SACKED podcast: Jaidyn Stephenson on how bad North Melbourne really got

He arrived at North Melbourne as part of a bombshell trade at the end of 2020 determined to thrive despite the challenges of an ordinary list and first-year coach in David Noble.

Immediately upon arrival he realised there was a demand for him to play a contest-based, rugged game he was never equipped for.

In a 2021 season that brought only four wins for the Kangaroos under Noble, Stephenson was in the gun very early.

“That first year at North was really tough,” Stephenson told the Sacked podcast. “I think I averaged 20 (possessions) and a goal in that first season and I was still getting ripped into.

“I was thinking, ‘This is probably one of the better years I have had’, but because we weren’t winning and I had come across as a big recruit, there was a lot of pressure on me. They aren’t going to blame the fourth-game player; they start to blame you.

“At Collingwood when we were winning Steele Sidebottom used to train in tracky pants for the main sessions if it was freezing and I would do the same and it was all fine because we were winning. At North Melbourne you are in shorts, singlet and a beanie. “What are you doing with a beanie on? That’s not a footballer.’

“So that was quite disappointing, but from there on out, it just got worse.”

That moment of madness?

“Just another silly mistake I made. I had a few drinks and decided I was a good BMX rider.”

Only days after the 2021 season finished Stephenson blew off steam following two challenging seasons of hub-life with some postseason drinks with his housemates.

It turned into an embarrassing episode that saw him suffering hip fractures in what the club labelled a “reckless” act with “poor judgment”.

“I had ridden some BMX and ridden (in) skateparks growing up but I hadn’t done it for six or seven years,” Stephenson says with a rueful grin.

“I had a few drinks and decided I could ride my bike down my stairs at my house outside and went to the top to roll off them and realised at that stage, ‘This is a stupid idea’.

“I chucked the front brakes on and went over the top and pretty much went down from the top of five stairs and just landed straight on my hip on the concrete. I hopped up and went, ‘Something’s not right’ and went to hospital.”

He was taken to hospital by ambulance and while in the end he averted surgery which would have delayed his pre-season start, the club’s officials were white-hot with anger.

He called football boss Brady Rawlings with a feeling of dread, and eventually caught up with CEO Ben Amarfio for a stern lecture.

“I did a lot of listening and a lot of agreeing but by the time we got back to the pre-season I was back up and running.”

LOSING CONFIDENCE

Under Noble, the club was trying to play the contested-ball style that won finals and yet Stephenson’s frame had never been built for in-and-under football.

He accepted the weaknesses of his game but soon found the confidence being eroded from his strengths too.

“I have always been more of a skinny, outside player and I would miss one ground ball or contested ball and then for the next three weeks I would be outside doing extra ground balls and hard ball gets,” he said.

“It was like, ‘Hang on, there were three I did get’. It felt like that the whole time at North Melbourne. One thing got amplified a lot and it wasn’t just me, it was a lot of people through the group.

“It (was) draining. It’s going from week to week having finally put in three weeks on ground balls then you miss a kick or turn it over and then you need to get your kicking up to scratch. If we are winning, those things don’t come to light. That was the thing that annoyed me, having seen what it was like at a really successful club and at a club that is not, and the differences are stark.”

When did football stop being fun?

“Probably the end of that second year (2022) at North Melbourne,” he detailed. “We had played 45 games and won five. It was constant. ‘We aren’t doing this right’, crisis meetings, what is going on? And it didn’t really change. So that’s exhausting. It’s draining and you play with that natural confidence and that love. And it was completely gone. Every week I was thinking about six (different) things.

“So I kept thinking about not making mistakes and the mistakes kept coming and I couldn’t put together complete games consistently.”

WHY THE HORNET WAS NEVER STAYING

The club’s great white hope in Jason Horne-Francis arrived at the start of 2022 as the No.1 overall pick.

He lasted only a year amid a string of controversies including refusing some recoveries like ice baths, a running feud of Cam Zurhaar and trips home to South Australia that were not authorised by the club.

Noble sprayed the players after a torrid loss against Brisbane in round 3, 2022 and with Horne-Francis on the verge of tears was forced to apologise.

“Yeah, I remember being in it. I don’t think it was as bad as you might have made it out to be, but, yeah, it was just a good old-fashioned bake,” Stephenson said.

“And I think he had every right to do so. I mean, we weren’t performing, and actually in local footy (a few) weeks ago, we got a good rev-up at half-time, which would have gone close to it.”

How bad was the vibe with Horne-Francis as it became apparent he did not want to be there?

“You guys got most of the story spot on. I’m not sure he was really keen on being there. I think he was missing home a lot,” Stephenson said.

“The one thing I suppose with ‘Horney’ is that he had undeniable talent. We watched him in some match sims before the season started and he was clearly best on ground. And some of the things he could do, the confidence he had to just break out was amazing.

“And he is in a team (now) with players that have had success (at Port Adelaide) and a team that has been good and you can see how much of an impact he can have. So, yeah, he’s a phenomenal talent. It just wasn’t to be at North Melbourne.

“I had left (when he refused his ice bath). I had already had my ice bath and he just wasn’t too keen on getting in. It was hard.”

Stephenson conceded his own football “took a decline in the 2021 hub because I wasn’t happy.”

