GAMEDAY: Rd 11 vs North Melbourne

[Pickett2Jackson 3,904]

4 minutes ago, Pollyanna said:

Look at Footywire.com but the desktop not the mobile version.

 

Yeah I was on there and came back to your message. 

The tale of the tape. -

 

[Nelo 813]

I reckon north are too top heavy, particularly in their backline. Walker, tarrant, McKay, Durdin, we will run them off their feet. 

[Optimus D 283]

Bemused at the non selection of Preuss, I suppose that greater minds at the club have a better insight than me. When was the last time that MFC went into the game without a recognised ruckman? It would be a rare occurrence for any AFL side. 

[Pickett2Jackson 3,904]

6 minutes ago, Optimus D said:

Bemused at the non selection of Preuss, I suppose that greater minds at the club have a better insight than me. When was the last time that MFC went into the game without a recognised ruckman? It would be a rare occurrence for any AFL side. 

I bet T Mac doesn't fire a shot tonight....    happy to be proven wrong but hes been woeful for 18 months and cant ruck to save himself.

[PaulRB 6,411]

We had a good patch of footy in 2018 when Max was out injured, some good wins and our midfield seemed to lift through that period.

Reckon we’ll be on today.

[Beetle 4,681]

9 minutes ago, Pickett2Jackson said:

I bet T Mac doesn't fire a shot tonight....    happy to be proven wrong but hes been woeful for 18 months and cant ruck to save himself.

Don't be so sure, I have some footage of him training in the ruck during the week.

[Deemania since 56 6,718]

3 hours ago, Mickey said:

Yep, and it was their smalls and mids who did. 11 separate goal kickers.

Hopefully it's not a repeat of that game. We're bad but we're not Adelaide.

The Dees will need to be on their toes for this match, all match. The umpires will keep North in the game for at least three quarters, rest assured - so we have to lead the match, all match, by at least three goals. A few errant body slams in honour of a missing Max and a turbocharged Viney will be required to unsettle and confuse the North runners. Harmes, Tomlinson, Salem and Tracca are in for a testing and very big responsibility across the game, full of two-way involvement and initiative. We can take this game with creative initiative and hard work. 

[Demon Jack 6,930]

Massive game for our midfield. With no Gawn, our boys will clearly need to readjust their strategy considering I don't see us winning many hit outs let alone any to advantage.

Saying that, I think playing without Maxy makes us a much more unpredictable side. I can recall the side having a great patch of form when Cam Pederson was playing as an undersized ruck back in 2017. It could be how we're planning to use Tom McDonald today. 

Also, anyone know who'll be skipper today? Seems we're without both our captain and vice captain.

[forever demons 2,232]

25 minutes ago, PaulRB said:

We had a good patch of footy in 2018 when Max was out injured, some good wins and our midfield seemed to lift through that period.

Reckon we’ll be on today.

wish pedo was still around

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

2 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

North’s goalkickers likely. 
 

smalls - Anderson Zurhaar Hall

talls - Daw Larkey

but they always seem to beat us through their mids kicking goals. Higgins Polec Dumont Simpkin.  
 

Really have to stop Higgins. I’d give Harmes this assignment 

That's the most obvious main assignment for the day to ensure this isn't a coin flip result.

We're about to see how switched on (or otherwise) SG & his brains trust are and they're not off to a great start.  Selecting a completely out of form T-Mac ahead of Pruess and either expecting an out of form T-Mac to suddenly click up forward and throw a junior, who was just finding his feet / confidence up forward, on to a ruck giant in Goldy.  Or expecting T-Mac to mostly ruck against Goldy (i doubt it though as if that were the case surely you would leave a winning forward line as is and just throw Pruess in to do exactly what he was recruited for!).

[pinkshark 950]

I'm [censored] off that Bennell has been omitted.  What does Goodwin expect from him?  Managed against Port, back against Adelaide (fair enough, he didnt do much) then dropped.  He's the classiest player we have had at the club in 20 years, yet others on our list are preferred over him.  Give me an effing break.  Just give him a run at it ffs!  

Gawn not playing will at least make it harder for norths mids to play off his tapwork which most teams have been doing this year, so that may not be as big a deal as first thought.  But he needs the rest.  There is no doubt about that.  

