Well, I support them but I don’t barrack for them, if that makes sense. I don’t shout and jeer during matches, just as I don’t get overly upset if they lose or overly excited if they win. As a commentator, I look at them like any other team.

I have a great relationship with my old club, but the simple fact is I don’t get emotionally involved in games.

What I most like to do is watch great players - Luke Hodge, Joel Selwood, Gary Ablett, Chris Judd, Lance Franklin, Jack Ziebell and Jeremy Cameron are among my favourites - and exciting teams.

Which brings me to Friday night's match at Etihad Stadium, where North Melbourne meets Essendon.

Like everyone last year, I couldn’t help but be excited by North Melbourne’s style of play; often, it was thrilling to watch and even had me jumping out of my seat. At other times, the Roos were disappointing, losing 10 games by less than 16 points.

Their season was reflected in the heartbreaking losses to West Coast and Adelaide - within nine days of each other - when they gave up big leads late in the game.

This season, much has been written about their prospects – and how some commentators are rating them a top-four chance. Certainly there’s plenty to be excited about, but it’s time for the talking to stop and the action to start.  The Kangaroos have to put the score on the board.

There’s been a lot of talk about the off-field recruits - Geoff Walsh as chief executive, Leigh Tudor as an assistant coach - as well as the arrival of Nick Dal Santo from St Kilda.

But I think for the Kangaroos to improve, it’s their peripheral players - the guys who have been in and out of the side, who haven’t quite made a name for themselves -  who have to step up this year. And among that group are Jamie Macmillan, Sam Wright, Aaron Mullett, Taylor Hine and Sam Gibson.

Some of those names might surprise because they’ve been regulars for a while now. But my feeling is they need to add a defensive attitude to their games. They need to lay tackles that really stick, and have a better balance between contested and uncontested ball.

That might be a bit unfair on Hine who tries hard but lacks a bit of polish. But the stats are not flattering about Macmillan, Wright, Mullett, Gibson and others. Macmillan played most games last year but rated poorly in tackles and pressure on the ball-carrier; Mullett recorded the lowest contested possession rate of any Kangaroo; Wright ranked 17th for pressure in the Roos’ forward line; and Gibson, for all his strength as a runner, rated poorly in the area of applying pressure to opposition midfielders.

These guys need to make a statement this year, because it’s the strength of the bottom six players that often determines the success of a team in September. Everyone has to play their part. There aren’t many passengers in the Hawthorn, Fremantle and Sydney sides.

The Kangas know they’ll get a consistent, high-quality output from the likes of Ziebell, Wells, Thompson, Goldstein and Petrie. For them to finish top-four this year, they need some of these second- and third-tier players to have breakout seasons.

North Melbourne employed a tackling coach in the off-season, and it’s a good thing, too. It missed too many tackles last year which cost it victory in those tight matches.

So what I’ll be looking for on Friday night is how the Roos have improved the defensive side of their game - the tackling, smothering and pressuring that Fremantle has become so good at -  and how they protect a lead.

I reckon they’ve got their offensive strategy worked out beautifully. They were the No.1-ranked team at stoppages and clearances last year - but were scored against far too easily. You can get away with playing kamikaze footy against the weaker sides, but it won’t work in September.

The All-Australian full-back, Scott Thompson, along with Wells and Ziebell, is probably the most valuable player in the team. If he goes down, then the Roos - who lost Luke Delaney to St Kilda in the Dal Santo deal - could struggle.

Elsewhere, I’ll be looking for continued improvement from Aaron Black, Ben Cunnington, Shaun Atley and Ziebell, who I believe is ready to become one of the game’s elite midfielders.

Cunnington is underrated. Last year, he had the highest contested possession rate for any midfielder in the AFL who played more than five games. He has also formed a good understanding with Todd Goldstein and they were ranked the second-best ruck-rover combination.

Black was also outstanding in 2013 and started to show that he’s ready to take Petrie’s mantle as the club’s premier forward. He was the Roos’ second-most used target last year, so the players have got confidence in him. He also has good defensive skills and mobility - almost the complete package.

Luke McDonald’s arrival at the club - and as a former teammate of his father, Donald, I’m rapt to see Luke making his debut - should free up Atley to play more in the midfield where he will enjoy the freedom of doing what he does best: running hard and fast.

North Melbourne has 17 players who have played in that key window between 50 and 150 games: in Mick Malthouse’s language, their premiership clock is at 11 o’clock - or time to deliver some sustained success.

So there are no excuses for coach Brad Scott and the Roos this year. The time for talk is over.