5 hours ago, ding said:

Corey. I noticed the same thing. He tackled really well today.

I like the way Corey plays, he tackles hard, finds the ball in the HF, does nice things and is creative around goal.

1 hour ago, bing181 said:

Replay (such as it is) seems to be up on Youtube:

 

 

Thank you North Melbourne Football Club. 

1 hour ago, Pennant St Dee said:

Agree I think he's good depth and I'm sure it's not all he did in the game but people see what they want to see and ignore the rest

I think he's doing ok defensively, but is that enough?

He does cop quite a bit of criticism, but I do have a soft spot for Oscar.  He's been given a lot of responsibility and has had expectation thrust on him from quite early in his career.  He does have some assets, his good kicking would be one of them and has reasonable athleticism.

Really hoping it clicks for him again soon.

4 hours ago, sisso said:

Good problem to have but Trac, Gus and Clarrie all thrive as the main man on ball....Christian can go forward but it’ll be interesting how we fit the 3 young alpha males into the one midfield. 

 

3 hours ago, Garbo said:

Problem is he might have to find a role outside the middle and still be effective, Our starting 3 mids will probably be Viney, Oliver and Petracca. Harmes and Brayshaw will probably only get a gig when one of them is resting 

 

3 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

75% game time in the middle for each of 4 is plenty of room for Gus.

The threats to him not playing midfield are:

1. Vanders a better option on ball

2. Melksham playing regular minutes on ball

3. Sparrow as a tagger 

My view is that this is a great problem to have.  If one player starts to dominate and gets a hard tag, another should stand up in their place.  Having multiple options that could go into the midfield and dominate was one of the best trates of the tripple premiership Brisbane side - you might be able to shut one of them down, but not all of them.  Asides from those mentioned, Jones and Harmes can also impact in the guts when required. 

Would also be good if we could rest Clarry in the forward line at times, where I think he has already shown he can play.  Melksham is too valuable to us across half forward to throw onto the ball unless we are really struggling in that area.

Edited February 28, 20205 yr by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

 

 

I'd like Lockhart to play a round 1. 

Can Lockhart & Jetta play in the same team?

I’d play them both in round 1. If Lockhart holds his form then he stays in. He gives us flexibility with smaller types and can play both lock down or provide rebound. I’d have the ideal back six as:

Lockhart May Jetta

Lever Petty Hibberd

Depth or others to rotate through would be Omac, Harmes, Salem, Hore, Smith, Rivers.

7 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

He played, and played well at times. Copped a couple of big knocks, but came off unscathed. Think he was just getting his engine started, really. He’s gonna be great for us this year. 

He takes a lot of punishment..brave but needs to be more aware.

Round 1 team selection is going to be interesting, more than a few putting their hands up. A nice problem to have.

15 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

I’d play them both in round 1. If Lockhart holds his form then he stays in. He gives us flexibility with smaller types and can play both lock down or provide rebound. I’d have the ideal back six as:

Lockhart May Jetta

Lever Petty Hibberd

Depth or others to rotate through would be Omac, Harmes, Salem, Hore, Smith, Rivers.

Doesn't look like Petty will be ready Round 1. 

8 hours ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Before we get too far into the game analysis, great live stream.

Good picture quality, glitchless internet streaming and good commentary.

Many thanks to those involved.

Where was it streamed?  I looked on Kayo.  Is it still available to watch?

6 minutes ago, Darkhorse72 said:

Where was it streamed?  I looked on Kayo.  Is it still available to watch?

YouTube. See post #122 from bing181 in this thread

9 minutes ago, Darkhorse72 said:

Where was it streamed?  I looked on Kayo.  Is it still available to watch?

From this post and the next three. 

https://demonland.com/forums/topic/47755-postgame-pm02-vs-kangaroos/?do=findComment&comment=1798693

 

7 hours ago, No Plan B said:

I went to Arden Street today. It’s not the best viewing ground with no elevation to speak of, and they inexplicably didn’t sell any food or beverages despite a healthy crowd in on a Friday afternoon. Oh well, North’s $$$ they lost out on. 

Overall it was a nice outing and we were clearly the better side. Not often do I pay attention to the quality of opposition in a pre season game, but North were noticeably awful. 

We went really hard at the ball and had some really good overlap happening, particularly in the first three quarters. Goal kicking was abysmal but let’s get that out of the way in a game that doesn’t matter.

Rivers, twice in the space of 5 minutes in the third quarter, executed risky kicks down the corridor from the back 50 that both paid off and both resulted in Melbourne scores. I really liked the boldness and skill of that. He’s a dark horse to play early in the season. Hibberd better watch out if he brings his 2019 form.

