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Find your frequency hereSheezel expects Roos to improve and Davies-Uniacke to turn back on free agency in 2025
Lachlan Geleit • February 7th, 2025 6:32 pm
Many are tipping North Melbourne to be a big riser in 2025 after five horror seasons in a row.
In those last five years, the Roos have won just 15 games combined, finishing no higher than 17th on the ladder.
Kane Cornes is one who thinks that ‘the dark time is done’, tipping the Roos to see an increase in their wins across a season and get off the bottom of the ladder.
While the Roos themselves are obviously hoping to better themselves, star youngster Harry Sheezel says there’s no number or ladder position that the club is particularly aiming for as the side’s focus this pre-season is simply on getting better and giving themselves the best chance to play as well as possible.
“We don't really set targets like that (finals), we’re just trying to get the belief internally that we can compete on any given day,” Sheezel told SEN Dwayne’s World/
“We'll play it week to week, we’ll try and be as many teams as possible, and we'll see how it goes.
“We don't really want to come out there saying, ‘Oh, we're going to make the eight, we're going to make top four, we're going to win the flag’, that’s not really how we operate.
“We’re more focused on the process and how we can get it right internally to just give ourselves the best chance to play the best footy as much as possible.”
While Sheezel and the Roos aren’t particularly hunting a finals berth, the 20-year-old star is fully confident that the side will begin trending upwards in 2025 as opposed to struggling at the bottom in the last half-decade.
“You'd like to hope so (that we’ll see improvement) because the last couple of years haven't been the most successful,” Sheezel said.
“As you know, they've been quite challenging, so you'd like to think we'd be trending upwards from there.
“I’ve definitely got that belief and confidence that we can do that.”
As well as on-field improvement, another item at the top of North Melbourne’s to-do list is re-signing star free agent Luke Davies-Uniacke who comes out of contract at the end of the season.
While the 25-year-old will no doubt field huge offers from rival clubs to leave Arden St, Sheezel, like his captain Jy Simpkin, is fully confident that he’ll remain in the blue and white stripes.
“Like I said last year throughout, I'm so confident Luke wants to stay with us long-term and he'll be a North Melbourne player,” Sheezel said.
“I'm sure he's just working through it with the list manager at the club and his management personally.
“I'm not too sure when it'll come, but I have no doubt he'll sign eventually.”
Sheezel and the Roos begin their 2025 campaign with a Round 1 clash against the Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, March 15.
Listen to Sheezel’s full chat with Dwayne Russell here.
