The North Melbourne Kangaroos have been boosted by the inclusion of three senior-listed players for Saturday's clash with the Coburg Lions at Piranha Park.

No.1 pick Jason Horne-Francis will play his second game at VFL level after being omitted from the AFL side, while he will be joined in the team by fellow young gun Flynn Perez and the experienced Kayne Turner.

Perez has not played at any level in a fortnight following a one-match suspension in the AFL and then was an unused medical substitute last week.

Former Blue Tom Williamson also returns after missing the 20-point loss to Sydney under the concussion protocols, while 19-year-old Gippsland Power winger Paddy Cross will be the 23rd player.

Following his successful return to footy after 379 days, Ben Cunnington goes out of the side to make his triumphant return to the AFL line-up, while fellow senior-listed player Atu Bosenavulagi has been named an AFL emergency.

Joining them as outs will be omitted trio Bode Stevens, Nathan Beattie and Zach Monkhorst.

Saturday, August 13

Coburg Lions v North Melbourne at Piranha Park, 12.35pm AEST

North Melbourne’s VFL side has claimed its fourth win of the season after running out comfortable 58-point winners over Coburg on Saturday. 

After an evenly matched start to the game under sunny skies, the Kangaroos gained the ascendancy around the contest ultimately allowing them to come away with a 18.14 (122) to 9.10 (64) win.

The young dynamic pairing of Tarryn Thomas and Jason Horne-Francis was the catalyst for the strong result with the midfielders ending the day with a combined 58 disposals.

“Jason’s attitude was first-class, he competed really strongly all day and had to deal with a heavy tag,” said interim coach Tom Lynch. 

“He worked really hard from contest to contest, he was strong in the air for us, and he and Tarryn Thomas in particular were really important for us in the middle of the ground.”

Stout defensive work from the likes of Marty Hore and Josh Walker and plenty of fluent ball movement generated in most by Josh Goater saw the Roos take a healthy five-goal lead into the main change.

But, despite a superb goal from Tom Williamson at the start of the second half, the Lions were able to boot three straight majors of their own to put North Melbourne on the back foot.

The lead was cut to 18 points at three-quarter time but a third goal to Thomas and a second to Williamson in the opening two minutes of the final quarter saw the Roos reassert their dominance and never look back.

With 15 AFL-listed players on the park for the first time this season, Lynch was delighted by the squad’s efforts.

“It was just really pleasing to see so many of the guys play their role for the team today,” he said.

“Thomas’ ability to bring other teammates into the game was a thing (development coach) Gavin Brown and I were really happy with. 

“Our last quarter in particular was strong, we kicked six goals and six behinds to their three points, so it says to us we certainly did it for long enough.

“The buy-in from those guys who were disappointed they weren’t playing in the AFL side and the buy-in from our senior-listed VFL players – I thought they all played a really strong team brand of footy today which was really pleasing.” 

To go with his 29 disposals, Thomas accumulated eight inside-50s and three goals while Jack Mahony kicked four of his own.

LIONS v KANGAROOS Full match coverage and stats

Horne-Francis finished with nine clearances from his 29 touches and in his first game back from AFL suspension, Flynn Perez had 26 disposals and seven marks.

With one round left in the season, Lynch is looking forward to capping off an encouraging month of football. 

“Even though today we had a strong result in terms of the scoreboard, I feel like the effort and the way we’ve been playing over the past month has been really positive and a daring brand,” he said. 

“Over the last couple of weeks we’ve transferred that into our play from our training so hopefully in the last game we can do the same and finish the year strongly.”

The Roos will host Gold Coast next Saturday in the final round of the home and away season.

COBURG                          2.1     4.4     9.7     9.10     (64)     
NORTH MELBOURNE     3.2     9.4     12.8     18.14     (122)      

GOALS  
Coburg: Clarke 3, D’Intinosante 2, Lowson 2, Reddick, Sturgess
North Melbourne: Mahony 4, Comben, 3, Thomas 3, Answerth 3, Williamson 2, Mitchell-Russell, Ford, Jones

BEST  
Coburg: Clarke, Gillard, Jepson, Nelson, Boucher
North Melbourne: Thomas, Horne-Francis, Perez, J.Walker, Goater, Comben