A thumping win over Collingwood in Round 9 lifted North Melbourne to fourth on the VFL ladder after eight matches.

As the reserves pause for their bye approaching the season's halfway point, VFL senior coach Tom Lynch discusses five of the talking points from his side's campaign so far.

Taylor Goad's emergence

In Tristan Xerri, the Kangaroos have one of the competition's elite rucks, but waiting in the wings is an apprentice who is emerging as an exciting ruck prospect in his own right.

Still only 20, the 207cm Goad is yet to miss a reserves game as he has slowly filled out his frame across his first two seasons. 

Across his eight games so far this year he has quietly underlined his promise, including his most impressive outing to date against the Pies last weekend.

"It's really exciting when you see his game start to develop," Lynch said. 

"He's done a power of work with the coaching group, in particular with (ruck coach) Damian Monkhorst and (development coach) Adam Marcon, improving the technical and tactical elements of his game.

"We've been really impressed with his appetite to continue to keep working really hard and make the most of his opportunities. 

"He's got a great mentor in Xerri who has been outstanding this year in our AFL program. For (Goad) to learn off him, he's very fortunate. He's certainly a bright prospect for the club for the future."

Reserves players making the grade

While the Kangaroos' VFL ladder position is encouraging, Lynch is clear that his coaching team's focus is on the bigger picture.

"Our whole philosophy is developing premiership players," he said.

"As a VFL program we've got outstanding support from (senior coach) Alastair Clarkson, the line coaches and the rest of the AFL program, and it's really important for us as a club that we have that continuity between the two programs."

Riley Hardeman, Toby Pink and Finnbar Maley are among the VFL team's success stories so far this season, establishing themselves as AFL team regulars after earning senior call-ups.

Lynch credits development coaches Adam Marcon, Emma Kearney and Jarrod Lienert for their work, as well as the players themselves.

"Pink, for instance, has done a lot of work with Lieno (Lienert) to develop the defensive end of his game. He's done a lot of work on the front end with Emma, while Adam has been really influential with some of our young midfielders. 

"So those guys deserve a lot of credit for the work they're doing. But the players themselves have obviously worked really hard to give themselves those chances."

Brayden George's long-awaited return

A popular figure around Arden St, George has been one of the club's hard-luck stories since his arrival in the 2022 draft, enduring a dislocated elbow and, in June 2024, his second ACL injury.

Since making his playing return this month after 320 days, he has gradually increased his gametime while showing glimpses of what he can do at his best.

In his fourth game back against the Pies, he hit a hot streak in the third quarter, kicking three goals in five minutes.

"In spells like that we're able to see the reasons why we're really excited about what his future looks like," Lynch said. 

"We're really excited for him to get some continuity in his football. Hopefully he can continue that momentum after the bye and finish the season unscathed and healthy. If he does that, I've got no doubt he's going to play some good footy in that time as well."

Luke Urquhart adding strings to his bow

Drafted as a mid-forward with pick No.57 in November, Urquhart has been tasked with learning a broader range of roles as he develops in his first season at the club.

Against Collingwood at Victoria Park last weekend, he was handed the formidable task of minding 2018 Brownlow Medalist Tom Mitchell.

The run-with role was a relatively new test for Urquhart, but he passed with flying colours, restricting Mitchell to 18 touches while winning 23 touches himself and kicking a goal.

"He's developing really nicely," Lynch said.

"His flexibility to learn multiple roles is excellent, and we think he's got some real capabilities. There are some things he's still working on, but he's building some great foundations for hopefully a really bright future."

Cooper Harvey hitting the scoreboard

In his third year at North Melbourne, 20-year-old Harvey has been the reserves' most prolific forward so far this season.

He's kicked 18 goals from his eight games, while displaying a work ethic which Lynch said has him well placed to push on in the season's back half.

"Cooper's challenge is to keep influencing the game in multiple different ways, which pleasingly he's been able to do this year," Lynch said.

"Some players like Harry Sheezel arrive at a club and play in their first season, but that's not quite typical. The path that Cooper's taking is probably more of the common path.

"He's learning and establishing really good habits in his game, which if he keeps building on, can correlate into some AFL games hopefully in the back half of the year. And more importantly, into an AFL career. "