North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has backed emerging forward Cooper Trembath to bounce back from his “shaky” performance against the GWS Giants when the Kangaroos meet Geelong on Saturday at GMHBA Stadium.
Already a 2026 Rising Star nominee, 20-year-old Trembath struggled against the Giants last Sunday in Canberra, failing to kick a goal and accumulating just four disposals in his team’s seven-point loss.
“It’s probably been his quietest game out of the 10 that he’s played, to be fair,” Clarkson said on Thursday.
“Part of that is good GWS defence and part of it is just him learning the craft of the game, but he’s been terrific for us, and hopefully he bounces back.
“These are young guys trying to find their way in the game, and (playing as a) key forward for any player in the competition is tough, let alone for a young fellow who’s just starting out.
“We’ll give him a bit of leeway that he’s had a shaky one last week, but hopefully he can bounce back.”
Clarkson suggested Trembath returning to form would be easier said than done against Geelong.
“It’s going to be a tough game against the Cats. They’ve got some great defenders themselves, so he’s in for another challenge, but that’s AFL footy,” the Kangaroos coach said.
“You don’t get any mercy in this game, so he’s got a big challenge, but he’s been able to confront them pretty well thus far.”
Clarkson said playing Geelong, last season’s beaten grand finalists, would give the Kangaroos – who have perhaps punched above their weight by winning four from seven this season – another chance to test how much they had improved.
“We’re taking encouragement that with some of these benchmark sides of the competition that have played finals regularly over the last few years, we’re competing much better with those sides now,” he said.
“Also against some of the sides that haven’t been right up there, we’ve actually been able to knock some of those guys off.
“We’ve got another big challenge this week to see how far we’ve come in terms of our competitiveness against a Geelong outfit that’s very experienced (and) very difficult to beat on their home ground.
“We want to see how far we’ve come, and if we execute some of the things that we know that we can on a more consistent basis, then we feel like we’re in with a chance.”
After Geelong, North Melbourne’s following four games – against Sydney, Adelaide, Gold Coast and Fremantle – are also set to be difficult assignments.
“Once we get past this game, we’ll worry about what’s next,” Clarkson said.
“Every opponent you play is a tough opponent, and if you allow them to play the game that they want to play, then it’s going to make it really tough for you.”
