POSTGAME: Rd 11 vs North Melbourne

[Clayton van Oliver 1,823]

43 minutes ago, Kiss of Death said:

Looking forwards to downloading the game from Estonia and watching it with the knowledge that the umpires won’t decide the game!!!

Tere!

[In Harmes Way 7,767]

Luke Jackson's work below his knees and speed of dishing out handballs - to advantage - is unparalleled in my opinion for an 18yo of his size.

[deespicable me 1,486]

10 minutes ago, Salems Lot said:

Norf had no idea or game plan, just awful.  Said to my young fella even when they were leading that we were a better team, waaaay better.

North were terrible, just terrible. Players don't want to play, coach can't coach, worst team we've met all year for sure. They are in trouble.

We are a better side for sure but we still take a long time to get our game going. We should be a good side for a while and when we peak, maybe in the 2021 or 2022 seasons we hopefully can give it a tilt. 

Personally I don't like the posters who continually call for this player or that player to be dropped/traded. Why can't we grow into a good enough team to have both Viney and Brayshaw out there. Think of the Brisbane era and the fab four of Smart, Voss....and two others. I think three of them won Brownlows.

[Watts the matter 1,235]

3 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

Keeping a lid on it as we've played a couple of the cellar dwellers two weeks running.

First half we looked pretty flakey and anything was possible although Norf looked like a B grade team out there skill wise.  Apart from some very early questionable assists from the umps, reasonable play from Norf on a few of those turnovers, a couple of gifts from us we should have been 4 to 5 goals up at half time had we connected / converted better inside 50 imv.

A solid 2nd half mixed with a few too many moments of ineptness in front of goal.  Had we kicked just a little straighter that would have been an 80 point plus thrashing.

LJ was amazing in the middle and around the ground.  Very early days but looks the goods and possibly an excitement machine, given enough experience and pre-seasons.

Our two small forwards did their job very nicely.  Spargo brought a solid game tonight and even showed a bit of urgency / zip with ball in hand along with some clever decision making and excellent attack on the ball.  Kozzy is still a fair way off but he looks to have all the good bits to become a very very good small crumbing pressure forward.  His decision making tonight and hitting up targets inside 50 was hard to fault.

We looked unstoppable whenever Clarry, Gus & Tracc were the starting 3.  Spargo seemed to be replacing Clarry when he was resting and, although pretty quiet / average early, he slowly worked his way into the match and even went forward to kick his first goal.

T-Mac.  Well lets just say he can no longer jump but brought a serviceable game at times and Goldy certainly never got hold of the middle bounces or T-Mac / LJ at any stage.  In fact apart from a few nice efforts at ground level and a few handy taps i thought Goldy was pretty ordinary most of the night.  Is he coming to the end of a very good career i wonder?

Happy with the win but the real test will be the Pies and seeing if we can put three in a row together.  Hopefully Big M and Viney back and fresh should help.  If fit, Viney comes in for AVB and obviously Big M for T-Mac.

I wouldn't even say that this is a real test. It will be a very undermanned Collingwood coming off a 4 day break, if we can't win it, we are not worthy of playing finals.

Edited August 9, 2020 by Watts the matter

[trout 385]

Well not a bad win in the end, should have been by more but still pretty good. Lots of room for improvement and it will be needed if we are to beat Collingwood. Team balance and selection will be very interesting next week. 

Goal kicking really needs to improve if we are going to beat half decent teams. 

I was dubious about taking a ruckman with our first pick, but right about now very happy we did. The kid certainly has some freakish ability and X factor, loving his work rate too.

[DemonOX 8,791]

19 minutes ago, In Harmes Way said:

Petracca holding his feet and spinning out of trouble is a thing of beauty. 

Truck reminds me of the Ox in the way he instinctively moves. Good signs. 

[Tom Dyson 1,633]

11 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

Perhaps you could rename yourself Sparlie Chargo in honour of the wee man?

Speaking of Dom - shame he wasn't playing tonight

It is a shame what's happened to Dom, he was very much an important part of 2018 for us and now he seems to just be drifting through norf's 2's. I hope for him that he can find some form. 

As for the name change, i'll consider it

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

1 minute ago, Watts the matter said:

I wouldn't even say that this is a real test. It will be a very undermanned Collingwood coming off a 4 day break, if we can't win it, we are not worthy of playing finals.

Many said the same in the final round of 2017 WtM  ...and i reckon it's been a fair while since we won three in a row.  The Pies rarely put in ordinary performances regardless of which team they field and in the main are usually super competitive.  They are the real deal albeit yes, a tad under manned as you say.

[Demons11 7,007]

26 minutes ago, AllMyTeamsAreWank said:

I know Viney has been one of our best this year, but Brayshaw offers so much more in the middle. He is really damaging with his disposal where Viney just seems to gain territory without actually generating any scoring opportunities. 

What to do with Viney?

Viney has been enormous this year.  Brayshaw will get more time now I’d say.   I’d just play Trac forward and let him come up to the contest, really just let him roam like Dusty does.

[dees189227 12,388]

Hey why do nth get our 1st round pick at the next draft? 

[Adam The God 30,221]

45 minutes ago, Swooper1987 said:

Great to see Lever back to near his best.  Over the length of his contract he'll prove a very astute piece of recruiting. Petracca was his now usual dominant self. Very impressed with Hannan's start.  He led well and contested super hard aerially. He faded but started with great intensity.

Agree, but he really needs to become more consistent if he's going to make it. He's not a young fella, but inexperienced in games played. Would elevate us so much if he could put together 4 quarters of football.

