Spoiling effort:Gold Coast’s Jarrod Witts competes with Tristan Xerri.Credit:Getty Images
Dual North Melbourne premiership wingman David King,calling the game on Fox Footy,used the half-time break to question what Noble’s instructions to his under-performing key players were.
“(Jy) Sympkin,(Jed) Anderson,(Luke) Davies-Uniacke,Tarry Thomas,they have played enough football now to know those responsibilities. They are not the first yearers,they are not the first-game type players,” King said.
“You have to question what they are asking of these players. What is the coaching of this group? It’s a constant discussion. Is David Noble the man or not? All we can judge is what we see of the weekend and what we see today is well short of that.”
Eight of the 10 straight defeats have been by at least 50 points. Noble has only five wins and a draw since accepting the top role ahead of season 2021 but,amid the departure of three key recruiters last month,was backed by the board and club chief executive Ben Amarfio.
“He (Noble) said at the start of the year - judge us against like types. This (Suns) is a like type … when you make those close-ended statements,you have to deliver. There is no other option,” King said. He later questioned how many heavy defeats a team should have in a rebuild.
King has previously denied he has been pushing for Adam Simpson,his former teammate and current West Coast Eagles coach,to return to Arden Street.