North Melbourne heads into the 2022 season with relatively low expectations, as senior coach David Noble embarks on his second year at the helm at Arden Street.
The Roos finished last season dead last on the ladder, netting them the prized first overall selection at last November's National Draft, which turned out to be highly-regarded South Adelaide midfielder, Jason Horne-Francis.
The Kangaroos were also lauded for poaching hard-nosed midfielder Hugh Greenwood from the Gold Coast Suns, as well as landing promising ex-Richmond ruck-forward Callum Coleman-Jones during the trade period.
Many pundits predict the young Roos to nestle among the bottom four teams in the competition by season's end, but veteran skipper Jack Ziebell, along with gun talents such as Jy Simpkin and Tarryn Thomas, will look to lead North to greater success in 2022.
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Ins: Jackson Archer (National Draft), Miller Bergman (National Draft), Callum Coleman-Jones (Richmond), Paul Curtis (National Draft), Josh Goater (National Draft), Hugh Greenwood (Gold Coast Suns), Jason Horne-Francis (National Draft), Tom Lynch (Adelaide Crows).
Outs: Shaun Atley (delisted), Tom Campbell (St Kilda), Trent Dumont (Port Adelaide), Taylor Garner (delisted), Charlie Ham (delisted), Connor Menadue (delisted), Robbie Tarrant (Richmond), Dom Tyson (delisted), Will Walker (delisted).
Weaknesses
A-graders: Over the course of recent years, the Roos have landed B-graders such as Jared Polec, Aaron Hall, Jed Anderson, Jaidyn Stephenson, Aidan Corr and now Greenwood and Coleman-Jones.
However, the Kangaroos' list lacks bonafide superstars.
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They boast the likes of the aforementioned Simpkin, potent half-forward Cam Zurhaar and key position target Nick Larkey, but they don't have enough game-changers in their line-up to be able to properly challenge for a finals position.
Over recent years, they've, unsuccessfully, competed for the services of Dustin Martin and Josh Kelly, but have not been able to lure any truly 'big names' in order to help elevate their list to contending status.
Play-style: It was clear to see that David Noble's game tactics didn't yield much success in his debut season as senior coach.
Stagnant ball movement and subpar disposal efficiency were the areas where the Shinboners tended to crumble during games.
Despite a few pleasantly surprising performances from his team last season, Noble's men generally struggled mightily on gameday.
