North Melbourne heads into the 2022 season with relatively low expectations, as senior coach David Noble embarks on his second year at the helm at Arden Street.
The Roos finished last season dead last on the ladder, netting them the prized first overall selection at last November's National Draft, which turned out to be highly-regarded South Adelaide midfielder, Jason Horne-Francis.
The Kangaroos were also lauded for poaching hard-nosed midfielder Hugh Greenwood from the Gold Coast Suns, as well as landing promising ex-Richmond ruck-forward Callum Coleman-Jones during the trade period.
Many pundits predict the young Roos to nestle among the bottom four teams in the competition by season's end, but veteran skipper Jack Ziebell, along with gun talents such as Jy Simpkin and Tarryn Thomas, will look to lead North to greater success in 2022.
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Ins: Jackson Archer (National Draft), Miller Bergman (National Draft), Callum Coleman-Jones (Richmond), Paul Curtis (National Draft), Josh Goater (National Draft), Hugh Greenwood (Gold Coast Suns), Jason Horne-Francis (National Draft), Tom Lynch (Adelaide Crows).
Outs: Shaun Atley (delisted), Tom Campbell (St Kilda), Trent Dumont (Port Adelaide), Taylor Garner (delisted), Charlie Ham (delisted), Connor Menadue (delisted), Robbie Tarrant (Richmond), Dom Tyson (delisted), Will Walker (delisted).
The Roos, who managed a mere four wins in 2021, lost their first eight games of last season before finally downing the lowly Hawks in Round 9 to claim their first victory.
Season highlights included a hard-fought upset win over the Eagles in sloppy conditions at Optus Stadium; a stirring victory over fellow strugglers Carlton (which included a seven-goal showing from Nick Larkey); and a scintillating draw with finals-finishers GWS at Blundstone Arena.
Youth: Similar to fellow rebuilding clubs such as Hawthorn, Adelaide and the Gold Coast Suns, North Melbourne possess a ton of young talent going into the new season, none more promising than the 18-year-old Horne-Francis.
Lively midfielder Will Phillips, who will be sidelined for the opening weeks of 2022 after being diagnosed with glandular fever, has played just 14 games, while the likes of Luke Davies-Uniacke (50 games), Ben McKay (37), Bailey Scott (33), Curtis Taylor (29), Charlie Lazzaro (10) and 2021 draftee Josh Goater have Kangas diehards excited about the future.
Leadership: Despite a lack of success in terms of on-field results, North Melbourne looks to be in good shape in regard to its leadership structure.
The club unveiled a new-look leadership team for this season, with Ziebell still leading the charge, alongside co-vice-captains Simpkin and Luke McDonald.
The young Roos are also supported by the likes of long-time clubmen and role models Ben Cunnington and Todd Goldstein, as well as veterans Josh Walker and Aaron Hall.
A-graders: Over the course of recent years, the Roos have landed B-graders such as Jared Polec, Aaron Hall, Jed Anderson, Jaidyn Stephenson, Aidan Corr and now Greenwood and Coleman-Jones.
However, the Kangaroos' list lacks bonafide superstars.
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They boast the likes of the aforementioned Simpkin, potent half-forward Cam Zurhaar and key position target Nick Larkey, but they don't have enough game-changers in their line-up to be able to properly challenge for a finals position.
Over recent years, they've, unsuccessfully, competed for the services of Dustin Martin and Josh Kelly, but have not been able to lure any truly 'big names' in order to help elevate their list to contending status.
Play-style: It was clear to see that David Noble's game tactics didn't yield much success in his debut season as senior coach.
Stagnant ball movement and subpar disposal efficiency were the areas where the Shinboners tended to crumble during games.
Despite a few pleasantly surprising performances from his team last season, Noble's men generally struggled mightily on gameday.
Aaron Hall, who showed enormous improvement off half-back since transitioning to Arden Street from the Gold Coast Suns at the end of 2018, was a serious consideration here, but we've adjudicated the Roos' best contributor to be Simpkin.
The sixth-year midfielder had far-and-away the best season of his career in 2021, amassing an average of 26.9 disposals, 4.4 marks, 3.8 tackles, 4.7 inside-50s and 5.1 clearances per game and ranking 9th in the AFL in total centre clearances last season.
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Taken by North with the 12th selection at the 2016 National Draft, the 24-year-old also wreaks havoc around the goalmouth and is entering the prime years of his career. He looks set to continue his dominance in 2022.
Thomas has already shown signs of breaking out during the first few years of his career, but the 21-year-old could truly emerge into one of the stars of the game this season.
Thomas had already started soaking up midfield time last season, which aided a career-high stat-line of 18.2 disposals, 4.6 marks and 3.4 tackles per game, but with Ben Cunnington sidelined, he could be a ball-winning regular in 2022.
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The silky-smooth North Launceston product has also proven he can do serious damage up forward, leaving the Roos coaching staff with the perfect dilemma: where to unleash him.
North's final two months of the season shape as a telling period in how their season ends up playing out.
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Of their final seven games, five of those come against teams that failed to make the finals last season in Collingwood, Richmond, Hawthorn, Adelaide and Gold Coast.
If we see a truly changed Roos side that pushes to play post-season footy this season, their final seven contests allow them a chance to come home with a wet sail.
At times over the course of recent seasons, North Melbourne's list has shown vast potential, and the club continued to add prospective talent this off-season, but we ultimately don't believe the Kangaroos will improve beyond their 18th-placed 2021 finish.
An overbearing lack of star talent and an extremely inexperienced core of players is likely to be the club's undoing this season, as they continue their rebuild.
Predicted Finish: 16th