Mitch Brown, 0.5 I think, but he is the next Pederson for sure. Really like what he brings.

 

For those who might be wondering - KOSI didn’t play at all in the last quarter. He was very impressive in the preceding three. 

Had a look today and agree 100% with these sentiments ! Especially about the food and drink !!

 

 

 

Gus seems interested in the technique

8 hours ago, Demonland said:

Gus' game picked up after he got angry after a late tackle on him and a bit of aggro back and forth between him and his opponent. Perhaps he needs to get ruffed up before he goes out on the field during the season.

I think Tmac mentioned in the commentary and I'd agree he was probably just feeling his way back in with that injured elbow.

1 hour ago, Satyriconhome said:

 

Play on, no free in that.

Aside from what occurs in terms of the playing side in practice matches, we’re always concerned that there are no injuries and it appears we’ve come out unscathed in that regard. This is where the list was at over this weekend ~

Oskar Baker — played v N Melbourne 
Toby Bedford — played v N Melbourne
Harley Bennell — injured 
Austin Bradtke — played v N Melbourne
Angus Brayshaw — played v N Melbourne
Mitch Brown —  played v N Melbourne
Kade Chandler — injured
Kyle Dunkley — injured
Bayley Fritsch — played v N Melbourne
Max Gawn — injured 
Mitch Hannan — injured 
James Harmes — rested
Michael Hibberd — rested
Marty Hore — played v N Melbourne
Jayden Hunt —  played v N Melbourne
Luke Jackson — rested
Neville Jetta — played in All Star game
Nathan Jones — injured/rested 
James Jordan — played v N Melbourne
Kade Kolodjiashnij — injured 
Ed Langdon — rested
Jake Lever — rested
Jay Lockhart — played v N Melbourne
Oscar McDonald —  played v N Melbourne
Tom McDonald — rested
Steven May — injured 
Jake Melksham — played v N Melbourne
Alex Neal-Bullen — rested 
Aaron Nietschke — injured 
Clayton Oliver — rested
Christian Petracca — rested
Harrison Petty — injured 
Kysaiah Pickett —  played v N Melbourne
Braydon Preuss — injured 
Trent Rivers — played v N Melbourne
Christian Salem — rested
Joel Smith — injured
Charlie Spargo —  played v N Melbourne
Tom Sparrow — played v N Melbourne
Adam Tomlinson — played v N Melbourne
Aaron vandenBerg — rested
Jack Viney — rested
Corey Wagner  —  played v N Melbourne
Josh Wagner — played v N Melbourne
Sam Weideman  — rested 

We saw a return of two “best 22” players in Angus Brayshaw and Bayley Fritsch who missed MS01 leaving only Max Gawn and Steven May from that category still out. With Max due to make a possible return in MS02, that leaves May as our only major injury concern - a far cry from the situation in 2019. I’ve heard conflicting reports on May’s recovery but suggest that he will be one to watch over the coming few weeks. 

Other players that we should be watching on the score of injuries are Dunkley, Petty and Smith. How far away from playing are they?
 

13 hours ago, Baghdad Bob said:

Bedford was second only to ANB in the 3K time trails and not by all that far.  Fitness isn't an issue I don't think.

Yeah and I loved it when he did, I still don't see Bedford as having the extreme, run 12/13kms in a game consistently yet, not many really young guys can. But I'm very impressed that he recognised that to make it he needs that in his game, I can see kossie being the real flashy type who impacts the game with a few brilliant touches, while Bedford's impact will come through pressure and harassment, while finishing better than ANB. I think Bedford will still be another season or 2 away from making a major impact at AFL level, but he's doing everything right

15 hours ago, Rednblueriseing said:

We really need May and Lever to play every game this year and maybe Petty next in line for a KPD, I was a Oscar fan but he needs to earn his spot by playing flawless defence 5, to 6 weeks in a row

I'll think you'll find he has earned his spot. A round one lock.

It took nearly all of the first quarter for the subcontractors to setup the portaloos on the basketball courts, so I'm not surprised there was also no food options available. 

The wind did seem to be affecting goalkicking a fair bit,  so norths more accurate return was not a surprise given they train there every day. 

Was great to see the likes of Jimmy Munro give a chance to run around with the senior demons at this time of the year,  I thought he was pretty handy.  By the last quarter the whole Casey contingent were out there,  and north started getting slightly back into the contest.  

