North Adelaide coach Josh Francou is demanding a lift from his midfield unit in Sunday’s Elimination Final against Central District at AAMI Stadium.

Declaring his playing group can’t fall into the trap of thinking Crows-listed forward Lewis Johnston will be North’s saviour; Francou wants to see more from his on-ball brigade.

‘’It has been disappointing,’’ said Francou, while reflecting on his side’s five-game losing streak.

‘’After Round 15 we were sitting two games clear in second (on the ladder) and over the last five weeks the wheels have fallen off a little bit.

‘’But finals are a different kettle of fish and fingers crossed we can turn it on, on Sunday.

‘’Certainly our midfield has been down; if you looked purely at our numbers our stoppage work has been pretty poor. As a result we aren’t getting our hands on the footy and we aren’t getting it inside 50.

‘’The big talk is that Lewis Johnston is going to be our saviour but the reality is we need to get our hands on it in the midfield and if we can do that on Sunday we give ourselves half a chance.’’

Cleared to play in the SANFL finals series, Johnston’s absence has coincided with the Roosters not winning a match since defeating South on July 28.

The key forward’s presence should give North’s midfielders a strong marking target to aim at while entering their attacking 50m arc.

‘’Primarily he (Johnston) is a quality player coming back into the side,’’ said Francou, who has accepted a job at the Sydney Swans as a development coach.

‘’He can catch and as has been well-documented he can kick a goal from anywhere near 50m and closer. He gives our side confidence because he is another quality player coming back into the mix.

‘’Last week against Norwood, we didn’t play Daniel Archer and Matthew Westhoff, they went back to the reserves so he (Johnston) will come in.’’

Luckless Roosters captain Greg Gallman has now been ruled out for the rest of the season after his elbow injury was deemed to be more serious than first thought.

‘’It is serious,’’ Francou said.

‘’And unfortunately Greg I think has run over a black cat and walked under about 10 different ladders throughout the course of the year.

‘’He hasn’t played a lot of football, only about four quarters of football in the league side. So not to have your skipper out there hurts but having said that, it is up to others to step up and they have throughout the year.’’

Timetable for week one;

Central District v North Adelaide Elimination Final Sunday – 12.10pm – AAMI Stadium

Eagles v West Adelaide Qualifying Final Sunday – 3.10pm @ AAMI Stadium

– Zac Milbank – sanfl.com.au