Being named captain is an honour and a privilege at any football club, with the trust and expectation given toward a player to lead their team through the season. However, down at Arden Street, the title of captain means something much more terrifying for North Melbourne supporters.
In the last 15 years, there has been a pattern of North Melbourne skippers significantly dropping off in form after being given the captaincy. With at least its last five captains becoming a shell of their former selves, one can't help but think that the pressure of the position is too much for the shinboner spirit to handle.
I'm talking here about not just downward spirals of statistics that reflect on the stat sheet, but the amount of effort and impact these captains seem not to show when elevated to the expectation that they should lead the team to winning. Knowing what North's ‘winning image' is now in the 21st century, it's hard not to put some of the blame on who's leading the charge.
Jy Simpkin (2023-2025)
Probably the most damming example of the curse out of the recent North Melbourne captains, Simpkin's career took a nose dive after he was promoted to the role after back-to-back best and fairest years.
Breaking out in the 2021 season by upping his disposal average from 20.2 disposals a game to 26.9, Simpkin became a clearance freak and North's most impactful player up until he was named captain and started to become a liability for North's now overcrowded midfield.
During his years as captain, Simpkin would lead North through some of the worst years in the club's history, with three straight bottom-three appearances and only 11 wins across those years. He became scared of the contest, lacked basic skills and was probably the worst user of the footy in the team.
However, now that he's not the captain this year, Simpkin has proved the doubters wrong after coming off arguably his best game of the year against the Pies and big outings against the competition's best in the Swans and Lions. These games have topped off a season that could very well be his best since 2022.
Simpkin's now playing with freedom and creativity. Not a tagger anymore and not the leader, just a player with nothing to lose and a chip on his shoulder playing some of his best footy after no AFL team would take him during last year's off-season.
