SALUTING TWO TRUE SHINBONERS

North Melbourne tough nuts Jack Ziebell and Ben Cunnington are about to hang up their boots. We salute a couple of modern-day Shinboners.

If there was a picture next to the entry for ‘Shinboner’ in the mythical dictionary of Australian Football, there is a fair chance it would feature Jack Ziebell.

There may have been better players in his 278-game career for North Melbourne, but few who have typified the Shinboner name and spirit more than Ziebell.

He has played hard, played sore and played well for the club from the moment he made his debut against Melbourne in the opening game of 2009 at the MCG.

Fittingly, it is where it will finish next weekend against Richmond after passing on the round 24 trip to Blundstone Arena.

This Saturday afternoon’s clash against Essendon will be his last at Marvel Stadium and his last in front of the adoring and appreciative home fans.

The Shinboner descriptor sits well for Ziebell.

“I love the word Shinboner,” he told the AFL Record this week.

“I understand the history of it. I understand for some people there’s a bit of a negative connotation to it as well because for some people it means it’s a little bit downtrodden and a little bit starting behind the eight-ball.

“But a Shinboner is just somebody who has got their back against the wall at certain times and it’s an attitude, a belief and it’s something that you just don’t create.”

And even though Ziebell was a highly-rated junior, good enough to be the ninth pick overall at the 2008 National Draft, he embraced the tough-as-nails, old-school values at Arden St from the moment he walked through the doors.

“I think I was somebody who attacked the ball and the contest with ferocity, good pressure,” he said when asked for some self-scouting.

“I was able to go forward and kick some goals while winning a few clearances in the midfield as well. So there’s a bit of versatility in my game.

“I would say that my attack on the ball and the player and creating a contest is probably the one skill, which probably allowed me to play for so long.

“If I wasn’t doing that, I probably wasn’t getting a game to be fair.”

Ziebell was at his best in the middle of the past decade, perhaps not coincidentally when North made back-to-back preliminary finals and was beating teams such as Essendon, Geelong and Richmond in big MCG finals.

“It was a pretty cool experience to be able to do that,” he said.

“And the team we had at that time was awesome.

“We had a great mix of some young players coming through and some older guys as well and obviously well coached by Brad Scott.

“So yeah, they’re very, very fond memories of that time at North.”

The records will show that he played under eight coaches at the club – Dani Laidley, Scott, Rhyce Shaw, David Noble and Alastair Clarkson were, variously, his senior coaches, while Darren Crocker, Leigh Adams and Brett Ratten were stand-ins.

“He (Scott) appointed me as captain, but through my early days as well, he probably was the person who had the biggest influence on my career and he really gave me confidence that I belonged at the level,” he said.

Ziebell broke a leg in each of his first two seasons at the club and by his own admission said of his third season, “I couldn’t get a kick in a cattle truck.”

“But he stuck by me and Ben Cunnington as well and he saw us as the two future players in the next generation of the North Melbourne midfield and he allowed us to develop and perform to a level to put us in big games, which was great,” Ziebell said.

“I’m forever grateful for what Brad did for us.”

North’s steady and slow decline began in 2016.

The Roos won their first nine games that year, before hitting the wall and limping into the finals with just three more wins for the season and then being well beaten by Adelaide in the elimination final.

They haven’t played finals since.

But Ziebell remained fiercely loyal, to the point where he never had a contract year.

There was always mutual agreement between player and club as to his worth and the contract extensions reflected it.

“We’ve managed to get deals done, so as I said in my (farewell) speech, I’m very proud to be a one-club player and finish as a one-club player and it’s nothing against guys who don’t do that, but individually it’s something that I always wanted to do when I first started,” he said.

“I’ll finish at North and I’m pretty pleased about doing that.

But his future may well lie beyond Arden St.

Ziebell was barely halfway through his playing career when in a survey of senior coaches by AFL Media, his name appeared more than once when they were asked to nominate players at the time who had the attributes to one day join their ranks.

Nearly a decade later, Ziebell would love to know who those coaches were.

“If you can find out, I’ll get them to offer me a job,” he laughed.

But the coaching aspirations are real. He is a development coach with North’s AFLW squad, but is open to whatever opportunities might be available next year.

“Part of my career as a senior player, you do a lot of teaching for young guys, trying to help the coaches implement game-plans and drawing upon your own personal experiences and trying to help develop and fast-track our younger players to be able to let them execute game plans and play with freedom on game day,” he said.

“It’s something I’m looking forward to hopefully going after once I’ve hung up the boots in a few weeks.”

He has two more games remaining. Not even a lazy 32 touches last weekend has given him pause to think whether he could squeeze out 12 more months.

“I’m done,” he said.

“It’s a relief to finally call it and have the opportunity to enjoy the last four or five weeks of being an AFL player.

“To be honest, it’s nice to play without the fear of making a mistake knowing it’s the last couple of games you’ve got.

“The mistakes you do make, you don’t dwell on them too much; you just look forward to the next bit of play to try and enjoy that as well.

“It’s a nice way to play your footy. I actually wish I’d done this a bit earlier.”

And he is looking forward to his MCG finale next Saturday.

With all due respects to North Melbourne’s home away from home at Blundstone Arena, where the Roos finish their season in round 24, Ziebell wants to wrap up his career in front of as many of his family and friends as he can.

There is also the reality that over his career he has played just 21 games at the MCG. He has made 20 trips to Western Australia by comparison.

“A lot of support has come from my off-field circle, and I want them to watch and celebrate my last game as they all did my first game,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to getting out on to the hallowed turf one last time.”

@hashbrowne