You could forgive North Melbourne fans for despondence this weekend after their season trickled to an end with a resounding 124-point thumping at the hands of Hawthorn in dreary Launceston conditions on Saturday.
Things haven’t been easy for the Kangaroos in recent seasons, who have finished in the bottom two every year since 2020, underpinned by a precession of triple-digit losses that have dogged the Arden Street faithful.
On the positive side, low finishes mean high draft picks, and North Melbourne have started to slowly build an impressive young list that, should things go to plan, see them pick their way up the ladder in the latter part of this decade.
Things don’t always go to plan, Jason Horne-Francis is a testament to that, but the emergence of an exciting, if inexperienced, midfield has a level of optimism rising within the club as the focus turns to 2025.
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Central to the young core is Harry Sheezel, who has wasted little time acclimatising himself to the rigours and speed of the AFL system.
Taken with the third pick in the 2022 draft, Sheezel has given North fans some genuine hope across his first two seasons, demonstrating poise and skill well beyond the 44 senior games under his belt.
Such is his talent, that a significant step, and an illustrious club, could await Sheezel in 2025.
Harry Sheezel. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
As far as sub-50 game careers go, Sheezel has begun with a bang, racking up numbers and accomplishments that are historically significant.
Across his debut season in 2023, Sheezel starred in a lowly North side, winning the Rising Star while playing every game. He was a clear standout, averaging 27 disposals per game, primarily off the half-back line as coach Alastair Clarkson sought to develop his potential star away from the centre bounce freneticism.
Even in a role that likely won’t end up being his best position, Sheezel was such a dash of quality in the side that he took home the Syd Barker Medal for North’s best and fairest player in his debut year, a feat last achieved by Port Adelaide’s Darren Mead in 1997 – a comparison that comes with the caveat that Mead was 26 (and had over 100 games of SANFL experience with the Magpies).
Officially 18 when crowned Syd Barker medallist, Sheezel’s crown puts him in historic company, alongside the likes of Leigh Matthews, Bob Skilton, Des Fothergill and Kevin Murray as teenage club best and fairest winners.
In the modern era, superstars Marcus Bontempelli, Patrick Cripps and Nick Riewoldt all claimed best and fairest status at age 20, putting Sheezel in the same realm as a host of 21st-century greats.
Fast forward to 2024, and the uptick from Sheezel in his second season has arguably been more impressive than his first.
Given a much more prominent midfield role (31.3 per cent centre bounce attendance in 2024 compared to 4.9 per cent in 2023), Sheezel has elevated his game to an average of 29.8 disposals per game, while maintaining a disposal efficiency above 75 per cent and increasing his output in score involvements, tackles per game and (naturally) clearances.
His season puts him right in the frame for a second Syd Barker medal (although fellow midfielder Luke Davies-Uniacke may spoil that party), along with a much more prominent presence in Brownlow Medal votes.
Only awarded three votes in season 2023, Sheezel looks set for his name to be read out a lot more this time around, with three possible best-on-ground performances in Round 17 (vs Gold Coast), 19 (vs Carlton) and 20 (vs Geelong).
While a teenage Brownlow would seem unlikely, a continuation of this trajectory would see Sheezel join an extraordinarily rare club if he can take home the prize in 2025.
The last time a Brownlow medallist was 20 years old was all the way back in 1993, when the dashing Essendon star Gavin Wanganeen snatched first prize from star midfielder Greg Williams.
Wanganeen started the 1993 season aged 19, turning 20 in June in the middle of a premiership-winning campaign for the “Baby Bombers”, who stormed the competition on the way to a memorable flag.
He missed out on joining Essendon icon Dick Reynolds as the only teenage winners of the iconic medal, who won the first of his three in 1934, at just 19.
The 1930s was stacked with young talent, with another Depression-era star, Haydn Bunton Sr, winning the first of his trio of medals in 1931, aged just 20 years old. Alongside Brad Hardie (who transferred to the VFL from South Fremantle as an established star in Western Australia), Bunton Sr is one of two winners of a Brownlow Medal in their debut VFL/AFL season.
South Melbourne fans hold the great Bob Skilton in reverence, who like Bunton Sr and Reynolds, claimed league best and fairest honours on three separate occasions. His first medal, which he earned in a tie with St Kilda defender Verdun Howell, came at age 20 in 1959.
The last of the Brownlow Medal winners at age 20 or below is somewhat of a forgotten name: Brian Wilson.
Picking up the gong in a mini-upset in 1982, Wilson was ten days short of his 21st birthday when he denied North Melbourne star Ross Glendinning.
Having debuted as a 16-year-old for Footscray in 1978, Wilson was on his third club when he arrived at Melbourne in 1982, having (ironically for Glendinning) left North Melbourne the year prior.
Sheezel is nipping at the heels of Nick Daicos. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Wilson averaged a shade under 28 disposals in his medal year, a significant career peak that saw him etch his name amongst the greats of the game.
Depending on the specific date of the medal count in 2025, if Sheezel were to be adjudged the best and fairest player across the competition, he would potentially nick Wilson’s spot in the five youngest medal winners by a matter of days.
The obvious question here is… can he actually do it?
Wanganeen won his medal in his third AFL season, as did Chris Judd back in 2004. One of the main contenders this year, Nick Daicos, is right in the frame to claim the award at age 21, in his third season.
While Daicos (and Cripps, Bontempelli etc.) aren’t going to be easy beats next year, Sheezel is right on the heels of the Magpies star in terms of progress, with his 2024 numbers very much comparable to Daicos’ in 2023.
We’re still a good 13 months away from knowing, but if he can hold his trajectory into season number three, Harry Sheezel could end up immortalised alongside some of the best to play the game.
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