Roos youngsters set the pace

North Melbourne young gun Kieran Harper is one of the big improvers of the Kangaroos pre-season. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

NORTH Melbourne is reaping the rewards of a solid preseason with recruits Jordan Gysberts and Ben Jacobs leading the way.

Gysberts moved to Arden St during the AFL trade period after three seasons at Melbourne where he played 19 games.

Kangaroos champion Brent Harvey endorsed the 2009 No.11 pick's arrival at the club.

"Jordy's just gone about his footy the way he should be, and that's training really, really hard and setting a great standard for our younger guys to follow," the 246-game veteran told SEN radio this morning.

Meanwhile, Jacobs, a No.16 pick in 2010, has slotted into the Kangaroos defence after walking out on Port Adelaide.

"Benny Jacobs is one of the most professional guys I've seen come through our footy club. He's really switched on and loves his footy."

Harvey, suspended for the first six rounds of the season, expects the Kangaroos' youngsters to improve in leaps and bounds.

"It's going to be really, really good. We've got a lot of depth now and we can look at those young guys to really start taking over our footy club," Harvey said.

"(Shaun) Atley and (Kieran) Harper, they're the ones that everyone talks about; (Ben) Cunnington and (Ryan) Bastinac, they've all played 50-60 games together now and I think what I've seen over my career is teams start gelling when that young group have all played 50-60 games together.

"You can't expect too much from them when it's 20-30 games and they are still learning each other's style, but it's pretty much right now when you'll see the improvement from that group."

North Melbourne rookie Eric Wallace joined in the club's competitive hit-out against Geelong at Simonds Stadium today.

Wallace was signed as an international rookie last year.

"Participating in full on 18v18 training with the boys! Catching on quickly! Improving daily!!" he tweeted yesterday.

"The more I learn & develop as a footy player, the more I start to see the similarities there are in basketball! still an entirely diff game!"

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