The Swans prevailed by 71 points in that prelim, Adelaide smacked them by 77 in the season-opener and Hawthorn got a hold of them by 60 points last weekend. All of a sudden, they seem to have lost touch with that top-four position they coveted so dearly last season. And despite outstanding early season improvement from the likes of Collingwood and the Bulldogs, the big four right now still shapes as Hawthorn, Fremantle, Port Adelaide and Sydney. The gap between them and the Roos has opened up considerably, and that would be cause for concern at Arden Street. As always, there are mitigating circumstances at play here, and the challenge when trying to ascertain just where the Roos sit is just where to apportion the blame for their less-than-stellar start to the year. Or, as a reigning preliminary finalist, and a team seen to be very much in contention just five weeks ago, do they forgo the right to any analysis other than what takes place on the weekend? The reality is, this is a football club that, when it has most things going for it, can compete with the best teams. But, as this game tends to do, when circumstances conspire against them, the gap between the very best teams in the land, and the Roos, can open up quickly.

North has a very even, very good playing list. It is stacked full of 7/10 players, with a healthy dose of 8/10s. Todd Goldstein is their one 9/10. If you can keep that sort of group together, you are going to play finals regularly, win one or two, be competitive in nearly every game, and give value to your support group. In recent times, they have had Daniel Wells and Brent Harvey nudge the 9/10 group and Nick Dal Santo visit the elite club as well. Continuity and availability of your very best talent will ultimately determine how far you go. Having worked hard to assemble a midfield group capable of taking it to the second-last week in September, it has, this year, had anything but continuity. Wells has barely appeared on the track, Dal Santo is out for three months, Jack Ziebell keeps knocking himself out and Andrew Swallow has not been a regular fixture over the journey. In fact, in the past 30 games, North have only had Dal Santo, Wells, Ziebell, Swallow and Ben Cunnington play in the same team seven times. Comparatively, Hawthorn and Sydney have had their best starting five midfielders play together 15 time in the past 30 games. Cunnington, Gibson and Ziebell all continue to work hard at the coalface but the run, carry, spread and class of Wells and Dal Santo makes them a decidedly less-potent group. And while that may be addressed in time by the addition of Luke McDonald, Shaun Atley and Mason Wood, right now it leaves a huge chasm.

Add to that the absence of Nathan Grima and Lachie Hansen and you have a defence in which Joel Tippett has been exposed and Spud Firrito left punching above his weight. And all this is taking place with North dealing with one of the vagaries of our game. And that is the by-product of success in one year is the much more difficult draw handed to you the next. In the first half of this year they will play the other seven finalists from last year as well as an Adelaide team that charged out of the blocks and a Collingwood team that is taking all before them. While Hawthorn are handed a similar draw each year and seem to thrive on the standard of competition, North are yet to prove they are a side of similar resilience. And when you add the absence of key personnel to the mix, you get the start to the season that we are witnessing. Maybe this is a side that needs every little thing going for them to be truly competitive. As an observer I'm still trying to work out what defines them. Freo has a big-bodied, powerful midfield, Hawthorn are the best by foot in the competition, Port work exhaustively, at high pace, from one end of the ground to the other, and the Swans, at their best, are as selfless as any team in the comp.

But I'm not sure what North are, apart from vaguely off the pace. They're in no way soft, but they're not fanatically hard. They're not horrible by foot, but they are a way off elite. They have good, tall marking forwards, but none of them are individual match winners. They're not introverted, but they at times display a brittleness in the face of an onslaught that reflects their leadership. I think they're a 7.5-out-of-10 team. Unfortunately, the harsh reality of that 25 per cent that they lack is the difference between them being there, or thereabouts.