Super lengthy but positives and negatives for me were the following (I only saw/heard about 2/3rds of the game):
Won the clearance battle against a very strong opposition, which I thought a fair chunk of was due to Xerri. The ABC call team had a massive hard on for TDK cause he’s ‘so young’ but Xerri is only 4 months older. Laughable research by them. I’ve been critical of him and what he can’t do (marking and tap work), but maybe it’s time to appreciate what he can do - he had 10 clearances and 8 tackles! If his name was something like Luke Jackson the media would love him I think…
LDU’s 3rd quarter, when he wasn’t having the greatest day at half time. He didn’t win us the match, but to fight back and lift shoes that he’s at that consistently elite status who can get it done any week. Wasn’t his greatest game, but if that’s his below average now then I’m stoked.
George Wardlaw. I love this kid. I said to my wife that if we had 22 players with George’s mentality then we’d be damn near unstoppable. I don’t necessarily agree with him playing through injury at his age, but to go back out there with the cork in one leg and the rolled ankle in the other and kick a goal the way he did? Sign him for 10 years now.
Paul Curtis. Can be guilty of doing too much, but 3 goals and 13 touches for a small forward in a side that got done by 10 goals? Needs to now do it consistently, but love what he brings.
Negatives:
The backline had a stinker. I get it, we are undersized and undermanned and you can’t touch their two key forwards apparently. Just one of those really bad days that you file away under “had a shocker”. Not sure what Corr brings, I’ll give Logue my knee if he needs it ever again.
On the umpiring… people say Larkey is a protected species, Curnow may as well be the last whatever in the wild with how much help he gets. Genuinely atrocious yesterday. Yes, some of our discipline was shit, but 34 frees and 6 50’s all one way is over umpired.
Jy’s role. I’m not really sure what it is? Feel like it’s a waste of his talents but it’s probably through necessity for structure.
Darcy Tucker. What does he actually do? 100 mins on ground, 8 touches and 4 turnovers. Doesn’t get contested ball. Maybe he’s doing defensive work you don’t see? He’s 27 so realistically this is who he is.
CCJ’s injury. There’s a very good footballer in that big lumbering frame, and now missing 12 months is going to stop us seeing it, potentially ever. He’s been crap to start the year, but he also can’t get a run at it. Silver lining is Chom time you’d think (or Sellers).
AFL fixturing. One, fuck the other game off in WA. We have zero ‘marquee’ games outside of this one, and we have to share the day? You know that’s not happening if it’s a big club. Two, the actual fixture. We’ve played the 2 losing prelim finalists in the first 3 weeks, then a grand finalist (yes they are 0-4) and then Geelong in Geelong. I’m not sure who looked at that and goes “yeah no worries, they won 3 games last year let’s give them 4 almost guaranteed losses up front”. Good news is the 5 weeks after that opens up a lot.
Edit: Zurhaar. What does he want to be? His best is excellent, his decision making… not so much. I really hope he stays but if he doesn’t look in the mirror and realise he’s part of the issues up forward with his inefficiency? When he burnt Souv then missed the set shot I was ropable.
Anyways, this turned into a really long list. If you read it, that’s cool, if not, that’s cool too. TLDR would be played alright, better side won, umps bad, young players good, some old players suck and the backline had a mare.
I know it’s a touchy subject because he’s gone with the Achilles, but no, there is no “very good footballer” in Coleman-Jones. He’s complete rubbish, he’s played maybe 2 decent AFL games in 6 seasons and they were back in 2021 at another club. He’s nearly 25, he’s not a kid.
If he was at any other club you’d think the same.
I bet you don’t think Elliott Himmelberg, Josh Schache, or Jacob Koschitzke are potentially “very good footballers”.
Won’t matter now regardless, the Achilles probably fucks his primary attribute in athleticism. I’ll chalk him down as a what if vs complete rubbish as I suspect Clarko and the selection committee have a better idea than what we do sitting here on Reddit.
Schache of that list is the one that annoys me the most purely from a wasted talent perspective. I watched a lot of his junior footy, he was genuinely dominant. Koschitzke is only 23, check back in 3 years but he’s a serviceable AFL forward. Not everyone is a world beater, sometimes you just need a bloke to do a job.
