Consistency is the key message from VFL coach David Loader ahead of Saturday’s practice match against the AFL Academy at the MCG.
The match will serve as a final hit-out for North ahead of the club’s inaugural VFL appearance in Round 2 against the Northern Blues, while also being a curtain raiser to North’s AFL side, who face Melbourne on Saturday afternoon.
With the match just days away, Loader has encouraged his team to make the most out of the opportunity to run out onto the MCG against the country’s brightest draft eligible players.
“It’s a great opportunity to play on the MCG, every kid’s dream is to run out and play on the MCG,” Loader told North Media.
“To play against kids as talented as the AIS group is really exciting too.
“It’s a great opportunity for people to get along and have a look at our young guys that are coming through, our AFL-listed and our VFL-listed guys that get to play on the weekend.”
North has made a promising start to their pre-season, winning all three hit-outs, including a convincing 47-point win over Collingwood at the Holden Centre last weekend. Loader acknowledged that the impressive run of results has allowed his side the opportunity to showcase their exciting brand of footy.
“We’ll have the same outlook on the game that we’ve had all along,” Loader said.
“We’re working our way through a process to get to Round 1 for us, which is Round 2 of the VFL.
“We’ll still be trialling a couple of things, it’s still a practise match for us. It’s just a practise match with a difference, being out on the MCG.
“The guys that get an opportunity to play this week, they’ll be up and about, and ready to showcase what they’ve learnt, to show that they play the North Melbourne way, so we’re really looking forward to that. It’s going to be a great opportunity for these guys to get challenged by the best kids in the country.
“We’ve got a group that wants to learn, and they certainly want to learn and play to our method. That’s super important to us here.”
When probed on the playing style he plans to implement in 2018, Loader underlined the importance of mirroring the methods of the AFL group.
“We’re really consistent and strong in our messaging that we follow what our AFL group is doing,” Loader said.
“We’d like to think that the VFL squad compliments the AFL squad, which was always going to be our aim.
“We’re seeing the benefits of that every time we go onto the park and play. Hopefully we can be consistent with that over the season and we can see some great improvement out of our VFL list, but certainly out of our young AFL list.”
Fans are invited to attend Saturday’s practice match at the MCG, with the first bounce at approximately 11:05am.
