Team preview: North Melbourne

Old heads ... the veterans must perform for the Kangas to rise. Source: Jerad Williams / News Limited

The AFL season begins on Friday. We get you ready for the opening bounce by taking a look at all the teams and their prospects for 2013.

KANGAS NEED TO REBOUND

You get the sense something is going to give at North Melbourne. The past three years they've been on the edge. Floating around in that area of uncertainty of whether they're any good or not.

Last year they showed a lot of positives and deservedly featured in September. The problem was that appearance was a shocker. All the goodness was sapped out of the Roos by West Coast who whacked them by 96 points in the elimination final.

The challenge now is to save face, pick themselves up and prove they're legitimate given the chasing pack for the bottom couple of spots in the eight is getting larger. What we do know is that North have some seriously exciting young talent and importantly they're reaching the experience level where they can start to impact games.

Eleven Roos have played between 36 and 62 games. Some of those are already serious players including Jack Ziebell, Ryan Bastinac and Shaun Atley. Midfield depth is the key to a good finals team and North is accumulating that now with some elite cream on the top in the form of skipper Andrew Swallow and the dynamic Daniel Wells. There is enough to like about the rest which suggests North are most likely to learn and prosper rather than fall apart from the events of last year.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

BEN CUNNINGTON
Being a No.5 pick in the draft brings great expectation. So far Cunnington has failed to live up to any of it. Coming into his fourth year and with 54 games to his name, the time is now for the midfielder. Others have gone past him in the pecking order but his in-and-under style - which is reminiscent of Roos great Anthony Stevens - is a crucial part of the Roos structure. Has reportedly starred over the summer.

MAJAK DAW
The Roos need excitement. As a team and a club at the minute, they're more run-of-the-mill than must-see. Daw brings a lot to the table and while he may still be a fair way off being the complete package, he should be given a chance early in the season. His highlight reel from the VFL is off-the-charts and hopefully he's ready to bring that to the big time.

SHAUN ATLEY
Has rocketed into the top five players at the club and yet he's only 20 years of age. Atley's pace and creativity from half-back was the highlight of the Roos second half to last season. The kid has serious jets and played every game last year which has fast-tracked his development and put him into the star in the making category.

ROBBIE TARRANT
Looks like his older brother and has the guns to match. While Chris has now retired, Robbie appears ready to uphold the family tradition by stepping up to be an important cog in North's forward structure. He appears to have finally got over his horror injury run and has trained the house down over summer. Fits in nicely alongside Drew Petrie and Lachie Hansen.

JACK ZIEBELL
North fans are craving for the midfield jet to string a consistent season together. Injuries and suspension have been problems in the past but they know that if Ziebell can stay on the park the team will win a lot more games. Brings a crucial element to the midfield mix with his size, class and brute strength.

Scott Gullan's forecast: 7th-8th.

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North anger at southern exposure

Kangaroos ... heading south for the winter? Source: Michael Klein / AAP

North Melbourne stalwart Ron Joseph fears the Kangaroos are being pressured by the AFL into becoming the league's Tasmanian team.

Joseph added his weight to a supporters' group demanding the club board limit to four the number of "home" matches that can be played outside Victoria each year.

"The fear of every North supporter is that the club is once again in the sights of the AFL," Joseph said.

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Club chairman James Brayshaw gave supporters a "cast iron guarantee" on Saturday that North would not relocate while he remained in charge.

But the We Are North Melbourne supporters' group has put a motion to change the club's constitution and force the board to obtain the approval of members for any extra matches played outside Victoria. Members will vote on the resolution at the annual general meeting on March 19.

Brayshaw said his board did not support it because it would be too restrictive on future administrations.

Joseph said he smelt a rat.

"The resolution shouldn't be a problem for James Brayshaw - he is the one who boasts that he gave the club back to the members," Joseph said.

"He didn't. Bob Ansett and Peter de Rauch did that. And the resolution simply protects any board on its own whim - or in cahoots with the AFL - picking the club up and packing it off to Tasmania or merging it.

"Why wouldn't every member support it? All it is saying is that members have got a right to have their voices heard if there is any proposal to go to Tasmania or to merge.

"I don't trust the AFL and the way they go about things. North would be playing in gold stripes now on the Gold Coast if they had got their way (in 2007).

"The AFL is top-heavy, overpaid and dangerously unaccountable."

North will play two home games in Hobart this season under a three-year deal that began last year.

Former Kangaroos chief executive Eugene Arocca has also backed the supporters' group.

"Anything more than four home games interstate is a step towards relocation," Arocca said.

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Who are the kings of North London?

What a derby ... the North London rivals are set for an epic. Source: Ian Kington / AFP

They checked-in dreaming off UEFA Champions League Football; all that was required was a win on the final day of season 2005-2006.

They ate lasagna and 10 players went down with food poisoning and their dreams of Europe were shattered when they lost 2-1 to West Ham. 

To make matter worse for Tottenham the club that sealed a place in Europe at their expense was Arsenal. 