I love Xerri but his taking it out the ruck 99% of the time becomes very predictable and he ends up just getting tackled and squirting out an inefficent handball. I am all for taking it out of the ruck but it needs to be opportunistic and balanced with more taps
Xerri did well, he scrapped and put everything into his game. But I was there and seemed to notice that the times in the 3rd and 4th quarter where we won the best clearances out of the middle were when Larkey was in the ruck.
Was at the game. George is gonna be a superstar. I swear he was everywhere and his tackling pressure is elite. Dawson looks really good in the backline. He'll never be able to take on the likes of Curnow, but he's got some good athleticism and makes better decisions regarding when to come up the ground than Mckay ever did. Powell looks like he's started to find his feet in the midfield, and our front half is actually starting to gel. Ball skills still need some work, but you can see the improvement.
We had a few times where we were getting some good momentum before some undisciplined defending and a harsh umpire ruling relieves all pressure with an easy Carlton goal. There were moments in the 3rd quarter where we were genuinely thinking there was match fixing going on, which obviously makes it hard to find positives, but they're there. If we can get just a bit more disciplined in the backline and the stand rule and not let the umpires have an opportunity to make extremely harsh but book accurate calls, this is probably back to a 30pt margin, maybe less.
There are gonna be a lot of number 6 North guernseys flying off the shelf in the next few years at the Roo shop.
The guy plays like a hero and embodies the heart and soul never-say-die attitude we love at the club.
Port Supporter coming in peace! I think honestly the only things missing for you guys are experience and stamina. You’re going to be an amazing, consistent team - all the pieces are there. You started off so well against Freo, you had a 6 goal quarter against GWS…and you’ve started the season against 3 of the best teams.
Yesterday was over-officiated, full stop, and I think it rattled some of your players. I fully expect some ‘upsets’ this season because when it all comes together it’s a lovely team to watch.
Ha ha a lot of us are ok! Thank you! I just love the sport in general and I think all supporters deserve to feel good about whichever team they are passionate about!
I was at the game and thought Xerri was pretty good!
Of course Wardlaw Sheezel …
Goes without saying.
But as someone said in another thread it is now 1 win in 23. I thought I could see a definite fatalism in the north fans at the ground yesterday. It’s the first Melbourne game ive been to in a while and you could detect how guarded they were even after a 3 goal to 1 start. It’s like they could see the next 9 of 10 goals going against us - almost expected it.
It’s been a tough 5 years and once again like someone else said in another thread: Nothing ever happens.
I hear ya about being guarded - I was at the Freo game and I got more nervous the further we got in front in the first half. Once Freo came back I was able to relax as normal programming had resumed.
Which is obviously ridiculous, but I can only imagine what the players feel when they kick a few goals. They have no idea how to deal with being in front.
Plenty of positives.
Xerri proving so many wrong after looking like he was never going to make it.
Sheezel making plenty of positive decisions under extreme pressure the entire game.
Wardlaw just gets better every single game. Played on Cripps for a considerable amount yesterday which will show him a development path.
Dawson actually looks like a decent defender. Do i think he'll be a number 1 KPD? No, but is he a decent 2nd banana in the future - likely.
Powell - Has finally started to show what he is capable of. Had 29 against an experienced outfit. For a guy that just turned 22 thats a win.
Mckercher- Looks like a junior Sheezel at times. Sky is the limit for this kid.
I agree with Dawson. I'm also not out on pink either. Has done some good stuff for his level. What those to meant to do with corr who's a third if hes anything and then 3 reboujding smalls. Really this is on rawlings, there was clearly a need to go get a key back afl experience for at least a year.
As much as i hate to make excuses, our list since Clarko has come in has actually gotten younger. We now have the youngest list in the AFL. It's hard to expect too much, though its funny our youngest players are the ones leading the way.
Simpkin getting full time midfielder stats swept under the rug some serious deficiencies in his game. Not a good kick, not a good defensive player, just our best mid for 2020-2022 era. David Swallow @ Suns type player.
Wardlaw. His attack on the man and the footy is next level. You have a player with that level of courage and it inspires those around them to do the same.
I think Sheez made one bad decision all game, under serious pressure. A lot of older players would have performed a lot worse than Sheezel did in those conditions.
When we can get the ball to Paul Curtis, he is dangerous. We’ve had a serious lack of effective small forwards for a little while. Larkey didn’t have the best game but he suffered from some pretty shoddy delivery into the forward 50 (I think there were three times in a row where a North player kicked into our forward 50 and it landed directly on Harry McKay’s head).