Ed Langdons mode of transport to the game was his push bike, we almost side swiped him in the car and added him to the injury list. 

Dom Tyson had as very Dom Tyson-esque game,  great at moving through heavy traffic but still very slow on the outside. 

Fritsch is a lock as a leading forward pocket for round 1, his class when he has the ball in hand is a joy to watch, he almost got knocked out about 3 times yesterday going for big pack marks too

There was a fair amount of debate in our area as to whether the game warranted a full blown match report because it was felt that it was really an elevated version of a training session with match simulation but against a team in opposition colours. Although notionally the stronger side, North seemed to be using the occasion for the purpose of working on aspects of their game plan, one of the features of which seemed to be based on taking the longest possible route out of defence and good luck with that — I’m sure it’s not going to be a major feature when the the real thing starts but it explains in part why the Kangaroos were restricted to eight scoring shots. They were lucky that their kicking for goal was fairly good — it was the only part of the game where they were far superior to Melbourne.

That’s the background to a game that never reached great heights in terms of quality apart from the performance of Jake Melksham before he departed the game at half time. Angus Brayshaw lifted his game almost to those heights when he went to the middle in the second half after a lacklustre first 40 minutes. He was immediately manhandled by the North on ball division which was a clear mistake — you ruffle his feathers at your own peril. In this case, Gus was stirred into demonstrating, albeit briefly, to all those standing in the shadows of the now non-existent gasometer, the ingredients of a third placed Brownlow finish. Let’s hope that it’s back because it was sorely missed in the Demon midfield in 2019. 

The area around Arden Street has certainly changed since the 60s and 70s but, despite the million dollar amenity at the southern end  of the ground, it still feels like the home of one of the AFL’s poorer clubs. With a decent crowd in place, they didn’t look keen on making dollars from the sale of food to the hungry fans on hand — one of my takeaways from the game therefore is there were no takeaways; not even a single sausage roll!

And on the subject of sausage rolls, the last few premiership teams have set the pace in terms of dangerous little men up forward to kick goals and while scoring was at a premium, this seemed to be a focus in yesterday’s game with Kozzie, Toby Bedford, Charlie Spargo and Oskar Baker all featuring around goal with livewire performances. 

I liked Tom Sparrow’s efforts, particularly in the first half before he was shoved aside in the middle by the Brayshaw cameo. Jay Lockhart is coming on and looks like being understudy to our All Star Nev down back. Mitch Brown was good too although his kicking for goal let him down. 

A word of commendation to the Casey boys who filled in — a good few of them including the veteran Jimmy Munro and the underrated Mitch Lewis (who always seems to be out with injury) showed they weren’t out of place at this standard which is probably half way between AFL and VFL.

The team had no trouble finishing off the game which is again a contrast to 2019 but one of my highlights was Trent Rivers. His form showed why the club’s recruiters were so delighted that he was available at pick #32 in last year’s National Draft. The All Australian Under 18 has pace and, despite one blooper, disposes of the ball efficiently and gets his hands on it often. 

So they were my takeaways apart from the reasonably good news on the injury front which I mentioned elsewhere. 

Melbourne 2.4 3.8 6.12 7.13 (55)

North Melbourne 2.2 3.2 3.2 5.3 (33)

Goals 

Melbourne Bedford 2 Baker Fritsch Melksham Pickett Spargo

Best

Melbourne Melksham Brayshaw Spargo Rivers Lockhart Sparrow Bedford Fritsch Lewis (Casey VFL) Munro (Casey VFL)

17 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

 

 

ROLLING BEST 22

B: JETTA, MAY, LEVER

HB: SALEM, O.MCDONALD, HIBBERD

C : LANGDON, PETRACCA, TOMLINSON

HF: FRITSCH, T.MCDONALD, VANDENBERG

F: PICKETT, BROWN, MELKSHAM

FOLL: GAWN, OLIVER, VINEY

IC: BRAYSHAW, JONES, HARMES, WEIDEMAN

EMERG: LOCKHART, SPARROW, SPARGO, BEDFORD

Lockhart in

O Mac out

Use May and Lever as tall backs.  Send T mac or Brown back if needed.  O Mac can not be in the team if we are serious about contending.

13 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

— one of my takeaways from the game therefore is there were no takeaways; not even a single sausage roll!

And on the subject of sausage rolls, the last few premiership teams have set the pace in terms of dangerous little men up forward to kick goals ...

Nice segue on the subject of sausage rolls.

And ... on the subject of stopping them, May’s injury seems to be a worry. Did anyone hear Garry Lyon refer to his injury on radio during the week?