Malcolm Blight has made a bold statement regarding North Melbourne.
The club great believes the Kangaroos will be back playing finals by 2027 and contending for premierships not long after that.
The Roos last played finals in 2016 and have since finished 15th, 9th, 12th, 17th, 18th and 18th, and currently sit 16th after nine games in 2023.
However, two-time premiership Roo Blight believes the cycle will soon turn.
“I tell you what, put it in our little time capsule - in four years’ time North Melbourne will be in the eight and probably top four,” Blight said on SEN’s Sportsday SA.
“And two years after that will be fighting for a premiership.”
For this to occur, North will have to continue to invest in the draft and develop their youth.
They did start well under Alastair Clarkson, winning their first two games, but have since fallen away by losing seven in a row.
But Blight believes too much pressure is put on the coaches to achieve success when list and recruiting managers also have a say.
“Everyone gets emotional now, I don’t, and that’s probably why I stuck up for Ken Hinkley and Matthew Nicks,” he added.
“You know the cycle is turning.
“When you have a go at the list manager and the recruiting managers - they’re picking from the same pool - it’s the amount of quality you get in it.
“Of course there are always some misses, there is. It’s a 55 per cent result for the winners, 45 per cent for the losers. So it’s not a perfect system.
“How do you know that a 17 or 18-year-old will be growing up into men and really like training full-time, living in a football club, hopping on planes to play. There’s a lot of things that can go wrong.”
The Kangaroos will be searching for their third win of the season when they host Sydney at Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
While Blight’s forecast could be seen as bold, it will have been 11 years between 2016 and his prediction of when they’ll next play finals.