NAB CUP 1: NORTH MELBOURNE AND RICHMOND

[Fitz Fitzpatrick 886]

We showed a bit. We look quite fit and a few of our new players were quite promising. Hogan looks the goods and Viney is a real goer. Watts and Dunn were both good down back and we ran the 2nd game out well.

Attack on the ball was good and our overall endeavor was pleasing. Just need to finish better and improve our disposal. Thought our style of play was interesting - we brought the ball back into the corridor nicely and we kicked long and accurately to position on occasions.

We had a whole bunch of new players in and it will take a little while for it to all gel. We didn't let the Tigers get away from us too much. Overall - reasonably pleased. That's a good hit out.

are you serious? we got absolutely flogged in the 2nd game. no candy coating. the tigers schooled us

[Moonshadow 16,199]

They did put a fair wack of the old hemroid cream on Jack's head, which I thought was quite appropriate...

I thought it was hair gel, for his new look

[Watts Jurrah Dunn? 735]

This is the Mickey Mouse League people. Stop reading so much - good and bad - from it.

If you can't hit a target when the pressure is down then what hope do we have when the pressure is on in round 1? Garland, Frawley, Nicholson, MacDonald, McDonald, Magner, McKenzie, Grimes, Couch etc aren't going to suddenly be kicking well in round 1.

Mickey Mouse is a cop out. These players are playing for their careers. It not though we played finals and had a delayed start to the pre-season. We've been training since October haven't we?

[Moonshadow 16,199]

If you can't hit a target when the pressure is down then what hope do we have when the pressure is on in round 1? Garland, Frawley, Nicholson, MacDonald, McDonald, Magner, McKenzie, Grimes, Couch etc aren't going to suddenly be kicking well in round 1.

Mickey Mouse is a cop out. These players are playing for their careers. It not though we played finals and had a delayed start to the pre-season. We've been training since October haven't we?

Fair point. There were a lot of targets missed by hand and foot. That much appears not to have changed since '12 Edited February 22, 2013 by Moonshadow

[Watts Jurrah Dunn? 735]

I have to admit I've had doubts about Jordie for a while and they have only deepened after tonight. He is a total liability with ball in hand, which you scan't afford in modern day football. It seems unlikely his game will change much now and it is damning if he is considered starting 22.It's only pre-season but I think he has to be looked at going forward. Neeld's love of defensive players who go in hard needs to be tempered somewhat if the player cannot kick the ball.

Well said. I think 5 possessions from Rodan are worth about 20 from Mckenzie. He can't run, can't kick.

Sadly grimes isn't far behind him. It's a pedestrian midfield.

[stuie 7,374]

Neeld apparently happy with the "structures and discipline" tonight... They seemed the most lacking aspects to me...

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/melbourne-coach-mark-neeld-happy-with-his-players-attitude/story-e6frf9jf-1226583887241

[bandicoot 1,395]

Neeld does

Neeld apparently happy with the "structures and discipline" tonight... They seemed the most lacking aspects to me...

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/melbourne-coach-mark-neeld-happy-with-his-players-attitude/story-e6frf9jf-1226583887241

Neeld - "don't think just do"

[Macca 16,173]

are you serious? we got absolutely flogged in the 2nd game. no candy coating. the tigers schooled us

Well, you have to take into account that we'd already played a game beforehand. Reverse the circumstances and we may have even won the game. We ran the game out well and only lost by 15 pts. And our team in the 2nd game wasn't as strong.

Richmond only kicked 3 goals.(they kicked 6 goals against North) Depends on how you wanted to view the practice games Munga. If winning was a priority then I can see how some might be disappointed.

I was mainly looking at our fitness, endeavor, structure, teamwork and the use of the corridor. We weren't too bad - not great by any means but there was some good positive signs.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Macca

[CBDees 3,162]

Matt Jones? Not much said on him yet during training his name always came up; how did he go?

[Red and Bluebeard 2,033]

Funny. You'd think some of the people on here were expecting to win tonight. Personally, I'm thrilled to get that close to North, given what they have done to us every time we've played them in the last decade or so (anyone know when the last time we beat them was btw?). We knew that Richmond was well ahead of us and once they got a bit tired we held them pretty well and won the second half of that game. I say there are more positives tonight than negatives.

We beat them at the MCG in 2006, when Neitz kicked about 7, including a couple from outside 50. That was probably the last time, unfortunately (and also probably Neitz's last dominating performance for the Dees).

