19 hours ago, ProDee said:

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

Correct. He actually glanced away from the ball to see what was coming a few times, which probably led to the dropped marks. He also turned the wrong way several times and took the wrong option. If you are bringing in Gus next week , I think ANB will be the one to make way for him.

That is a positive of depth on the list .

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

We finally beat the irrelevant Bastards. 

In North Melbourne there are 3 things

Abbotoirs, Housing Commission Flats & Arden St

it is a disgrace they are allowed to use the Cities name in part as their title. 

The last 4,248 days were the biggest dark clouds ☁️ to hang over the MFC, to be owned by an organization, that if they fell over and died very few would care. 

Onwards and Upwards Demons. A significant chain was broken yesterday

Well they used to have a big ugly gasometer too, but he retired. That's an improvement.

4 hours ago, Stretch Johnson said:

I think you are confusing negativity with objectivity. 

It was a good win against an average opposition. 

And the positive is that there is much to improve upon. 

Correct. 

Just like last week, it was an average win against an average opposition.  

But mentally I’m impressed that we didn’t [censored] ourselves when 4 goals down midway through the first. It was an important hoodoo to break and a very important win. Previously it’s these easier matches that we drop, so to get the 4 points is so important. We now find ourselves in good company at 2-1. 

Wagner had a nice game watching on replay, didn't really notice him at the ground but he was lovely and composed all game.

1 minute ago, Jaded said:

 

Just like last week, it was an average win against an average opposition.  

 

Incorrect

Strong, forceful win against an opposition that is above average

17 hours 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 think so too.Last second reflex glance resulted in defensive side on which Brown did not adopt and left himself open.

Still it is a Melbourne player so expect 2weeks.

4 hours ago, jumbo returns said:

Reading a truckload of negativity from the usual suspects

Make no mistake, this was a bloody good win against a team that plays hard and fast

 

Reading a truckload of positivity from the usual suspects.

Make no mistake, this was a win against an opponent who is guaranteed to finish bottom three. A team that again kicked a single quarter score of 30+ points against us. (The trend continues).

A team in which we scored a record number of inside 50's against in the third quarter yet only managed to win by 10 points. Our inefficiency by foot is incredible. (The trend continues).

A team in which their key forward again got a hold of our key defender in Oscar McDonald. A player whom so many seem to overate.

Welcome to demonland. 

2 minutes ago, jumbo returns said:

Incorrect

Strong, forceful win against an opposition that is above average

Brisbane are reigning wooden spooners. Yes they have some good players, and yes they took it up to Port yesterday, which says a lot more about Port than Brisbane. 

We played some woeful footy last week, with some great patches. In isolation, our round 1 loss to Geelong was our best performance so far. 

The point is, we have a lot of improvement and we need to get a lot better if we want to not only make the 8, but actually have a crack at winning finals. We are lucky that so far most teams are looking just ok, and we are on even wins with all but 1 top 8 side with a good %.

We won the games we were expected to win, but the next 3 weeks are going to tell us a lot about where we are. 3 teams expected to make finals, including a huge game against the reigning premiers. 

Yeah, and lets remember.......NoBODY but NoBODY beats Melbourne 18 times in a row!!

11 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Reading a truckload of positivity from the usual suspects.

Make no mistake, this was a win against an opponent who is guaranteed to finish bottom three. A team that again kicked a single quarter score of 30+ points against us. (The trend continues).

A team in which we scored a record number of inside 50's in the third quarter yet only managed to win by 10 points. Our inefficiency by foot is incredible. (The trend continues).

A team in which their key forward again got a hold of our key defender in Oscar McDonald. A player whom so many seem to overate.

Welcome to demonland. 

Agree with the first bits, but your bias towards Oscar belies the truth here, Steve. Ben Brown did not get ahold of Oscar at all. I think he beat him twice one out. That's all. 

Frost might get looked at for his sling tackle on Anderson at the end of the game.

17 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Reading a truckload of positivity from the usual suspects.

Make no mistake, this was a win against an opponent who is guaranteed to finish bottom three. A team that again kicked a single quarter score of 30+ points against us. (The trend continues).

A team in which we scored a record number of inside 50's in the third quarter yet only managed to win by 10 points. Our inefficiency by foot is incredible. (The trend continues).

A team in which their key forward again got a hold of our key defender in Oscar McDonald. A player whom so many seem to overate.