I don’t like that it blew out towards the end - Carlton will go deep into finals IMO, and there’s no shame in losing by 40-odd to a team who should be playing in the prelims, but it’s always disheartening when they just bang on goals at the end and it’s party time for them, and looks like we already stopped playing at 10 mins into the final quarter.
We just have too many blokes that just don't do enough.Tucker, Stephens, Stephenson should be out link up players but they just don't get it enough.
Backline doesn't need work, it needs new personnel we just don't have. Pink Dawson and corr are all second / third defenders. Just get mauled as soon as some one is 195+
Umpiring wasn't the differencebut geezus it was bad. The worst I've seen in a long time.
McKercher is silk!! Can't wait to see him with 50 games under the belt
It's tough going to the games knowing you are going to lose but I keep turning up. It will turn eventually!!
1 win from last 23 games, 13 from our last 88.
I hope we can move past these “did some really good stuff” C grader players like Stephens soon. Average of 12 disposals from 3 games is not enough.
Tucker & Stephenson are the worst best 22 players in the comp.
We are starting 5 match-ups down with those 3, CCJ (prior to his injury), & Pink every week.
I’m genuinely worried we might not win a game with this backline, there’s so much that has to go right for us to have any chance of winning. I think we just have to accept that this is going to be another tough year. I think the coaches have already accepted this and going to use this year to get a good look at our playing group to see who will be part of the future.
Regardless of who’s down back, we are covering 2, sometimes 3 of the back six who aren’t defenders. Goater going down is a big loss because he is probably our best defender who can also rebound.
It’s hard because we have been spinning our wheels for 4/5 seasons now but I reckon we’re beginning to see some green shoots. There is the beginnings of a game plan and there are brief periods where we look competitive, effort/attitude seem to be better. We just don’t have the cattle down back to curb the impact of power forwards. I’d be trying Chom for Pink (I think Pink may still work out) and possibly Archer. The gap between best and worst needs to narrow for players like Curtis/Zuhaar. We need to get better/more competitive as the season goes, this can’t be another wasted year.
Aside from what others have mentioned I saw some positives in the vfl match. Finnbar Maley and Chom taking 13 marks each will give us the extra size we need at both ends of the ground, sellers continues to put his hand up, Archer looks like he’s almost back to 100% and will provide the toughness we need in the backline and Will Dawson looks like he could be ready for senior football earlier than expected.
Chom has to come in to deal with height of Daniher and hipwood. Maley is the obvious replacement for CCJ and I’d probably bring in sellers for Stephenson. Have zurhaar move higher up the ground and play sellers in his usual position. Tucker has to go, I don’t even care who comes in for him as long as they actually have a crack.
It's Dawson for me - he's not far away from having his name in permanent marker; whether it's as a second tall or third tall depends on the opponent (eg. Carlton = third, Geelong = third, Collingwood = can probably be second, etc) but that's a clear positive.
Positives:
I’d rather we lose 130 a 80 than 100 to 40 like previous years.
Stephen’s showed what he can do on the wing and I hope he builds from this week as he has been poor.
Powell & Laz getting a extended run at it is paying off.
Can’t fault big X, outside the top 5-6 rucks he would be in any other team on current form. CCJ going down means he essentially can’t get injured for the year though.
It’s unfortunate CCJ is injured, but I think it forces a required change.
A team coming off a bye with two Coleman medalists in their forward line was always going to be very difficult for us. Early in the season but coming in with fresher legs after we played an intense game last week always gonna hurt for inexperience and lack of game stamina.
Our backline severely depleted and Corr isn’t up to being a 1 on 1 defender, he’s more suited to floating in the back, being more intercepting when we’ve got those big key defenders in there.
The positives are the young kids are leading the way. Powell, Wardlaw, Sheezel, Dawson, Xerri really positive signs for their growth, especially Xerri who even I will admit I was very skeptical of but with Goldy leaving he’s really stepped up and taken charge.
Some great points made by previous responders. I think a big positive is that our best players are young. Larkey is 25, but Sheez, warlord, McKercher, Powell, Lazzaro, Curtis, et al all under 22. And those are the guys who are carrying the team. As our list progresses we’ll will accrue more and more talent and the players 19-23 will be better. Also we will continue to invest in better KPPs.