It had Spurs fans understandably crying foul play.

The Frenchmen in charge of Arsenal seemed an obvious suspect but he insisted he was not cooking that day at the Marriott Hotel. 

Wenger said if he had been they would have felt even worse. 

After an investigation by the Health Protection Agency the hotel was cleared of any blame, with tests on the players showing that one was suffering from norovirus, which may have spread to his teammates. 

The conspiracy theory was left in tatters and the reality was that Champions League football was not coming to White Hart Lane.

Perhaps even more hurtful was the fact that Arsenal was still the dominant power in North London. 

And so it has remained with Arsenal finishing above Tottenham in every season since. 

You have to go back to the 1994-1995 season for last time Tottenham finished above Arsenal.

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Ahead of this weekend’s North London derby Arsenal have never faced such a challenge from Tottenham. 

Last season they finished just one point ahead of their bitter rivals.

This campaign sees Tottenham come into the second derby of the season four points ahead of Arsenal. 

Interestingly it is the same margin they found themselves ahead of the Gunners at the same point last season only to surrender their lead and a place in the Champions League. 

It could be suggested that history will repeat itself and Spurs will wilt when Arsenal make a late charge. 

But this feels like a very different Tottenham.

It was not how most predicted the campaign would unfold under Andre Villa-Boas. 

Most thought it was likely to end as it did at Chelsea when the young Portuguese was fired after overseeing a poor run of form.

This has proved to be misguided, with Villas-Boas improving an already formidable squad. 

The key has been how he has altered the role of Gareth Bale. 

The Welshmen is still deployed to the left of a front three but he has been given licence to roam across the front and come inside at every opportunity. 

By allowing Bale to come inside he has increased his involvement in the game and the result has been devastating with the 23-year-old scoring 15 times in the League so far this season. 

His outstanding winner against West Ham on Monday was the fourth EPL game in a row in which he has scored, leading to Villas-Boas to describe him as ‘unbelievable.’

"Players like this take responsibility at key moments, he is tremendous," the Spurs Boss said after the win over West Ham and then added.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	27	22	2	3	33	68
2	Man City	27	16	8	3	26	56
3	Tottenham	27	15	6	6	15	51
4	Chelsea	27	14	7	6	25	49
5	Arsenal	27	13	8	6	22	47
6	Everton	27	10	12	5	7	42
7	West Brom	27	12	4	11	2	40
8	Liverpool	27	10	9	8	15	39
9	Swansea	27	9	10	8	4	37
10	Stoke	27	7	12	8	-6	33
11	Fulham	27	8	8	11	-5	32
12	Norwich	27	7	11	9	-14	32
13	Newcastle	27	8	6	13	-10	30
14	West Ham	27	8	6	13	-10	30
15	Sunderland	27	7	8	12	-7	29
16	Southampton	27	6	9	12	-11	27
17	Wigan	27	6	6	15	-18	24
18	Aston Villa	27	5	9	13	-26	24
19	Reading	27	5	8	14	-18	23
20	QPR	27	2	11	14	-24	17

"The player continues to make the difference and he was tremendous once again.” 

It has not been all about Bale.

The players Villas-Boas has brought-in since he was appointed in the off-season have vastly improved the squad. 

Jan Vertonghen, Lewis Holtby, Mousa Dembele and Clint Dempsey have all settled quickly and have instantly made an impact. 

So to have the players promoted from the club’s youth academy with Steven Caulker in particularly impressing so far this season in the heart of the Spurs defence. 

In the match against West Ham there were three academy products in the Tottenham squad underlying the sense that Villas-Boas is building something for the long-term. 

This has been illustrated by a run of form that has seen Spurs win three and draw two of their last five games. 

Their surge into the top three would suggest they are the form team ahead of the derby.

But this is not true when you look at results alone. 

Despite their poor form in the FA Cup and Champions League first leg match against Bayern Munich Arsenal are in good form in the League. 

In the past five matches the Gunners have won four and drawn one. 

Despite winning, as they did against Aston Villa on the weekend, their performances have been far from convincing and have added to the sense that Tottenham is pulling ahead of their North London rivals. 

Bale stated his belief that this is now the case when asked about the weekend’s derby. 

"Over the past few seasons we have closed that gap and I think now we have overtaken them on the pitch. I think we have the stronger squad."

Arsenal fans are likely to disagree and many have been quick to point out that Spurs are having an excellent season and the Gunners are struggling but the gap is only four points. 

This may indeed be the case but if Spurs finish above Arsenal at the end of the season few at White Hart Lane will be bothered by what the margin was. 

Arsenal fans may point to 16 seasons of finishing above Spurs as proof of what it takes to be number one in North London. 

But finishing below Spurs will hurt, the last manager at Arsenal who did so paid for it with his job. 

Wenger appears unlikely to face the same consequences but a loss to Spurs will add to the sense that his club are on the wane and that their bitter rivals are very much on the up. 

Either way there have been few more significant derbies. 

Follow me on Twitter @beaubusch 

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