Welcome to demonland. 

I'm normally pretty scathing, but aside from some structural issues without a second key forward we simply dominated for most of the game.

 

18 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Reading a truckload of positivity from the usual suspects.

Make no mistake, this was a win against an opponent who is guaranteed to finish bottom three. A team that again kicked a single quarter score of 30+ points against us. (The trend continues).

A team in which we scored a record number of inside 50's against in the third quarter yet only managed to win by 10 points. Our inefficiency by foot is incredible. (The trend continues).

A team in which their key forward again got a hold of our key defender in Oscar McDonald. A player whom so many seem to overate.

Welcome to demonland. 

Wanna bet?

Bet a buck...go on

And btw, STMJ (aka #FootyExpert) i50s can be a flawed stat...the ball can bounce in out of there, so many times due to stoppages and errant kicks

So.....bet a buck?

9 minutes ago, A F said:

Agree with the first bits, but your bias towards Oscar belies the truth here, Steve. Ben Brown did not get ahold of Oscar at all. I think he beat him twice one out. That's all. 

You might want to watch closely again.

Look, there are many problem areas right now imo both in individual performance and the way we play as a defensive unit. Oscar has been okay without being outstanding in his first two games of the season. But yesterday, he was awful both in the contest against Brown, (his number 1 job) and secondly as an option when playing in that aggressive zone which is clearly what's required of all our defenders. He had 8 touches for the game and provided the least amount of pressure acts. 

I'm happy to talk more broadly about our issues as a side rather than concentrate on Oscar, I just like nipping every now and again. 

 

3 minutes ago, jumbo returns said:

Wanna bet?

Bet a buck...go on

And btw, STMJ (aka #FootyExpert) i50s can be a flawed stat...the ball can bounce in out of there, so many times due to stoppages and errant kicks

So.....bet a buck?

I'll be in that. Put me down for a dollar each way.

2 minutes ago, Uncle Fester said:

I'll be in that. Put me down for a dollar each way.

You're on

23 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

I'm normally pretty scathing, but aside from some structural issues without a second key forward we simply dominated for most of the game.

 

We did dominate in most areas stat-wise. Especially inside 50's. We won. So we should have, against North who are in a bottoming out period.

The second key forward issue is separate and again was worrying. We had one key forward who also played right up the ground and amassed 25 touches thereabouts. Yet our players entered our forward 50 the same way they have for the first two rounds. Extremely wasteful and thoughtless about their disposal going forward. You'd think if the coach makes a noticeable change structurally, your midfielders would follow suit in the way they use the ball going forward. 

It was more of the same. 

We won because of our grunt.

 

19 minutes ago, jumbo returns said:

Wanna bet?

Bet a buck...go on

And btw, STMJ (aka #FootyExpert) i50s can be a flawed stat...the ball can bounce in out of there, so many times due to stoppages and errant kicks

So.....bet a buck?

 

We won against a side we are now expected to take care of and that's my point. And we did. That is a positive.

I'm far more concerned and interested in the way we played overall. Because I'm looking ahead to teams who will actually smack us on the rebound for our errant forward entries and the way in which we so easily leak goals due to our dodgy defensive zone. The inside 50 stat in the context of our particular game was accurate. We were extremely wasteful going forward. That is fact, I can't help you if you believe in fairies. The media, commentators and experts were all in agreement.

 

 

38 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Reading a truckload of positivity from the usual suspects.

Make no mistake, this was a win against an opponent who is guaranteed to finish bottom three. A team that again kicked a single quarter score of 30+ points against us. (The trend continues).

A team in which we scored a record number of inside 50's against in the third quarter yet only managed to win by 10 points. Our inefficiency by foot is incredible. (The trend continues).

A team in which their key forward again got a hold of our key defender in Oscar McDonald. A player whom so many seem to overate.

Welcome to demonland. 

The 30+ thing that has been quoted a bit recently is losing a quarter by 30+ points, not conceding 30+ points in a quarter.

I think there are solid reasons to be positive after the performance yesterday. We are 2-1 with a percentage of 123% having knocked off a bogey side (don't forget we were coming off one fewer day's rest, flying back from interstate, and from a hot/humid match, yet we were clearly the fitter side, which I think is another positive). But I think most of us can agree there is plenty to fix and plenty that is not working.

