David Noble remains certain that he is the right man to lead North Melbourne forward, despite increasing speculation around his position as head coach.
The Kangaroos, who haven't won a game since Round 2 against West Coast, are under-fire after a series of poor performances throughout 2022. With Geoff Walsh now conducting a review into the club's football department, it seems as if change is on the horizon at Arden Street.
While Walsh's review is still undergoing, reports late last week indicated that the Kangaroo's were ready to part ways with their coach should the team fail to pull off a miracle win against Collingwood.
Despite pushing the Pies to the final siren, North left the field without the four points and with an unfortunate 14 match losing streak to consolidate their spot on the bottom of the table. Noble however, remained adamant that he did "believe" in the direction of the club with him at the helm.
"I believe in what I'm doing, I believe in the group we have. We're resolute on where the direction needs to go," Noble said post-game.
"I'm all up for getting better - if there's feedback for me as an individual.
"But having been around the block, I think I have a clear idea as to what needs to happen and that's what we're pursuing."
It remains to be seen if the Kangaroo's spirted performance on Saturday afternoon is enough to keep Noble's position safe, but there were encouraging signs for a North outfit that lost to Geelong by 112 points just seven days prior.
โAt the end of the day, we donโt want to just be improved โ we want to win,โ Noble said.
โI think a lot of credit (goes) to the players for shifting the mindset around. We went on the attack today and shifted a bit of our training.
โWe didnโt ignore defence but we ramped up our offence โฆ we wanted to try to play the way that you need to play at the โG, and I think for a lot of the game, we were on.
โThatโs the way we want to play for the rest of the year. Weโve chased that and, at different times, itโs sort of been there โฆ weโve got to find that mechanism thatโs going to allow that to be repeated.โ
Jason Horne-Francis is likely to rejoin North's senior team after an impressive display in the VFL, while the Roos will be waiting on news on the fitness of Jaidyn Stephenson, who was substituted from the game with a hip injury.
The Kangaroos next face Richmond at Marvel Stadium in Round 18, with or without Noble at the helm.
