[Borak]

North Melbourne Football Club.

Best Team Line Up

FB Pratt---------Firrito--------Gibson
HB Watt---------Petrie--------Smith
C Wells-------Simpson-----Rawlings
HF Jones--------Edwards-------Grant
FF Thomas-----Thompson ----McMahon

Rucks McIntosh----Harvey------Harris

Bench: Swallow, Lower, Hale, Sinclair

Emergency: Leigh Brown, Lach Hansen, R Tarrent, Greenwood

2008 Predictions

Most Goals: N Thompson / Corey Jones
Most Possessions: Brent Harvey
Most Marks: Drew Petrie

Potential Step Up Year: Daniel Wells, Aaron Edwards
Dreamteam Smokies: J Smith, D Wells, E Lower
Most Brownlow Votes: Wells / Harvey
Rising Star: Lachlan Hansen

General Comments: It was an outstanding 2007, one in which I really enjoyed. We played attacking, entertaining football and got rewarded for it. I think the most amazing thing about it was that we had our super star FF injured and Wells out or ineffective with injury for most the season.
Despite popular belief we relied a lot on our younger/mid core players last season and we have a very young list. Beside Harvey we didn’t rely on any of our older players. Sinclair now starts off the bench while Grant and a poor 2007 and needs to be better in 08 or he won’t get a game. Simpson isn’t effective as perhaps previous seasons but is very important in his leadership and courage.
Fact: The north side was younger than the one which beat Hawthorn in the semi final.

Predicted Final Ladder Position: 2 à 6: Realistically we should be improving from last season. It was interesting to see we had more money put on us than any other side to win the NAB cup, perhaps we’re getting a bit more recognition these days (Plus we need the money and may be taking it more seriously than other teams). I, however, am happy flying under the radar and look forward to another great year

Keys To Moving Up The Ladder: Intensity – our football club and game style thrives on putting teams under pressure and forcing them to make mistakes or react under pressure. Whenever teams lose to North Melbourne they come up with the “we played badly” – I wonder why ..........