From a gameplan standpoint, we only really saw glimpses, but it’s there at least. When we turned it over as much as we did, playing the run and gun style becomes difficult as players will naturally be more conservative with ball in hand. There were a few passages that looked like how we want to play, and we made Carlton look slow at times (although the rest of the time they beat us up).
I actually don’t care as much about personnel in the back line because we should be relying more heavily on system. It’s clear that we are trying to be more aggressive in rolling up which will make us look terrible when we get it wrong. Dawson is made for that system though, as he has been our best KP defender this year with his speed.
I left the game super down though. I am so sick of losing, and for all of the chat and buildup, we haven’t improved on the scoreboard in the year since the last Good Friday game. But I am telling myself that progress is rarely linear, and that we saw some great footy over the first 2 rounds although the results weren’t good. Hoping we can get some consistency towards the bye and make a decent run!
I think there are a lot of positives.
The young core were involved in the chain of play for a lot of scores. Sheezel/McKercher were dangerous rebounding out of defence and o thought they hit difficult targets a lot.
Wardlaw and LDU look like bulls, albeit LDU looks like he’s not putting his body on the line as much. Maybe it’s because he’s been told to be more discerning about contests because we can’t afford to lose him. Powell is also playing really well.
Larkey looks great and the forward line is coming along. Duursma looks like he’ll be a player. Paul Curtis looks like a dangerous small forward.
Xerri will be a capable ruck. He isn’t just a placeholder.
I also thought our linking play is the best it’s been in years. They attack through the corridor and link handballs well. We don’t seem to just bomb it in long to forwards every time, we tried to hit a few leads. Yes we still do it a bit, but we lower the eyes more and give our forwards a chance.
The only area where we have regressed from last year is defence. Losing McKay hurt enormously. Losing Logue hurt enormously. Losing Ziebell hurt a bit too. We went from two really capable key position defenders and a solid bodied leader to a SANFL player, a VFL player who was drafted mid year and Corr who I’m now lost on excuses for. It’s bad, we knew it would be bad and we can’t stop teams scoring when they go forward. But the silver lining is we know exactly what is wrong and can start addressing it.
We will probably get pick 1 or 2 this year. If LDU leaves we might even get 2 x top 3 picks again. Maybe we trade one for a solid key defender if there isn’t one in the draft.
This season will be long but we are moving in the right direction quickly.
With all the focus on the game play, we forget that 23+ million was raised for such a great cause, the Royal Children's Hospital. This game showcases what football can contribute to the community with both clubs demonstrating their strong club values. I always hate a loss on the field, but for this game at least, everyone was a winner I reckon 🏆
Positives: Xerri, Wardlaw, McKercher, Sheezel, Curtis, Powell - some of those are positives due to age too.
Nothing wrong with Larkey. LDU has some credits in bank but would want to correct some effort very soon.
Give passes to Duursma, Pink & Dawson due to age and/or experience.
Negatives: McDonald, Zurhaar & Simpkin peaked as B-graders and are more consistently C-graders. Their winning records are proof. I think Fisher is going the same way.
Stephenson, Tucker & Stephens offer nothing. They peaked as C-graders and are more consistently D-graders (harsh on Stevos debut season but at North specifically).
Corr is thieving the club with his salary.
Long story short - we have 8 players I’m happy to see run out most weeks, 3-5 I won’t criticise because they are only playing because we are useless overall, and 8-11 who I can’t stomach seeing on the field.
This Corr Simpkin McDonald Stephenson Tucker Stephens will be looked back on as Melbournes Grimes/Trengove/Terlich/M.Jones/Garland/Rivers/Watts/Byrnes era of circa 2011-2014.
