NORTH Melbourne has finally addressed their record-breaking winning streak internally, with the Roos recording their 24th straight win on Friday night.
North Melbourne dismantled the second-placed Hawthorn by 49 points on Friday night and after downplaying his side’s dominance all season, Darren Crocker finally took a moment to reflect on the Roos’ remarkable achievement.
“I spoke to the whole program, the players about how proud I am of what we’ve been able to achieve. Not just this year, but over the last 24 months,” he said post-match.
“It’s been pretty special but now that’s all done, we finish in pole position and now a new season starts. We’re really looking forward to it, we’re going to lead into it and really enjoy what’s to come.”
North Melbourne superstar Jasmine Garner starred in her 100th AFLW match and reflected on what makes this group so special.
“I think over the last two or three years, just the connection we have. Everyone is so close, we all trust each other both off the field and on the field,” Garner said.
“We play on instinct, we know where each other are going to be and we have a great bond. We all love playing for each other and the coaches as well.”
Crocker said the clash against Hawthorn was a great preparation for what promises to be a thrilling finals series.
“I think it was really good preparation for what’s to come. Hawthorn’s pressure in the game was really high… we were able to stick to the way we needed to play,” Crocker said.
“We changed a couple of things at quarter time to simplify things a little bit… that allowed us to get on top and wear them down.”
The Roos have sewn up the minor premiership and a home qualifying final next week, with their opponent to be determined over the course of the weekend.
Crocker says the belief within the group is as strong as it’s ever been as they aim to become the first side to go back-to-back in AFLW history.
“We know that our football at its best is well and truly good enough, we’ve shown that and given ourselves enough evidence. We’ve now got real strong belief and trust in what we’re doing, now it’s about enjoying this journey that we’re on,” he said.
“The outcomes will look after themselves, that’s been the message the whole way through and will continue to be over the next month. Lean into it, enjoy it, the opportunity is right in front of us to play our best football which is what we’ll be endeavouring to do.”
The Roos are used to being the ‘hunted’ and know that things will only get even harder from here on in.
“We’ve known we’ve had a target on our backs probably for two years now. It’s not something that we take lightly, we know teams are coming at us,” Crocker said.
“Tonight Hawthorn were really up for the occasion and that will just go to another level over the next few weeks. The biggest challenge is to ourselves and how we handle the next month of football.
“I’ve got so much faith in this group and confidence that they’ll attack it the way we’ve attacked the last 24 months. We’ll continue to enjoy it and try to bring our identity to play our best football.
“We understand what that looks like, if we do that we’re going to be an extremely hard team to beat.”
