Too much, too soon for Roos?
North Melbourne coach Brad Scott admits he’s made a mistake by playing too many of his recruits too soon, as he laments the team’s poor start to the season.
The Kangaroos will be looking for their first win on Saturday night when they host Adelaide at Marvel Stadium, having begun the year with losses to Fremantle, Brisbane and Hawthorn.
The club targeted and successfully acquired five players from other teams during last year's trade period - Jared Polec, Jasper Pittard, Aaaron Hall, Dom Tyson and ruckman Tom Campbell, all of whom have played in the early stages of the season.
But Scott admits it could be too much change too soon.
“It’s probably taken a little bit longer for us to gel as a team than I anticipated,” the coach said before training on Wednesday.
“With bringing in seven or so new players and really wanting to inject Bailey Scott and Tarryn Thomas into our team in addition to five other players from other clubs I thought we could bring them together a little quicker than we have.
“I've still got in conjunction with our coaches, some work to do on that.”
Despite the absence of inside grunt from Jed Anderson – who will return this week barring a training mishap – and Ben Jacobs, the mainstays of Arden Street’s midfield has been performing strongly this year.
Best-and-fairest winner Shaun Higgins was again outstanding against the Hawks with 36 disposals and a goal, followed closely by Ben Cunnington, whose 33 disposals in round three added to his tally of 36 the week before.
But, according to the coach, it’s been the new boys who have found it harder to hit their straps in a different environment.
“I can make excuses for some of the boys at the moment, because it’s not ingrained in them and it's taken us a long time to build a system of play that all our players now find second nature.
“But for the new boys it’s been a slight challenge for them.
“That’s been in hindsight a bit of an error on my behalf because I probably brought them all in at the same time because I anticipated we could gel a lot quicker.''
Scott will hope that Anderson’s return will be complemented by the inclusion of Sam Wright, who hasn’t played since last season, although the coach admitted that he’d have to do everything on the track to prove his fitness.
With the club under the microscope and in desperate need of a win, power forward Ben Brown has also come under fire, with former club champion Wayne Carey this week criticising Brown’s skill and versatility.
After an impressive haul of 61 goals last season, Brown has had a quieter start to 2019, kicking six in his first three games.
And while Scott went into bat for Brown, he didn’t strongly disagree with Carey’s comments.
“Ben’s got to hold up his end of the bargain but we’ve also got to help with how we deliver the ball,'' Scott said. ''We really haven’t helped him the last three weeks.
“We welcome people’s opinion … I don’t think a lot of the things Wayne said are without merit and Ben knows that too, but I think there are things that we can do to help as a team … it’s not all Browny’s fault.”