\u201cpretty good goal sense\u201d<\/a> as a junior. <\/p>\nAnd while he confirmed he\u2019d be spending most of his time this year in the guts – playing as a pure midfielder through the final four rounds last season despite averaging 38 per cent centre-bounce attendances for the year – he said he\u2019ll still push forward or drift back depending on the game situation and matchup. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve trained mainly in the midfield group; I think I\u2019ll be solely there, but with hits at half-forward, hits at half-back, and I think that suits me and suits the team,\u201d Sheezel told Foxfooty.com.au. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think, primarily, starting in the midfield but then the ability to mix and match with different players, and I think that helps my game just to break it up, and hopefully with a few other boys create some headaches for other teams to not have the same look all the time. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think I\u2019ll settle there (in the midfield) mainly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith loses license in latest drama | 00:25<\/p>\n
But while Sheezel will predominantly rack up in the midfield in 2026, he and the Roos will attempt to toy with their opposition by switching up their looks mid-play to further weaponise their young superstar. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think a strength of ours will be, mid-play, just flicking – like, we\u2019ve got some guys who know multiple roles,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cLike, for instance, Tom Powell might be starting at half-forward, but he\u2019s played a lot of midfield \u2026 then, the way we play, if it just organically happens and I end up ahead of the ball, he\u2019ll fulfil that role and I\u2019ll fulfil his role, and we just work from there. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we really built that synergy this pre-season, and it\u2019s been working pretty well, so hopefully we can take that into the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harry Sheezel and Tom Powell are set to mix and match throughout this year. (Photo by Morgan Hancock\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Spending a considerable portion of last season as a half-back, few of Sheezel\u2019s touches came in score-impacting positions – kicking just eight goals in 23 games – with criticism pointed at a mostly uncontested style of play. <\/p>\n
And it\u2019s that part of his game that the 21-year-old has zeroed in on this pre-season. <\/p>\n
As far as individual improvements go this summer, Sheezel has sought to add weight to become a more reputed contested player. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the season, playing more midfield this year, I just wanted to improve a bit of that contest side of my game; the physicality, speed and power,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I went away, and the main thing was just to put on a bit of size. I think I\u2019ve put on like \u2026 I won\u2019t say how much, but I\u2019ve put on a few kilos, but intentional, worked really hard on my speed and power in the gym and trying to bring that out in my game. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think naturally, I\u2019m probably more composed, slower, use my mind more, but trying to add a few different strings to my bow, and maybe challenge forward and kick a few more goals would be nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Key Crow sent for surgery after injury | 00:24<\/p>\n
In other positive Arden Street developments, Sheezel didn\u2019t have to think for long before settling on 2024 No.2 pick Finn O\u2019Sullivan as his pre-season standout. <\/p>\n
\u201cLoved what he did last year; he\u2019s just an ultimate team player,\u201d Sheezel said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe came in straight away and just earned so much respect from all the players in terms of how he plays the game, just how good a kid he is. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think this year he hasn\u2019t missed a beat all pre-season. He\u2019s just an incredible runner, but he\u2019s strong as well in the contest, just can\u2019t tackle him. And he\u2019s got a really good head on his shoulders, really composed, but does all the team stuff. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one I\u2019m really expecting to blossom this year. I\u2019m not sure what his role is – he\u2019s so versatile, so he can play multiple roles. Him, alongside Colby (McKercher), who I think is going to have a big year as well, they\u2019ve both been training the house down.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Sullivan, who played on a wing and across half-back in his first season, has expanded his game into the midfield this summer. <\/p>\n
And while time in the guts will be harder to come by during the season proper, Sheezel, who also noted Luke Urquhart\u2019s emergence this pre-season as a defensive midfielder, believes the 19-year-old is going to be a tremendous asset for the Roos. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe played a lot of wing, half-back last year, and he\u2019s had a lot of exposure in the middle of the ground so far in the pre-season, and he\u2019s learnt a lot in that area of the ground,\u201d Sheezel said of O\u2019Sullivan. <\/p>\n