[Norm Smith's Curse 2,078]

are you serious? we got absolutely flogged in the 2nd game. no candy coating. the tigers schooled us

yeah but most of the players that played well in the first game other than watts and Hogan didn't play in the second game. Rodan added heaps to the midfield and pedo got dragged into ruck so lost impact up forward.

[CBDees 3,162]

My Iphone suggests that Jack Fitzpatrick didn;t get a touch. Did he get much game time?

[stuie 7,374]

We beat Collingwood in the NAB Cup last year, how did that turn out.....? There were good and bad signs but even a short tempered MFC tragic like me isn't reaching for the bex yet so let's just try and be patient.

[Hellish Inferno 992]

Gee some of McKenzies clangers were momentum killers

[stuie 7,374]

My Iphone suggests that Jack Fitzpatrick didn;t get a touch. Did he get much game time?

Saw him warming up in the rooms but didn't see him on the ground... Not sure what the deal was

[hardtack 10,127]

If you can't hit a target when the pressure is down then what hope do we have when the pressure is on in round 1? Garland, Frawley, Nicholson, MacDonald, McDonald, Magner, McKenzie, Grimes, Couch etc aren't going to suddenly be kicking well in round 1.

Mickey Mouse is a cop out. These players are playing for their careers. It not though we played finals and had a delayed start to the pre-season. We've been training since October haven't we?

Jeeeeesus... do you never see any good in anything? Last year we won one (just) and lost one against two teams who were near the bottom with us (Bris and Gold Coast)... this year we came close to two teams who were substantially better than us in 2012 and that was with a team that has a lot of new players (many more than would be usual).

Let's see what happens next week before we start slitting our wrists and calling for sackings etc etc.

Edited February 22, 2013 by hardtack

[DeeZee 6,732]

Toumpas was very good

Viney will be great for us

Hogan will be a superstar

Byrnes and Rodan will be very handy

Watts will finish top 3 in the b&f

We will improve this year

Jones could lift a cog again

[demon-4-life 467]

Gee some of McKenzies clangers were momentum killers

Joel Mac was worse.

[stuie 7,374]

Joel Mac was worse.

He was a butter fingers tonight. I'm a Joel fan and thought last year his disposal was much better than previous years (tho still not great), but he looked out of touch tonight. Contested harder than Garland though.

[dazzledavey36 48,766]

joel mac was reeeally bad.. I really do hope strauss and terlich come on quick this year...

[rpfc 27,476]

Best moment was when Jack Grimes ran down Dustin Martin in the middle.

Keep him in the guts!

[furious d 447]

I didn't see any of the games or even hear any commentary, I'm in Burma where the internet is as slow as Brock McLean. Just from the stats it seems our problem is still spread. We did well in contested possessions but fell way behind in uncontested possessions.

This is easier to fix than the opposite problem we had under Bailey, one step at a time.

Loved reading the comments on Hogan, thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. I've been to every game in Melbourne for the last 6 or 7 years except a few last year when I was feeling a bit over it and knowing I'd be away this year wanted to visit my folks more. They aren't getting any younger. I'm going to be relying on you guys this year so keep it up, cheers.

[rpfc 27,476]

If you can't hit a target when the pressure is down then what hope do we have when the pressure is on in round 1? Garland, Frawley, Nicholson, MacDonald, McDonald, Magner, McKenzie, Grimes, Couch etc aren't going to suddenly be kicking well in round 1.

Mickey Mouse is a cop out. These players are playing for their careers. It not though we played finals and had a delayed start to the pre-season. We've been training since October haven't we?

Cop out?

I am saying that very little can be gleaned good or bad.

These games are a farce. The practice games will be better provided they don't play with the stupid rules they employed tonight.

If they are playing for their careers, they have an eye to late March.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 10,185]

Main Positives: we stuck our tackles, hogan, watts (reminded me of enright at his best)

Main disappointments: lack of run off halfback, no major impact from the experienced newbies, same player make same mistakes

Not bad but not great.

[ThreeOneSix 953]

Jack watts was great kicked2 goals from back line, if he can bob up and snag a goal

A game it's A massive plus I agree he is a massive smoky for AA if he can play every game

I agree, It's a big call, but I thought after tonight he looks capable of being an AA backman.

Watts was a shining light last year I thought, he just gets harshly judged because he was a no 1 pick.