Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
George Wardlaw is no certainty to face West Coast, with North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson saying he’s weighing up retaining the Kangaroos line-up that started the AFL season in style.
The Kangaroos trounced Port Adelaide by 46 points on Sunday in their first outing for the year, creating selection headaches at Arden Street.
While gun midfielder Wardlaw would be expected to stroll back into the side after overcoming his latest hamstring injury, Clarkson said he hadn’t decided who would make the trip to Perth for Sunday’s clash with West Coast.
“To be fair, he trained pretty well last week and we could have nearly played him last week, so he’ll certainly come into consideration for us to play this week,” Clarkson said on Wednesday after training.
“It’s just whether or not we want to change our side after last week’s victory, and is there anyone that deserves not to play after that win, so we’ll work our way through that and make a decision Thursday before we travel.”
After a lean few years at North, winning just 21 of their past 131 games, there’s a growing buzz around the Kangaroos, but Clarkson said the next step was to back up their form, starting with the Eagles.
“We’re trying to be as business-like as we can, and that was similar to last year – we wanted to make sure we came in on a Monday and the building couldn’t really tell whether we’d won or lost, it was just a process,” he said.
“It was a more consistent effort than what we had demonstrated at different stages last year, so it’s a good start, but you know, it doesn’t mean too much unless we can apply ourselves in a similar sort of manner this week against West Coast.”
Clarkson praised the efforts of youngster Finn O’Sullivan, who helped shut down Port with his tag on superstar Zak Butters.
The 2024 No.2 draft pick played all but one game last season, with Clarkson saying he had embraced the new role.
“A lot of last season he played at half-back and wing for us and we think his evolution as a player is going to be into the middle of the ground, and he was really keen to take on the challenge of playing on Butters,” Clarkson said of the 19-year-old.
“Butters is such a game-breaker if he gets out in space, he just does enormous damage, so we just wanted to try and quell that influence, and we thought he did a super job.”
He said O’Sullivan could be given similar duties on West Coast ace Harley Reid.
“That’s certainly an option for us – he (Reid) is one of the guys that is a real different sort of player than Zak, of course, but a real igniter for their side, so whether it’s Finn or someone else that goes to him, we’ll just have to work that out,” Clarkson said.
