“Happy-go-lucky”: The out-of-contract Roo Cornes can't figure out

Taken with the fourth overall pick in the 2023 National Draft, North Melbourne’s Zane Duursma is yet to truly set the AFL world alight.

Bar a superb highlight reel and a clear knack for goal, Duursma hasn’t averaged more than eight touches per game, with his average regressing to just 6.6 disposals per game over his 15 games this season.

Yet to nail down a set role at the Kangaroos, the 20-year-old is yet to receive a contract extension as he approaches the end of his rookie deal.

With some interest floated across the competition, Tom Morris and Kane Cornes discussed his potential value, debating his potential at AFL level.

“What’s he worth in a trade?” Morris told SEN Locked In.

“Out of contact at North Melbourne; there’s some clubs circling him at the moment. Pick 5 a couple of years ago.”

Cornes: “Late 20s, early 30s?”

Morris: “Not higher than that? Out of contract. Do you rate him as a player?”

Cornes: “I’m not sure about him.

“I would be willing to give him an opportunity, because I’ve seen him take some crazy marks and do some things that I really like.

“How much does footy mean to him? That’s what I’d be asking him. Do you really want to be great? I don’t know. What I see is sort of happy-go-lucky.

“Does it mean enough to you is the question, and I’d want to get to the bottom of that.

“That’s difficult to do with the modern generation, but chuck a footy in between him and another player, how much does he want it?”

Morris: “I would love to know how Zane Duursma would be a different player at a club like Geelong or Sydney. Would he be a different player?”

Cornes: “I hear that a lot, but you’ve still got to have that competitiveness in you. Chuck a football in between Nick Watson and a bigger opponent, he wants it. I don’t know if Zane Duursma’s got that.”

Morris: “North would probably offer him a two-year deal, maybe three.”

Cornes: “You couldn’t give him a guaranteed deal.”

Morris: “He is a hard player to value because he was such a high draft pick so recently.”

Despite his lowest career disposal average this season, Duursma booted a career-high 15 goals in his 15 games, 14 of which came within his first nine games of the year.

After suffering a shoulder subluxation, the brother of Willem and Xavier won’t return to football until next season, as he awaits a contract call.