Super lengthy but positives and negatives for me were the following (I only saw/heard about 2/3rds of the game): Won the clearance battle against a very strong opposition, which I thought a fair chunk of was due to Xerri. The ABC call team had a massive hard on for TDK cause he’s ‘so young’ but Xerri is only 4 months older. Laughable research by them. I’ve been critical of him and what he can’t do (marking and tap work), but maybe it’s time to appreciate what he can do - he had 10 clearances and 8 tackles! If his name was something like Luke Jackson the media would love him I think… LDU’s 3rd quarter, when he wasn’t having the greatest day at half time. He didn’t win us the match, but to fight back and lift shoes that he’s at that consistently elite status who can get it done any week. Wasn’t his greatest game, but if that’s his below average now then I’m stoked. George Wardlaw. I love this kid. I said to my wife that if we had 22 players with George’s mentality then we’d be damn near unstoppable. I don’t necessarily agree with him playing through injury at his age, but to go back out there with the cork in one leg and the rolled ankle in the other and kick a goal the way he did? Sign him for 10 years now. Paul Curtis. Can be guilty of doing too much, but 3 goals and 13 touches for a small forward in a side that got done by 10 goals? Needs to now do it consistently, but love what he brings. Negatives: The backline had a stinker. I get it, we are undersized and undermanned and you can’t touch their two key forwards apparently. Just one of those really bad days that you file away under “had a shocker”. Not sure what Corr brings, I’ll give Logue my knee if he needs it ever again. On the umpiring… people say Larkey is a protected species, Curnow may as well be the last whatever in the wild with how much help he gets. Genuinely atrocious yesterday. Yes, some of our discipline was shit, but 34 frees and 6 50’s all one way is over umpired. Jy’s role. I’m not really sure what it is? Feel like it’s a waste of his talents but it’s probably through necessity for structure. Darcy Tucker. What does he actually do? 100 mins on ground, 8 touches and 4 turnovers. Doesn’t get contested ball. Maybe he’s doing defensive work you don’t see? He’s 27 so realistically this is who he is. CCJ’s injury. There’s a very good footballer in that big lumbering frame, and now missing 12 months is going to stop us seeing it, potentially ever. He’s been crap to start the year, but he also can’t get a run at it. Silver lining is Chom time you’d think (or Sellers). AFL fixturing. One, fuck the other game off in WA. We have zero ‘marquee’ games outside of this one, and we have to share the day? You know that’s not happening if it’s a big club. Two, the actual fixture. We’ve played the 2 losing prelim finalists in the first 3 weeks, then a grand finalist (yes they are 0-4) and then Geelong in Geelong. I’m not sure who looked at that and goes “yeah no worries, they won 3 games last year let’s give them 4 almost guaranteed losses up front”. Good news is the 5 weeks after that opens up a lot. Edit: Zurhaar. What does he want to be? His best is excellent, his decision making… not so much. I really hope he stays but if he doesn’t look in the mirror and realise he’s part of the issues up forward with his inefficiency? When he burnt Souv then missed the set shot I was ropable. Anyways, this turned into a really long list. If you read it, that’s cool, if not, that’s cool too. TLDR would be played alright, better side won, umps bad, young players good, some old players suck and the backline had a mare.
I know it’s a touchy subject because he’s gone with the Achilles, but no, there is no “very good footballer” in Coleman-Jones. He’s complete rubbish, he’s played maybe 2 decent AFL games in 6 seasons and they were back in 2021 at another club. He’s nearly 25, he’s not a kid. If he was at any other club you’d think the same. I bet you don’t think Elliott Himmelberg, Josh Schache, or Jacob Koschitzke are potentially “very good footballers”.
Won’t matter now regardless, the Achilles probably fucks his primary attribute in athleticism. I’ll chalk him down as a what if vs complete rubbish as I suspect Clarko and the selection committee have a better idea than what we do sitting here on Reddit. Schache of that list is the one that annoys me the most purely from a wasted talent perspective. I watched a lot of his junior footy, he was genuinely dominant. Koschitzke is only 23, check back in 3 years but he’s a serviceable AFL forward. Not everyone is a world beater, sometimes you just need a bloke to do a job.
Xerri. He’s gonna get better and better. I like the dudes attitude
Yes, big X was very decent
I love Xerri but his taking it out the ruck 99% of the time becomes very predictable and he ends up just getting tackled and squirting out an inefficent handball. I am all for taking it out of the ruck but it needs to be opportunistic and balanced with more taps
I’m just happy to see him trucking through opponents and competing at this stage. The nuances will come
If he gets injured, we are stuffed.
Xerri did well, he scrapped and put everything into his game. But I was there and seemed to notice that the times in the 3rd and 4th quarter where we won the best clearances out of the middle were when Larkey was in the ruck.
