ROOS STILL UPBEAT

NORTH Melbourne skipper Jack Ziebell insists there was plenty to like from the club’s opening JLT match, despite being handed a 53-point hiding by Melbourne.

The Roos rolled out a host of youthful faces at the Twin Ovals and though they challenged at times, the Demons powered away in the second half.

While disappointed at how the scoreboard read at the final siren, Ziebell was upbeat that the hitout would help the development of several promising up-and-comers.

Last year’s top draft pick, Luke Davies-Uniacke, was impressive early in gathering 12 touches, a remodelled backline battled bravely while Hawthorn recruit Billy Hartung shone in his first outing.

“There is a lot of work to do before Round 1 kicks off, but that’s the first competitive hitout this year and it’s exciting to get that out of the way,” Ziebell said at a Roos clinic at North Hobart Oval yesterday.

“We’ve had a few inexperienced guys get an opportunity to press their claims for Round 1 and some good things came out of the game, and also some things to improve. I think it was 53 points — that is definitely not ideal but the more important thing is the learnings we can get out of that.

“We had a few key defenders, Sammy Durdin and Benny McKay, Maj [Majak Daw] down there as well, relatively inexperienced in defence and I thought they did quite well under some trying conditions.

“Luke Davies-Uniacke was impressive I thought through the midfield with some of the things he did and it was good to see some of the other guys, Billy Hartung . . . showed why he is a quality player and what he can add to our footy team.”

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott was also at North Hobart, speaking at the Tasmanian Football Foundation’s coaching mentor network launch.

It is a program designed to enhance the experience in junior football, with a team of mentors assembled statewide to support and work with junior coaches.