\u201cLearning from guys like \u2018LDU\u2019 (Luke Davies-Uniacke), and I think it\u2019s been great for him to just get those reps in there, to see what it\u2019s like at AFL level. He obviously didn\u2019t have that (opportunity) last year, so he\u2019s got that exposure. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s able to go behind the ball, play on the wing, and a bit of half-forward as well. There are a few of us who I think can do that now, and I think it\u2019s a real strength of ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Curnow impresses in Intra-Club challenge | 03:09<\/p>\n
Six-straight bottom-four finishes will have Roos supporters hesitant to pledge too much hope going into a new season – set to be Alastair Clarkson\u2019s third full one in charge. <\/p>\n
But Sheezel cited the playing group\u2019s shared experience as a key reason for the club\u2019s rusted-on fans to be filled with belief. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the progression of the group, just the physical maturity, the mental maturity of the group,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s no secret in the AFL, you see the best teams are the ones with the most experience, and the ones that have been able to play a bunch of games together. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think we\u2019ve got that now; that core group of players that have started to play a lot of footy together, now, train together, playing under the same game plan with Clarko. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no fast track. We\u2019ve just got to keep believing in the process, in the game plan that the coaches are rolling out – we\u2019ve made a few tweaks in that space that I think suit our group even better this year, but I think the main thing is just going to be the maturity and confidence of the individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cats to be patient with Stengle in 2026 | 01:32<\/p>\n
The Kangaroos open their 2026 account at home against Port Adelaide on March 15. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first of a winnable opening-month stretch for North Melbourne, which also faces West Coast, Essendon, Carlton and Richmond in the campaign\u2019s first six weeks. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a bit reserved to throw out comments and say \u2018oh, we\u2019re going to be this, we\u2019re going to be that\u2019, because you don\u2019t really know until you play opposition and really see how you stack up against them,\u201d Sheezel said of the Roos\u2019 pre-season to date. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut the standard of training has been really high, and I feel like a lot of young boys have taken the next step in terms of their physicality, maturity, experience of what\u2019s required of an AFL player. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like the standard of training, the contest, physicality has gone to a higher standard, from what I can tell so far. Keen to see how we go against opposition, but there\u2019s a really good feeling around the club. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to build that belief that we can match it with every other club in the competition, and we\u2019re definitely building that belief session by session.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harry Sheezel has revealed his positional plans for the season and shed light on the area of his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[9126,638,14405,64,2347,63,689,55,639,239707,11295,239712,1129,239714,91775,3258,18664,91332,2105,76309,2485,239710,239706,3231,12141,239711,239709,11234,647,19105,100998,677,39209,239704,6082,239702,239705,701,239708,1820,239715,1124,85,28458,239713,25852,660,239703,140183,104334],"class_list":["post-469211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-adelaide-crows","tag-afl","tag-alastair-clarkson","tag-au","tag-august","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-belief-session","tag-ben-king","tag-bottom-four-finishes","tag-charlie-curnow","tag-contest-side","tag-drivers-licence","tag-exclusive-interview","tag-game-plan","tag-game-situation","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-goal-sense","tag-gold-coast","tag-improved-contest-work","tag-injury-fears-surrounding","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-jeremy-cameron","tag-looks-mid-play","tag-luke-urquhart","tag-mark-keane","tag-melbourne","tag-midfield-group","tag-multiple-roles","tag-oceania","tag-patrick-dangerfield","tag-pick-finn","tag-port-adelaide","tag-position-reveal","tag-positional-plans","tag-queensland","tag-real-strength","tag-score-involvements","tag-scoring-positions","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-team-player","tag-team-stuff","tag-tom-powell","tag-victoria","tag-winnable-opening-month-stretch","tag-young-gun-set","tag-young-superstar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n