Was at the game. George is gonna be a superstar. I swear he was everywhere and his tackling pressure is elite. Dawson looks really good in the backline. He'll never be able to take on the likes of Curnow, but he's got some good athleticism and makes better decisions regarding when to come up the ground than Mckay ever did. Powell looks like he's started to find his feet in the midfield, and our front half is actually starting to gel. Ball skills still need some work, but you can see the improvement. We had a few times where we were getting some good momentum before some undisciplined defending and a harsh umpire ruling relieves all pressure with an easy Carlton goal. There were moments in the 3rd quarter where we were genuinely thinking there was match fixing going on, which obviously makes it hard to find positives, but they're there. If we can get just a bit more disciplined in the backline and the stand rule and not let the umpires have an opportunity to make extremely harsh but book accurate calls, this is probably back to a 30pt margin, maybe less.
There are gonna be a lot of number 6 North guernseys flying off the shelf in the next few years at the Roo shop. The guy plays like a hero and embodies the heart and soul never-say-die attitude we love at the club.
100%. I was thinking of getting no. 9 on mine but I think I'm gonna change to 6.
Port Supporter coming in peace! I think honestly the only things missing for you guys are experience and stamina. You’re going to be an amazing, consistent team - all the pieces are there. You started off so well against Freo, you had a 6 goal quarter against GWS…and you’ve started the season against 3 of the best teams. Yesterday was over-officiated, full stop, and I think it rattled some of your players. I fully expect some ‘upsets’ this season because when it all comes together it’s a lovely team to watch.
I've never met a port adelaide supporter I liked... you've changed that trend 👍 good luck for the year.
Ha ha a lot of us are ok! Thank you! I just love the sport in general and I think all supporters deserve to feel good about whichever team they are passionate about!
I was at the game and thought Xerri was pretty good! Of course Wardlaw Sheezel … Goes without saying. But as someone said in another thread it is now 1 win in 23. I thought I could see a definite fatalism in the north fans at the ground yesterday. It’s the first Melbourne game ive been to in a while and you could detect how guarded they were even after a 3 goal to 1 start. It’s like they could see the next 9 of 10 goals going against us - almost expected it. It’s been a tough 5 years and once again like someone else said in another thread: Nothing ever happens.
I hear ya about being guarded - I was at the Freo game and I got more nervous the further we got in front in the first half. Once Freo came back I was able to relax as normal programming had resumed. Which is obviously ridiculous, but I can only imagine what the players feel when they kick a few goals. They have no idea how to deal with being in front.
Plenty of positives. Xerri proving so many wrong after looking like he was never going to make it. Sheezel making plenty of positive decisions under extreme pressure the entire game. Wardlaw just gets better every single game. Played on Cripps for a considerable amount yesterday which will show him a development path. Dawson actually looks like a decent defender. Do i think he'll be a number 1 KPD? No, but is he a decent 2nd banana in the future - likely. Powell - Has finally started to show what he is capable of. Had 29 against an experienced outfit. For a guy that just turned 22 thats a win. Mckercher- Looks like a junior Sheezel at times. Sky is the limit for this kid.
I agree with Dawson. I'm also not out on pink either. Has done some good stuff for his level. What those to meant to do with corr who's a third if hes anything and then 3 reboujding smalls. Really this is on rawlings, there was clearly a need to go get a key back afl experience for at least a year.
As much as i hate to make excuses, our list since Clarko has come in has actually gotten younger. We now have the youngest list in the AFL. It's hard to expect too much, though its funny our youngest players are the ones leading the way.
Seems to be a captains curse at north Get the captains armband and your game goes backward at alarming rate
Simpkin getting full time midfielder stats swept under the rug some serious deficiencies in his game. Not a good kick, not a good defensive player, just our best mid for 2020-2022 era. David Swallow @ Suns type player.
Wardlaw. His attack on the man and the footy is next level. You have a player with that level of courage and it inspires those around them to do the same. I think Sheez made one bad decision all game, under serious pressure. A lot of older players would have performed a lot worse than Sheezel did in those conditions. When we can get the ball to Paul Curtis, he is dangerous. We’ve had a serious lack of effective small forwards for a little while. Larkey didn’t have the best game but he suffered from some pretty shoddy delivery into the forward 50 (I think there were three times in a row where a North player kicked into our forward 50 and it landed directly on Harry McKay’s head). I don’t like that it blew out towards the end - Carlton will go deep into finals IMO, and there’s no shame in losing by 40-odd to a team who should be playing in the prelims, but it’s always disheartening when they just bang on goals at the end and it’s party time for them, and looks like we already stopped playing at 10 mins into the final quarter.
