the Kangaroo’s will have to rebuild its list, the good news is the list is a young one and one that a new coach will be able to work with. For the rest of the year the Kangaroo’s will be hoping to get the basics right before worrying about the results as they try to set themselves for future campaigns.
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