3 hours ago, DV8 said:

NO no No... lets not fall for that trap again;  of saying this player, or that player is a lock... no such thing anymore, at Melbourne.

 

... all players are on permanent notice, of their spot in the team, all year.

 

We do not need any over-secure players, getting at all comfortable.

.

 

I didn’t say he was a lock for the season. I said that if he produces that kind of form all season then he’d be a lock...

I agree all players are on notice and must perform week to week. Just happy that Kent produced the performance he did today when many of us questioned whether he still had it in him. 

4 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I don’t know anyone who goes for Norf whom I can give a bit of [censored] to. 

I do!

1 hour ago, Clint Bizkit said:

McDonald was good and did as well as he could, Brown certainly got lucky with some umpiring decisions which inflated his numbers.

Just on Brown, he's normally a play I enjoy watching but his staging for free kicks makes him unlike-able.

Oscar held his own early with some pressure up the field helping and a bit of an extra or two at the drop but one on one Sideshow had him on at least 3 occasions.   This is where Omac worries me as he should be able to stand toe to toe and win about 50% of one on ones by now in that particular situation.  Still not quite there yet.

Also towards the end, not to handball to Frost deep in the pocket showed a lack of awareness to me.  Give it to Frost who would no doubt get immediately tackled, but wont be called for holding and probably get it over the line, and Waite doesn't get that cheapy at the end.

Has improved since early days and more solid than previously up the field when the ball hits the deck but still a WIP one on one when isolated IMO.

25 minutes ago, david_neitz_is_my_dad said:

 

That could possibly win you a car on “Australia’s Funniest Home Videos”.

17 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

If Brown went off for some length of time, or it drew blood, then I'd be worried.  Brown played out the game without trouble.  I reckon he got him high on the chest coming up to the chin.  I think he'll be okay.

I reckon Jetta gets something. Whether it's a fine or a week, we'll see. Christian this year is focusing more on the action than the consequence, though.

6 minutes ago, Demon77 said:

That could possibly win you a car on “Australia’s Funniest Home Videos”.

No.26 ...AGAIN!!!  This guy should never umpire another AFL match.  Must barrack for Nth, hate the MFC or be on the take.  No other explanation for his abysmal performance against us today.

Wagner building confidence and performing well, great to see. 

Lever - Will improve. 

ANB & Harmes two of my favourite’s - need to lift

Hogan, Gawn, Oliver, Trac - Elite!

2 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

No.26 ...AGAIN!!!  This guy should never umpire another AFL match.  Must barrack for Nth, hate the MFC or be on the take.  No other explanation for his abysmal performance against us today.

Just terrible, 26 made us forget Mathew Nicholls was also umpiring.

28 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

I think Jetta could be in trouble.

Wasn't even a free kick 

9 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Wasn't even a free kick 

Agree, nothing in it. 

1 minute ago, Demon77 said:

Just terrible, 26 made us forget Mathew Nicholls was also umpiring.

Nicholls was an angel in comparison.  I never normally notice which umpire or umpires are having an influence against us apart from Razor.  No.26 put a huge target on his back with today's horribilis

Free kick Brown

1 hour ago, Watts Jurrah Dunn? said:

Seriously? The ones who've been saying all along that Lever isn't a key defender and needs Frost in the side? 

We'd be 3-0 if Demonland selected the side. 

The ones who cried “Drop Bugg (and Wagner)” and were critical of Kent coming in!

39 minutes ago, david_neitz_is_my_dad said:

hands up who chuckled when that happened, yeah I did.

1 hour ago, Gawn's Beard said:

I didn’t say he was a lock for the season. I said that if he produces that kind of form all season then he’d be a lock...

I agree all players are on notice and must perform week to week. Just happy that Kent produced the performance he did today when many of us questioned whether he still had it in him. 

Its probably a good idea for our players to feel some anxt for their spots.  Our club goes much better in recent years, when we feel its a big challenge; and when we get comfortable, then we tend to relax and drop our intensity.

Its a habit of this clubs personality. same goes for individual players.  Add them together and the team goes off.

 

comfortable D's = bad for us.

16 minutes ago, 3Dee said:

hands up who chuckled when that happened, yeah I did.

I can't see any detail, its too small to see whats happening.

One thing I would like to know is why Omac was one out on several occasions against sideshow brown?

i thought we went in with a plan to counter him but couldn’t see what it was. 

Also the umps giving sideshow brown free kicks at will didn’t help. 

5 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

One thing I would like to know is why Omac was one out on several occasions against sideshow brown?

i thought we went in with a plan to counter him but couldn’t see what it was. 

Also the umps giving sideshow brown free kicks at will didn’t help. 