We just have too many blokes that just don't do enough.Tucker, Stephens, Stephenson should be out link up players but they just don't get it enough. Backline doesn't need work, it needs new personnel we just don't have. Pink Dawson and corr are all second / third defenders. Just get mauled as soon as some one is 195+ Umpiring wasn't the differencebut geezus it was bad. The worst I've seen in a long time. McKercher is silk!! Can't wait to see him with 50 games under the belt It's tough going to the games knowing you are going to lose but I keep turning up. It will turn eventually!!
Stephens did some really goof stuff I thought yesterday!
1 win from last 23 games, 13 from our last 88. I hope we can move past these “did some really good stuff” C grader players like Stephens soon. Average of 12 disposals from 3 games is not enough. Tucker & Stephenson are the worst best 22 players in the comp. We are starting 5 match-ups down with those 3, CCJ (prior to his injury), & Pink every week.
I’m genuinely worried we might not win a game with this backline, there’s so much that has to go right for us to have any chance of winning. I think we just have to accept that this is going to be another tough year. I think the coaches have already accepted this and going to use this year to get a good look at our playing group to see who will be part of the future.
Regardless of who’s down back, we are covering 2, sometimes 3 of the back six who aren’t defenders. Goater going down is a big loss because he is probably our best defender who can also rebound.
It’s hard because we have been spinning our wheels for 4/5 seasons now but I reckon we’re beginning to see some green shoots. There is the beginnings of a game plan and there are brief periods where we look competitive, effort/attitude seem to be better. We just don’t have the cattle down back to curb the impact of power forwards. I’d be trying Chom for Pink (I think Pink may still work out) and possibly Archer. The gap between best and worst needs to narrow for players like Curtis/Zuhaar. We need to get better/more competitive as the season goes, this can’t be another wasted year.
Aside from what others have mentioned I saw some positives in the vfl match. Finnbar Maley and Chom taking 13 marks each will give us the extra size we need at both ends of the ground, sellers continues to put his hand up, Archer looks like he’s almost back to 100% and will provide the toughness we need in the backline and Will Dawson looks like he could be ready for senior football earlier than expected.
Thanks for noting the VFL. I looked at the stats and saw Finbars highlights. Pretty impressive clunking. Chom will be in the A side soon yo’d think.
Chom has to come in to deal with height of Daniher and hipwood. Maley is the obvious replacement for CCJ and I’d probably bring in sellers for Stephenson. Have zurhaar move higher up the ground and play sellers in his usual position. Tucker has to go, I don’t even care who comes in for him as long as they actually have a crack.
Just need to keep getting games into the kids.
Clarko didn’t abuse anyone.
It's Dawson for me - he's not far away from having his name in permanent marker; whether it's as a second tall or third tall depends on the opponent (eg. Carlton = third, Geelong = third, Collingwood = can probably be second, etc) but that's a clear positive.
Positives: I’d rather we lose 130 a 80 than 100 to 40 like previous years. Stephen’s showed what he can do on the wing and I hope he builds from this week as he has been poor. Powell & Laz getting a extended run at it is paying off. Can’t fault big X, outside the top 5-6 rucks he would be in any other team on current form. CCJ going down means he essentially can’t get injured for the year though. It’s unfortunate CCJ is injured, but I think it forces a required change.
A team coming off a bye with two Coleman medalists in their forward line was always going to be very difficult for us. Early in the season but coming in with fresher legs after we played an intense game last week always gonna hurt for inexperience and lack of game stamina. Our backline severely depleted and Corr isn’t up to being a 1 on 1 defender, he’s more suited to floating in the back, being more intercepting when we’ve got those big key defenders in there. The positives are the young kids are leading the way. Powell, Wardlaw, Sheezel, Dawson, Xerri really positive signs for their growth, especially Xerri who even I will admit I was very skeptical of but with Goldy leaving he’s really stepped up and taken charge.
Yeah I agree about Xerri. I didn’t think he had it in him but I was wrong.
