What made David King feel “uneasy” about Paul Roos’ “pathetic” North Melbourne comment

David King has questioned the comments made by Paul Roos relating to North Melbourne’s struggling rebuild.

Sydney premiership coach Roos, who built the blueprint for a strong era at Melbourne, labelled the Kangaroos as “pathetic” after their 0-8 start to the 2024 season.

Speaking on the ABC’s AFL Daily podcast, Roos was comparing the rebuilds of such clubs as North and Hawthorn against the constant competing of clubs like Geelong and Sydney, who never seem to cut their lists too thin forcing them to drop out.

“Let’s look at North Melbourne with Jason Horne-Francis for example,” Roos said.

“The year before Horne-Francis went to North Melbourne, Jeremy Cameron went to Geelong. North had Pick 1, but Geelong got better than North Melbourne.

“There’s a really simple example of why rebuilding does not work. 12 months later, Jason Horne-Francis went to Port who were a seventh, eighth, ninth team, and now he’s playing much better with people around him.

“You need older players. You need leaders to teach the young kids how to play.

“There’s this ridiculous notion of ‘let’s just get all the kids in and we’ll eventually become good’.

“That’s absolute garbage because they don’t learn how to play properly because they’ve got no direction.”

Roos then slammed the Kangas for their lack of improvement under Alastair Clarkson over the last few seasons.

“So North Melbourne are 0-8 after two years of David Noble and in the second year of ‘Clarko’. I don’t really know what Clarko is doing. I love Clarko, we all know Clarko,” he added.

“I watch their games and there is no brand about how they play.

“Is it too late? I don’t know. He (Clarko) is a four-time premiership coach, he’s done way better than me at coaching, but I look at their team and they had way more talent than Melbourne did when we first started.

“I really don’t know what Clarko is doing because I’m not there, but 0-8 is pathetic. That is pathetic for the North Melbourne Football Club.

“My second year at Melbourne, we won seven games with a far less talented team than what North Melbourne has.”

Club legend King, who won two premierships in the royal blue and white, queried how Roos could distance himself so quickly from his recent role at Arden Street.

Roos had a significant say in the hiring of David Noble while acting in a consultancy role to help oversee things, yet within two years has berated the club.

It has left King disappointed.

“It’s hard to argue at 0-8. You can use whatever titles you like - he’s gone with pathetic - and I think that’s fair enough,” King said on SEN Breakfast.

“But Roosy’s fingerprints are on the North Melbourne program over the last five to six years. So I’m uneasy with the comments given that he was part of the solution, he was part of the acquisition of David Noble, he had a fair bit to say with him getting the opportunity.

“When you look at that, it was a period of time that set us back a couple of years. So to distance yourself totally just doesn’t sit well with me.

“I’m not here to defend North Melbourne, they can do that themselves, but I don’t know if he was there one year. I think he was there more than one year. I think his memory has drifted a little bit.

“He was a steadying hand for David Noble in his infancy as coach to try and work and smooth out the communication between the board and the footy department.

“I don’t think it was a volunteer role, there was a bit of ‘cashish’ going back the other way.

“I was just disappointed you can separate yourself so quickly from that. It didn’t work what he tried to do at North Melbourne.

“It’s easy to say they’re pathetic now and have a go at the situation now, everyone has done that.”

This weekend, the Kangaroos travel to Darwin to take on the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday night as they search for their first triumph of season 2024.