Tmac is no good in the ruck.  Never has been.  He can't jump.  So maybe our mids can feed off goldstein and daw for a change.  They'll have to because Tmac will not make an impact.  Nor will Jackson against goldstein and daw.

Dunno about this one.  Dont feel good about it.  

[Macca 17,034]

We need to win at least 1 of the next 2 but both teams that we're playing are undermanned so we really should win both.  And if we want to play finals we can't drop too many more games.

Of course all those involved at the club need to take it one match at a time. 

And it's entirely possible for us to lose today and then beat Collingwood. 

But we have to be at least 5 & 6 before the last 6 games are played.  And then we'd need to win 5 of those last 6 games to have a realistic chance to play finals. 

The 17 game season reminds me of the NFL where a team generally needs to win 10 of 16 to be 'virtually' assured of a playoff spot.

[binman 43,815]

58 minutes ago, Optimus D said:

Bemused at the non selection of Preuss, I suppose that greater minds at the club have a better insight than me. When was the last time that MFC went into the game without a recognised ruckman? It would be a rare occurrence for any AFL side. 

I just don't think Preuss has had enough match practice. In fact he well have had none this year?

And he was coming back from a fair break from injury so i wonder about his fitness.

[At Least I Saw a Flag 5,274]

I don't think Max will be missed in the rucking contests cos he rarely taps to advantage. Or if he does, the mids turn it over  His replacement needs to try to nullify Goldstein to some extent. 

The main downside will be the absence of his marking, particularly on the backline and as a target for kickouts  

[Kent 2,914]

2 hours ago, DeeZee said:

What we do in the ruck will go a long way in deciding this game.

Looks like TMac will play there and supposedly drop back to fill the hole down back, effectively playing Max’s role to a Tee.

Jacko/Dogga will probably give him a chop out.

Max can mark the ball in defence and has done so magnificently this year

Macdonald cannot take a contested mark this year

I hope we are not relying on that plan

Edited August 9, 2020 by Kent

[Dee Dubya 220]

1 minute ago, Kent said:

Max can mark th eballl in de

Big night last night?

[Kent 2,914]

Fat fingers

[Deemented Are Go! 3,684]

7 minutes ago, Kent said:

Fat fingers

 

[Ethan Tremblay 30,970]

I think if we can take away the four points, that’s a win. 

[Little Goffy 14,645]

2 hours ago, Nelo said:

I reckon we will play one good half and that will enough to win by 52 points. 

You must really rate North - we only played one good quarter last week and won by 51! 

[Optimus D 283]

24 minutes ago, binman said:

I just don't think Preuss has had enough match practice. In fact he well have had none this year?

And he was coming back from a fair break from injury so i wonder about his fitness.

You may be right Binman, but if that is so why name him as an emergency? 

[sue 9,145]

10 minutes ago, Optimus D said:

You may be right Binman, but if that is so why name him as an emergency? 

Because there is no one else perhaps.  Or maybe we will spring a surprise.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,305]

1 hour ago, pinkshark said:

I'm [censored] off that Bennell has been omitted.  What does Goodwin expect from him?  Managed against Port, back against Adelaide (fair enough, he didnt do much) then dropped.  He's the classiest player we have had at the club in 20 years, yet others on our list are preferred over him.  Give me an effing break.  Just give him a run at it ffs!  

Gawn not playing will at least make it harder for norths mids to play off his tapwork which most teams have been doing this year, so that may not be as big a deal as first thought.  But he needs the rest.  There is no doubt about that.  

Tmac is no good in the ruck.  Never has been.  He can't jump.  So maybe our mids can feed off goldstein and daw for a change.  They'll have to because Tmac will not make an impact.  Nor will Jackson against goldstein and daw.

Dunno about this one.  Dont feel good about it.  

With Bennells history of calf injuries it doesn't surprise me he has been rested off a 4 day break

[Roger Mellie 4,103]

20 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I think if we can take away the four points, that’s a win. 

What would we do without your insight?

 

[spirit of norm smith 16,589]

58 minutes ago, bingers said:

 

The main downside will be the absence of his marking, particularly on the backline and as a target for kickouts  

I think this is the biggest issue. Our players look to kick to Max both in the kick outs and in general play down the line.  We will need to execute our kicking better and not just kick to a pack. North has pretty good key defenders so need to lower our eyes when kicking to the inside 50.