The inefficiency of scoring from our inside 50s is still a massive problem. Didn't cost us against North but it did against Geelong. Needs fixing.

There's still synergy missing from the defensive unit. Lever is improving but clearly below what we ought to be expecting of him. Jetta's down on 2017. Hunt's already been dropped. Wagner's best is improving but his worst isn't. Lewis' best is still A-grade but his worst is possibly getting worse.

Not sure you're on great ground with the key forward/defender thing though. We had no issues with Hawkins or Hipwood, and Brown did get a couple from questionable free kicks. We've certainly seen key forwards do worse to us in the past and I suspect we could see them do worse to us this year. But right now I don't think defending key forwards is a problem for us.

5 hours ago, DV8 said:

Doesn't like Melbournefc, so labels us in the formal tones.

IMO its a sort of wannabe takeover from eddie, to drown us so the Pies step into our shoes.

I disagree I think he has a soft spot for us as he is nothing if not a student of the history of the game. He appreciates the 50s/60s rivalry even if the rest of their supporters couldnt give a stuff. I just found it interesting. Once I heard him say "the Melbourne side" I couldn't stop hearing it.

4 hours ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Ten times better discussion than last week when apparently the sky was falling in around us because we didn't win by 15 goals.

We definitely have areas to work on. I think we could have iced the game by 3 quarter time if we had made better use of our scoring opportunities. However, I think that part of that comes down to North's pressure.

Better conversion from set shots and a better balance between fast entries and looking for the right option are clear areas to work on.

Speaking of last week's game I wonder if yesterday's results tempered the views of those who were super critical of our inability to smash the Lions. They did ok against Port in Adelaide and were unlucky not to win. There are no easy games this year, any time you can bank the 4 points, take it and run.

Looks like we will stay top 4 unless Meth Coast thump Geelong which is currently looking unlikely.

6 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

 I can't help you if you believe in fairies.

 

 

There's no such thing as the 'perfect' game

You are so, so embittered and damaged, that you don't allow that glimmer of hope that's in your chest, rise to the fore

This is a bloody good team and they beat another better than 'ordinary' team

Carry on....

1 hour ago, Win4theAges said:

Glad to see you notice Frosty were a better team with him in it did a solid job on Waite and ran off him at leisure. Also some good intercept marks for gd measure from Frosty.

He also got in his customary 1 dumb act per game lol. (Down field free for dumping kicker)

2 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

The 30+ thing that has been quoted a bit recently is losing a quarter by 30+ points, not conceding 30+ points in a quarter.

I think there are solid reasons to be positive after the performance yesterday. We are 2-1 with a percentage of 123% having knocked off a bogey side (don't forget we were coming off one fewer day's rest, flying back from interstate, and from a hot/humid match, yet we were clearly the fitter side, which I think is another positive). But I think most of us can agree there is plenty to fix and plenty that is not working.

The inefficiency of scoring from our inside 50s is still a massive problem. Didn't cost us against North but it did against Geelong. Needs fixing.

There's still synergy missing from the defensive unit. Lever is improving but clearly below what we ought to be expecting of him. Jetta's down on 2017. Hunt's already been dropped. Wagner's best is improving but his worst isn't. Lewis' best is still A-grade but his worst is possibly getting worse.

Not sure you're on great ground with the key forward/defender thing though. We had no issues with Hawkins or Hipwood, and Brown did get a couple from questionable free kicks. We've certainly seen key forwards do worse to us in the past and I suspect we could see them do worse to us this year. But right now I don't think defending key forwards is a problem for us.

I understand the difference. 

5 goals and 3 behinds in a quarter against a team who are in a bottoming out period is a problem imo. They scored only 5 goals for quarters two and three and 3 goals in the last. 

The positives are that we're winning. Even if ugly. But if we perform like we did against even Hawthorn next weekend, we won't be winning.

Oscar has two jobs. Beat his man and be an option as part of an attacking zone. He was utterly useless on Brown yesterday. He either gave away really dumb free kicks directly to Brown or was way too easily beaten in contests that he just should have killed. He gets way too much protection on here. Brown was the only player forward for North who was actually a threat which means Oscar failed yesterday. 

We almost need another emoji in the "like' selection

The ' thinking man ' This would denote you  might give the post worthy consideration.may neither agree nor disagree...but made you think further on the matter

?