North Melbourne may have reached its ceiling for 2026, according to former Carlton coach Michael Voss.
The Kangaroos went down to St Kilda by 39 points at Marvel Stadium, continuing a poor record against clubs above them on the ladder. This, the Arden Street club has claimed eight wins against bottom eight - and three losses - but 10 defeats against the top 10 by an average margin of 40.8 points.
In the past four weeks, North Melbourne has failed to capitalise on winning opportunities, going down to Port Adelaide, Collingwood, Melbourne and the Saints.
Voss questioned whether the Kangaroos' list can go beyond the current eight-win season, suggesting they have reached their capacity.
"How much do you think that says about coaching rather than about culture and learning how to win again?" Voss said on AFL podcast Access.
"The learning to win and be able to nurture into what that looks like does take actual time. I wonder whether they've reached their capacity for now. Doesn't mean they've reached their capacity for what it looks like in the future, but it certainly seems, through the results they're able to get, this is about as far as what they're going to get.
"I think there's got to be some list components to it. There's also a culture change over time as well, and part of that is learning how to win consistently. How do you perform consistently? They haven't been able to do that.
"But clearly their ability to play at the standard for a long period of time - and I'm talking about 23 weeks here, not one week - they've shown capacity in one week, but have they shown it over the course of the season? No. But that's the thing they need to learn next."
Despite the favourable draw, the Kangaroos look set to miss September football for the 10th straight season, dating back to 2016.