“I was missing home. So I can relate to how Jason was feeling and you are away from home, you are an 18 year old kid, he’s been picked at No.1. He is supposed to be a superstar and he’s playing in a team that has won two games and he’s asked to hop into an ice bath. I’m not giving him any chop out but that’s possibly why he did what he did.”

The Roos worked all season to surround him with mentors like AFL games record holder Brent Harvey but by year’s end he had requested a trade home.

But as Stephenson said: “Care has got to go both ways. You can give someone as much care as they want, but if they don’t necessarily take it, then it’s not going to work. So I think that might’ve been a little bit of the case in that situation.”

BEING CALLED SOFT BY ROSS LYON

Stephenson still bristles at Ross Lyon’s “non-competitor” assessment of him in the middle of the 2022 season, saying it did not take into account the good things he did.

Lyon torched Stephenson on Triple M, saying: “He doesn’t physically compete”.

He believes some of those who criticised him at the time judged him so much harder than they judged other players.

“Yeah, it is frustrating. And I think you’d love to just go, ‘well, here you go Ross, here’s my highlights. Well, here is 20 minutes of footage. Go actually have a look rather than, you know, watch one game, see one contest’,” he said.

“I might not have done it well, but you know Patrick Cripps is someone who’s known as being hard. He might miss the exact same one, but it doesn’t get brought up.

“It’s just like, because my aura is that.

“Patrick Cripps might do 10 and miss one. I might do five and miss one. It then just comes onto me and that really annoyed me.

“I think a lot of these old school guys can lose the fact that you need multiple different types of players to create a good side and whether it be work rate as a strength or being tough at it or. I would never say I’m weak and soft.

“Obviously I wasn’t super hard and really great at that, but I don’t think it was a massive deficiency either.

“And I think when a team is going poor, it really comes down to the hard(ness) and toughness. And that just wasn’t me necessarily as a footballer.”

He uses his former teammate Zane Duursma as an example of why different players make up different aspects of teams.

“I mean he’s a phenomenal talent as well,” Stephenson said of Duursma. “And a very similar mould to me. And he’s struggling getting in and out of the side.

And I think if you drop him into Geelong, or you drop him into Collingwood, he (would have) played every game this year, (and) kicked multiple goals.”

Stephenson conceded his family and friends struggled with the criticism, especially the soft tag, more than he did.

“I think a lot of them struggle. My mates struggle, they just say to me continuously they just want to bite back, especially online. They want to bite back.

“I’ve got no interest in going back.

“It did get to me and I would be frustrated, but I then quickly take that next two or three seconds to think they’re not having a go at my character. “

MOVING ON FROM THE ROOS

Stephenson effectively sacked himself when he quit the club at the end of 2024, with a year left on a lucrative five-year deal.

He almost did it the year before, but carried on for one more season.

“I finished ‘23 and thought I have really had enough here,” he said.

“And I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel (at North Melbourne). You know, my contract’s running out. I’m not gonna be in a successful side here. And I might as well start looking after, you know, my own happiness, my life going forward, get a head start.

“Obviously all my mates … they’re tradies, but they’re qualified and they’re now starting their own businesses and you know I’m pretty much going back to square zero.

“Like I’m going back to nothing once this is all done so. ‘Do I get a head start in life after footy?’ And it took a lot of conversations, a lot deliberating on my behalf, but (I) came to the conclusion, I’ll play one more year and sort of made it pretty clear that this will probably be my last year.”

He told his family and friends: “If I invite you to a game, you probably should come. Don’t miss out.”

As he played his final season in 2024, he started planning for life outside of the AFL bubble.

He played only 12 games that season – the lowest tally of his seven seasons – and split time between the elite level and the VFL.

Asked if he played for the money last year, when he was on a deal of around $550,000, Stephenson was candid when he said that was a big part of his motivation.

“As bad as it sounds, I’d checked out a little bit … and thought ‘I’m just going to keep trying to have fun’.”

His 122nd – and last – AFL game came in round 21 last year, against Richmond, and it provided him with a much-needed win, one of only eight he played in his 68 games with the Kangaroos.

In contrast, he played in 34 wins from 54 games with the Magpies.

“I think they (North Melbourne) understood I had checked out as well,” he said.

FINALLY I’M FREE

Some of Stephenson’s 2017 draft alumni Cam Rayner, Andrew Brayshaw, Aaron Naughton, Ed Richards, Darcy Fogarty and co are preparing for an assault on this year’s finals series.

But the now 26-year-old finally feels free out of the AFL system.

He misses the whirlwind of those Collingwood years, but doesn’t miss the weighed down pressures of playing for a wooden spoon side.

He left money on the table when he quit the Kangaroos at the end of last season, though he did get a negotiated settlement.

“I just got a little bit of a portion of it,” he said.

“So then spent the next four months doing not much, just sort of settling into life, playing a lot of golf, that sort of thing.”

What came next mapped out his 2025 – and hopefully his future.

He signed to play with his local football club … Ferntree Gully, where he had played his juniors. His parents attend every game.

He took up a career change of becoming an airconditioning mechanic, going back to trade school, and looking ahead to what those possibilities might be, including maybe one day setting up a business with his former Collingwood teammate Adam Oxley.

He is also enjoying spending more time with his partner with the hope that it might lead to their own family at some stage.

Importantly, he feels free again.

“I’ve touched on it the whole time … the journey happens for a reason. And yeah, it’s been a crazy journey so far,” he said.

“Who knows what the next journey is, but all I can do is look forward. It’s an exciting time … I’m free.”