AFL: North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell backs under-fire coach David Noble’s style as he prepares for game 250

North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell has emphatically backed coach David Noble and his coaching style ahead of his 250th match on Sunday. Speculation continues about second-year coach Noble’s allegedly deteriorating relationship with his players but Ziebell, as he did a few weeks ago, strongly refuted the claims. The 31-year-old was careful not to speak on behalf of everyone, saying his comments were based on his own experiences, of which he had “no concerns whatsoever” with Noble’s hard-line approach. “To me, personally, it’s a little bit amusing. ... I suppose that’s the industry we’re in. It might be a slow news week, so there’s probably not much happening and they’re looking for something,” Ziebell said. “But I understand that comes with the territory. When you’ve won one out of 10 games; fingers start to get pointed. “That’s on us as players and coaches and everyone to make sure that our performances on the weekend start to improve.” Noble apologised to his players in the days after he delivered a stinging spray to them following the Kangaroos’ 108-point round 3 belting to Brisbane. There has also been a simplification of the club’s game plan but Ziebell said Noble was “fantastic” at setting the standards North Melbourne had to reach. “I love ‘Nobes’ as a coach. He’s created one of the safest environments at our footy club over the last 18 months,” he said. “There’s that much learning going on here inside the four walls and it’s really impressive to see that, considering our win-loss ratio as well. “I think we’ve won five games in the last year-and-a-half (but) we all still love turning up to work here, so ‘Nobes’ has done a great job there. “I get the sentiment from the outside of the way he goes about it, but, for me, the way he’s been coaching has been fantastic. “He’s extracting plenty out of our group and he’s providing plenty of opportunities for our players to learn.” Ziebell was also confident that talented forward Cam Zurhaar would remain at Arden St despite News Corp revealing that he had parked contract negotiations. On his own milestone, Ziebell said it was “pretty cool” and something he would reflect on fondly once his career ended. “I didn’t think in my wildest dreams I’d get to this point in my career,” he said. “It’s been a great journey and I’ve had some fantastic memories on the way, and hopefully (there will be) a few more coming through.”