North Melbourne GM of Football Todd Viney says the club will take an “aggressive” approach to its list strategy this off-season.
Viney, who was recently appointed to the role of Kangaroos’ football boss part-time to work alongside new coach Alastair Clarkson, did warn though that the list build won’t be an overnight fix.
North Melbourne won just two games in what was a tumultuous 2022 campaign to claim back-to-back wooden spoons.
“We’ve got work to do in all aspects of the club and the footy department,” Viney told Sportsday.
“Part of that is players. We need to look at the talent we’ve got, try and work out how we can best utilise and improve the talent, but we’ll look at all aspects of the avenues available to try and get better.
“Now that’s through draft, free agency and trade, so we’ve got to look at all those avenues, but we’ll be aggressive.
“It’s not going to be all fixed in one year. It’s a tough game, everyone’s trying to do the same thing, we have finished on the bottom of the ladder, so we might not be as attractive as some clubs, but having a four-time premiership coach at the club, at a proud club, hopefully that can carry some weight and we can influence some players to come and help us start this journey.”
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Viney also provided some insight into Clarkson’s first meeting with Roos young gun and former No.1 draft pick Jason Horne-Francis.
“He came in with a real sense of enthusiasm to meet him,” he said.
“It was a really engaging interview right at the end before he went on a bit of a holiday.
“We spoke about the challenges that he’s faced this year, it’s been a tough year for anyone at the North Melbourne footy club, and the extra pressures that come with being the No.1 draft pick was always going to have its challenges.
“But we were really happy with our conversations. He’s a really good kid that’s going to have a steep learning curve and become a really important part of the future for the North Melboune footy club.
“But it’s not going to be just him that takes the weight of building this club, there’s a lot of others that will continue to develop and pull their weight to become a really good team.”
Horne-Francis played 17 senior games in his debut season Arden Street.
According to AFL Media, North Melbourne has asked for extra list spots as part of its assistance package from the AFL.