Room for fun but it’s still AFL
ADAMS WANTS PLAYERS FOCUSED ON TIGERS
NORTH Melbourne caretaker coach Leigh Adams has told the players he plans to bring fun back to their football in the last six weeks of the season, but vowed to still hold them accountable for high standards.
In his first serious chat with the playing group following former coach David Noble’s departure, Adams stressed that he understood the uncertainty they were feeling at the moment, but said the Kangaroos had to maintain a strong workrate leading into Saturday’s clash with Richmond at Marvel Stadium.
“The reality is footy doesn’t stand still for anyone,” Adams told the players. “In four days’ time we come up against the Tigers and we need to make sure we are ready from a physical point of view and the mental side of it will catch up in the next couple of days.”
Adams was elevated to the interim role after Noble parted ways with the Kangaroos, with his close links with the club’s young players as VFL and development coach a key reason he was chosen.
He told the team meeting he won’t change his style or approach, despite the added pressure that will come in coaching a club struggling for confidence, with only one win to its name this year.
“Going forward over the next six weeks, we want this to be a really enjoyable and fun environment,” Adams said in a video from the club’s website. “I am going to continue to be who I am.
“I am not going to change. But what I am still going to do – and what the coaching group is going to do – is we are going to hold you to high standards.
“This is not a kick and giggle in the park. We are an AFL team who has got an opportunity to win games in the back half of the year.
“I am the first to want to have fun, but (we will be) serious when we need to be serious.”
Adams urged those players feeling emotional about Noble’s departure to channel their energy into hard work on the training track ahead of the Tigers’ clash.
“You are allowed to feel that way, (but) when we get out on the track … that’s where we just park it and park what’s happened off the field,” he said.
“This is an opportunity to express yourself out there (on the track).
“It is a great opportunity to blow some s--- out, to have some fun, work hard and make sure we get what we need.”
The Kangaroos hit the track on Wednesday with a goal kicking challenge with a difference, bringing about some laughs when the losers had to eat grass.
North Melbourne has yet to appoint a panel to select the club’s next coach, but will start work on the process of appointing a successor to Noble later this week.