I do hear you, they can’t be the dwarves whistling while they work, but they should show some positive passion.
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It’s right to be excited about Kako and Caddy, and if in 2-3 they’re ripping it up we’ll be enjoying it as that’s what they should be doing. If they’re in and out of things and doubting their instincts we’ll be “oh well, that’s what we do to kids”. Archie Roberts looks like he might have the innate wherewithal to just keep doing his thing as we mid table the fark out of another season.
It’s more that they don’t seem to enjoy the footy after a couple of years in our system
That’s what would happen if we’d lost.
Since we won the same footage will be used to make the opposite argument - “It’s good to see that it really matters to these players”, “it’s important to have robust discussions with your team mates out on the field”
I feel like our game plan is still very much designed around the key deficiencies of previous seasons, contested ball and field kicking, particularly out of defence. I think the senior players are the ones most guilty when it comes to being overly conservative.
We’re holding our own much better around the contest for the most part so we could afford to stop sending our half forwards up to the stoppage less.
If we are going to keep sending half forwards up high they really should only be damaging players (Merrett, Martin Kako Perkins) and they should try to sit about 30m forward of the contest and not go all the way in. It’s guys like Hobbs and gresh who get sucked too high and don’t hurt with the ball enough that opposition can sit off and have a field day.
ball use from Roberts, Reid and prior compared to hepp Kelly and lav should give us the confidence to be more aggressive from half back.
You’re right though, it’s the coaching group’s job to identify and address this.
McKay’s form. Is really hurting us because he’s often stationed on the last line and making bad decisions about when to be very opponent conscious and when to go to the ball. Consequently he’s getting caught in between and doing neither. He let the ball out the back for scoring opportunities so many times left night. I actually think the Ridley injury will be good for McKay though because he plays his best footy when he’s less accountable (and I think Ridley is the opposite for what it’s worth).
Menzie is just an almost player, he isn’t quite able to adjust to the speed of the highest level and that manifests in constant little errors. I’m actually looking forward to seeing guelfi back in that role at some point in the next month.
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Because you don’t see the bigger picture.
Are you happy with our last 2 decades?
When we were scraping by last and 2nd last a few years ago…what did it actually accomplish in the grand scheme of things. Why is this year any different?
Still mediocre, still clocking up meaningless wins and still finishing mid to bottom table and robbing ourselves of bringing in elite talent.
Nobody should be happy with scraping by bottom dwellers year in, year out. We deserve better. Either ■■■■■■■ belt them or lose and give us hope with potential top 3 draft picks.
It’s great that you are happy and think this win means something, but mate after over half my life of not seeing a single finals win or even top 4, games like this do nothing for me except make me feel hopelessly stuck in limbo.
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Throw McKay up to FF and Wright down back. Get Sheeds back, at least in spirit
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Except that for the most part our best players last night were young players that seemingly have a future. Also that the team fought out a hard earned win with 3 injuries on the night. There are positives, but you just have to be open to seeing them
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Norf fans flooding talkback this morning complaining about the reverse free kick from their player booting the ball away is crazy
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Its bizzare, got SEN on in the office. Had a good lol at “Essendon are dogs, they deliberately targeted Sheezel”
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What the ■■■■?
I really do not like that photo.
That’s the face of someone who has just realised the severity of a situation.
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When the siren went and once I extracted my face from the palms of my hands I looked around at the people in the stands behind me. The general vibe was a kind of smiles-all-around resignation and a fair bit of head-shaking. A few sorry looking norf fans, but that’s their lot in life isn’t it.
I had no idea why the players were so tired in the last, it wasn’t till I got home that I discovered we had virtually no rotations left. So in the light of day I’m not as disappointed with the performance. We’re a disorganised rabble and we’re definitely back to that “game plan” of standing around waiting for the kicker to get whistled to play on then booting it down the line, but at least the effort’s there.
A few comments on the night:
- crowd was good (35k on a Thursday) but eerily quiet for most of the game. The biggest noise was from the norf fans (!) when Finbar got his debut goal
- Norf have some good players - I’d love Xerri, LDU and Larkey in my team, and Colby McK will be a player. But their bottom five or so players are rubbish
- I was unaware of the Jones injury until he was being carted off. The girl in front of me at 3/4 time was watching what I though was a video of Ridley being loaded on to a stretcher, and I thought “oh no, that must have been one serious hammy” but then I realised she was actually videoing Harry Jones
- the Zurhaar goal. Seriously you’ve got to admire that guy, but could he have got a luckier set of bounces? We had players lining up in the goal square but the ball decided to shoot along the ground end-on-end without the slightest skip, like a tracer bullet. I mean, great goal but incredibly fortunate
- The umpire non-reversal. I’m still shocked - one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen. Totally understandable that he got the player wrong in the first place, but once it was pointed out he decides to throw the ball in the air?
- Goldy tried so hard, bless him, but the guy should be watering his roses and building model planes in the garage. Vigo’s not ready so we’ll need to limp through to the mid-season draft, Any good rucks in the VFL? WAFL? SANFL?
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McKay v Hayes
Menzie/Gresham v Davey
on paper the experienced players should be better, but athletically Davey likely gives more hurt factor plus Hayes could deliver as much as McKay its probably worth the risk.
Did the ump call it illegally rushed, or time-wasting? Obviously the former would be a mistake anyway, because it was well after the whistle… but it would only be ONE mistake, not two.
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His actual words were “free kick”
No explanation given.
I think.
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Think when he initially blew for free kick, said time wasting to efc players.
Then got said in ear it was not a free kick for North (as they kicked it away), so decided to ball it up.
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Our fluffing about with an extra hb (or 2) is infuriating at times.
It’s not like we’re kicking it into a defence of Taylor/Buckley/Himmelberg/Idon.
This is North…the collective group of Dawson, Comben, McDonald, Daniel, and the inexperienced Archer is woeful.
Just get it in there somewhere to advantage of our forwards, and we’ll score.
Instead, we over possess, miss easy chances to put the opposition away (Gresham), and give even these crapola teams a chance.
Don’t get me started on the Menzie rushed snap…woeful !
Even allowing for some injury adversity, 3 goals in 3 qtrs in perfect football conditions against a dogsh*t side, its no where near good enough.
It certainly does feel like the younger guys are the ones who will push the senior guys to play better, when they are ready to take more responsibility in a couple of seasons.
Its an indictment on McGrath,McKay, Redman etc…
They are what they are.
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That’s the right call I think. It was a split second between the whistle and the norf goon punting it, and you’d be excused for thinking he was trying to take an advantage call.