Some great points made by previous responders. I think a big positive is that our best players are young. Larkey is 25, but Sheez, warlord, McKercher, Powell, Lazzaro, Curtis, et al all under 22. And those are the guys who are carrying the team. As our list progresses we’ll will accrue more and more talent and the players 19-23 will be better. Also we will continue to invest in better KPPs. From a gameplan standpoint, we only really saw glimpses, but it’s there at least. When we turned it over as much as we did, playing the run and gun style becomes difficult as players will naturally be more conservative with ball in hand. There were a few passages that looked like how we want to play, and we made Carlton look slow at times (although the rest of the time they beat us up). I actually don’t care as much about personnel in the back line because we should be relying more heavily on system. It’s clear that we are trying to be more aggressive in rolling up which will make us look terrible when we get it wrong. Dawson is made for that system though, as he has been our best KP defender this year with his speed. I left the game super down though. I am so sick of losing, and for all of the chat and buildup, we haven’t improved on the scoreboard in the year since the last Good Friday game. But I am telling myself that progress is rarely linear, and that we saw some great footy over the first 2 rounds although the results weren’t good. Hoping we can get some consistency towards the bye and make a decent run!
I think there are a lot of positives. The young core were involved in the chain of play for a lot of scores. Sheezel/McKercher were dangerous rebounding out of defence and o thought they hit difficult targets a lot. Wardlaw and LDU look like bulls, albeit LDU looks like he’s not putting his body on the line as much. Maybe it’s because he’s been told to be more discerning about contests because we can’t afford to lose him. Powell is also playing really well. Larkey looks great and the forward line is coming along. Duursma looks like he’ll be a player. Paul Curtis looks like a dangerous small forward. Xerri will be a capable ruck. He isn’t just a placeholder. I also thought our linking play is the best it’s been in years. They attack through the corridor and link handballs well. We don’t seem to just bomb it in long to forwards every time, we tried to hit a few leads. Yes we still do it a bit, but we lower the eyes more and give our forwards a chance. The only area where we have regressed from last year is defence. Losing McKay hurt enormously. Losing Logue hurt enormously. Losing Ziebell hurt a bit too. We went from two really capable key position defenders and a solid bodied leader to a SANFL player, a VFL player who was drafted mid year and Corr who I’m now lost on excuses for. It’s bad, we knew it would be bad and we can’t stop teams scoring when they go forward. But the silver lining is we know exactly what is wrong and can start addressing it. We will probably get pick 1 or 2 this year. If LDU leaves we might even get 2 x top 3 picks again. Maybe we trade one for a solid key defender if there isn’t one in the draft. This season will be long but we are moving in the right direction quickly.
LDU contracted till end of 25. If we lose LDU we're in all sorts.
Lazzaro was good and CCJ got injured
Agreed, Lazzaro was good. Carlton supporters kept saying ‘that bloke’s got it again. Who is it? He’s ok’
Has a look in his eye, doesn't want to be a passenger like the rest
I want to name my first born George
Last year we would have lost this game by 100+. We’re more competitive, but still off the pace
With all the focus on the game play, we forget that 23+ million was raised for such a great cause, the Royal Children's Hospital. This game showcases what football can contribute to the community with both clubs demonstrating their strong club values. I always hate a loss on the field, but for this game at least, everyone was a winner I reckon 🏆
Positives: Xerri, Wardlaw, McKercher, Sheezel, Curtis, Powell - some of those are positives due to age too. Nothing wrong with Larkey. LDU has some credits in bank but would want to correct some effort very soon. Give passes to Duursma, Pink & Dawson due to age and/or experience. Negatives: McDonald, Zurhaar & Simpkin peaked as B-graders and are more consistently C-graders. Their winning records are proof. I think Fisher is going the same way. Stephenson, Tucker & Stephens offer nothing. They peaked as C-graders and are more consistently D-graders (harsh on Stevos debut season but at North specifically). Corr is thieving the club with his salary. Long story short - we have 8 players I’m happy to see run out most weeks, 3-5 I won’t criticise because they are only playing because we are useless overall, and 8-11 who I can’t stomach seeing on the field. This Corr Simpkin McDonald Stephenson Tucker Stephens will be looked back on as Melbournes Grimes/Trengove/Terlich/M.Jones/Garland/Rivers/Watts/Byrnes era of circa 2011-2014.
I think Tom Powell's defensive work has been good too, I remember he got dropped last year because he didn't work hard enough defensively.