Direct and quick ball movement, All the other North forwards moved out. It was Norths plan and although he did kick a bag we actaully stopped most of their efforts to play this way.

11 minutes ago, DV8 said:

I can't see any detail, its too small to see whats happening.

If you still cant see that, its just Trac sending Daw flying and fending of some scrub

14 minutes ago, david_neitz_is_my_dad said:

If you still cant see that, its just Trac sending Daw flying and fending of some scrub

HaHaHa,,, OK. Tracca is a solid Unit.

I did get a good chuckle..

 thanks dnimd

Id love to rename Wagner "the clamp" if he keeps up those tackles. He really makes them stick and always forces a stoppage. Well done!

I'm glad we got the win and 6 and a bit goals felt like a fair margin.

I felt the umpiring was incredibly soft both ways today. However, many of the free kicks were technically there.

Someone asked why Fritsch was penalised after marking in the goal square late on. Kent pulled down the North player. Soft, but there.

Some general comments from today...

We still have a real problem with pressure acts in our offensive 50. Today we laid a lot more tackles inside 50 than the opposition, which was good, but this aspect of our game was noticeably absent in the first quarter yet again. North waltzed out of there far too easily.

Fritsch did some lovely things. He's so clean and a beautiful user, but he was one that failed to lay a tackle. Simply not good enough for a half forward in the modern game. Melksham managed 1 tackle. As did Kent. As did Hogan (who rarely ever lays tackles). Petracca managed 2. That's slightly insane. 5 of our 8-10 forwards laid a total of 5 tackles between them.

We are going to get crucified against decent opposition if we fail to keep the ball inside our forward 50. North were pretty much scoring with every second inside 50 and they're not the first team to do that against us. It's the one glaring area of our game at the moment and it's an area that Geelong exploited heavily. I expect Hawthorn will try to do the same next week.

I'm no fan of Bugg and believe he's close to the level of a VFA player at times, but at least he managed 3 tackles. On that alone, he'll get picked again next week. His goals were a bonus, but like Brown's, came mostly from free kicks. That missed set shot from 15 metres out directly in front was not good enough.

Meanwhile, Kent played the sort of game we've seen from him quite often over the journey. He got the ball in dangerous areas quite a bit, but his kicking prevented him from being a really damaging player - he really should have had 4 or 5. However, his biggest weakness is his lack of tackle pressure. This has to change if he's going to keep guys like Hannan out of the team. I almost wonder whether it'd be worth giving him a run on the ball more often, to ensure that he has to be physical.

In the ruck, I thought Gawn killed Goldstein, but gee, he plays some dumb footy at times. His tapping to the outside at certain stoppages (where our players weren't and were much slower) was mindboggling and his free kick(s) against were all there IMO. 

Our ability to generate inside 50s continues to be really positive though. Our ball use lets us down on occasion, but there were signs today that things might be on the improve with forward entries. Basically, we started to kick the ball to the advantage of our forwards. This is a building block. I hope we can build on this next week.

Salem's first quarter and a bit was really impressive. He won a bunch of clearances, won a lot of the ball and used it well. This was important early, as Oliver was receiving the tight tag. Salem faded out of the game and I couldn't work out whether it was due to his work rate or whether they paid him more respect (or both). Either way, building blocks for Salo too.

Jesse is getting midfield numbers and now looks comfortable playing anywhere. It was an interesting game from him, because playing him through the midfield (at times) meant we were playing a very small and mobile forwardline. Anyway, a really good game from Jesse and pity he couldn't get on the scoreboard a little more.

As for our leadership, I still have large question marks over Lewis, Jones and Vince. Jones directly gave away two goals in the second half, but fortunately today, each time he was able to atone for his errors (once in setting up Jeffy and then kicking one of his own). Lewis rarely keeps his feet anymore and this will cost us. And Vince is still too fancy with his dinky little kicks in defensive 50 that threaten to halt or swing momentum at critical moments. This is something that we must monitor and I think Viney's inclusion can't come quickly enough.

Finally, the biggest plus for us today was being able to kick 18 goals with a small, mobile set up and without Oliver dominating the game (although his two goals were all class - his second was just as good as any A grade midfield gun in the league could produce when resting forward). And Gawn was the most influential player on the ground and having him near the top of his game makes us very dangerous.

So there's still a heap of improvement left in this team, which is exciting. Hawthorn are going to be a massive test and we'll need to play our absolute best footy to take care of them. If we play four quarters for the first time this year, we'll beat them. I couldn't think of anything better as I continue my press to convert my wife from Hawthorn to Melbourne.

 

 

5 hours ago, ProDee said:

I like Neal-Bullen, but he dropped numerous easy uncontested marks today due to perceived pressure.

I said the shame earlier but I think they were all at the same end looking into the sun...