Gentler approach for Noble

THE strong message out of North Melbourne on Tuesday morning was that David Noble had pulled his head in.

That the club had circled the wagons around the second-year coach and was intent on delivering stability to a football program at the bottom of its deep, dark rebuild.

That his crash or crashthrough approach was counter-productive and, if continued, a fast-track to removal as North Melbourne’s senior coach.

Then late afternoon came the club release that revealed the simmering discontent within Arden St.

Three North Melbourne recruiters, led by Mark Finnigan and Glenn Luff, had departed the building amid significant turmoil and accusations of a total lack of support.

For coach Noble and the North Melbourne hierarchy, the timing was abysmal — eight days ahead of a midseason draft in which the club would have two selections.

However, the greater fallout will be a renewed focus on the club’s football department and a coach who, until the last month, had been keener to shout than to nurture his players.

Finnigan will find his way to Hawthorn on a three-year deal, but only after feeling undermined and unsupported in recent months.

After repeated job offers elsewhere, the highly rated recruiter was compelled to take the Hawks offer when the Roos hierarchy was lukewarm on matching the three-year Hawthorn deal.

Former Champion Data analyst Luff walked too and even if he was already considering his future, the unfair hit job on some of the list team’s draft picks this week must have had him wondering where that information came from.

It is understood the recruiting team felt a collaborative approach seen in the best clubs – we own our recruiting successes and failures equally – was instead replaced by blame from specific members higher up the chain.

All of it adds up to a sense of impending doom for a club that admits it has multiple seasons of on field struggles ahead, given it is 33 games into a rebuild it expects to last 88 games across four seasons.

Noble’s tendency to shout rather than nurture, to roar rather than cuddle, was an open secret in the early rounds of the season.

There is no doubt Noble has put some Roos staffers off-side with his bedside manner and yet what the Roos believe is that he has changed significantly since that contest in round 3.

That the fallout from that round-3 spray forced Noble to be a more positive and affirming presence in his feedback to players.

That he has listened and responded with a moderated tone for a playing group that comes from a generation in which the only real feedback it accepts is positive.

The Roos are adamant Noble will coach them again next year, that hiring a firsttime coach has given them the football cap space to surround him with a long list of development staff and coaching assistants.

The task is clear for Noble; it is not enough to stop yelling at players, he must unite the entire club and football program behind him.