[whatwhat say what 22,742]

Just now, dees189227 said:

Hey why do nth get our 1st round pick at the next draft? 

Cos Pickett 

[3183 Dee 2,853]

45 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Jackson, Kozzie, Pickett, Sparrow.

Injecting some serious talent into our side once again.

Spargo was back to his best. Kept it simple and used the ball well. Courageous going in for that ball against Daw and bounced up like nothing happened.

Lever was our best backman by a mile. Kept everything in check. 

I also thought Tomlinson was good. He rarely wasted the footy and gave us some good drive.

Langdon is a ridiculously hard worker. His running ability and workrate to create space and option on the outside cannot be faulted. 

Petracca, Oliver, Brayshae.. all simply brilliant.

Hands up who think our midfield functions when Gus is in there full time instead of Viney?

Couldn’t have put it any better @dazzledavey36 - some great points there. We certainly play less of a rugby scrum when Viney is out, as much as I love Jack. What’s the best way to incorporate him now? Half forward maybe, with turns in the mid?

[Dame Gaga 2,453]

North can count themselves lucky they managed to kick 5 goals. Most came from help from the umpires. After quarter time North scored 2 goals 3 behinds. Those free kicks in the first quarter were diabolical.

[Adam The God 30,221]

48 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

Great second half as we were allowed to get on top of North when finally the umpires largely put their whistles away and let the game flow. The first quarter umpiring should be subject to an AFL review, it was putrid and bordering on corrupt. 

Disagree. Thought we were sloppy and careless in the first half and with the exception of the Harmes punch to the guys hand, all the frees were there for mine.

49 minutes ago, Deestar9 said:

Langdon...disposal efficiency 83% ...

Yep, don't know what people are talking about RE: Langdon's disposal tonight. Thought he was really solid and continued to get to great positions.

49 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

Yep. That's the right call for one of their careers.

Gus so much more damaging than Viney IMO...

[dazzledavey36 54,861]

Just now, 3183 Dee said:

Couldn’t have put it any better @dazzledavey36 - some great points there. We certainly play less of a rugby scrum when Viney is out, as much as I love Jack. What’s the best way to incorporate him now? Half forward maybe, with turns in the mid?

I think so mate.

Its no coincidence that our run in the back end of the year was instigated by Brayshaw and Oliver playing big minutes in there when Viney was out.

I love Viney, but our midfield set up was so spot on tonight.

[Ted Lasso 19,507]

1 minute ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I think so mate.

Its no coincidence that our run in the back end of the year was instigated by Brayshaw and Oliver playing big minutes in there when Viney was out.

I love Viney, but our midfield set up was so spot on tonight.

that's the real challenge, find a role that suits Viney where he doesn't impact that as much. i wouldn't be against trialing him on a wing. i think he's got a pretty good turn of speed

 

[Adam The God 30,221]

44 minutes ago, Buzzy said:

yeah - backwards

Rubbish. Gave us a lot of penetration and went backwards and retained possession where appropriate. We're rubbish when we go consistently long down the line. We tried to use the angles from half back to free up players who could rebound through the corridor. Langdon played his role.

[Demons11 7,007]

12 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

Hey why do nth get our 1st round pick at the next draft? 

We traded it for Pickett 

[skills32 229]

1 hour ago, Satan said:

jackson good effort , basketball skills on show

tmc slow to get involved

spargo best game for awhile

 First game for  a while.                                                                       

[DemonOX 8,791]

The umpiring this season has been unbelievably horrendous. 
 

it seemed like nearly every time North got the ball in the first half they got a free kick. 
 

FFS umps stop looking through ur butt hole. 

Edited August 9, 2020 by DemonOX

[AaronDaveyChipsAndGravey 390]

I think our best setup is players like Viney and Tmac taking more of a backseat role within the team. Not to underplay the importance of both, Viney has been phenomenal through the middle of the ground this year and Tmac has proved tonight that he's better used up the field. Viney's spot in the side takes away from the output of Brayshaw, who in my opinion, is a more damaging player with ball in hand. We need to move Viney forward. His tackling pressure is fantastic, has a good goal sense and can chop out in the middle when needed. TMAC needs to be played further up the field, as a forward flank/CHF between the arcs. He offers a great bail out kick and lead up and is actually quite a good field kick - leave Weideman and Jackson further forward as our main targets. Sacrifices have to be made for success and I think both Viney and Tmac can adapt their roles for the betterment of the team whilst still providing crucial elements to our output. Great win tonight regardless and go stick that up ya spargo haters. Go Dees !!

[Watts the matter 1,235]

26 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

Many said the same in the final round of 2017 WtM  ...and i reckon it's been a fair while since we won three in a row.  The Pies rarely put in ordinary performances regardless of which team they field and in the main are usually super competitive.  They are the real deal albeit yes, a tad under manned as you say.

They have been very poor the last 3 weeks. Getting smashed by West Coast, losing to Freo and crawling across the line against Sydney who had their chances to win.

At full strength they are a good team, the team we will be playing is a bottom 6 team.

[Deestroy All 14,265]

Geez there are some dodgy calls on the back of one game. Viney does the hard yards every week and has performed against good teams. There’s a reason he gets first dips on his position. Angus has also done well against good teams, but he’s gone missing equally as much. His 2nd half last week (4 days ago, can you remember back that far?) shows they can function in the same team very well. They’re good players and good players should be able to adapt, the onus is on Gus for mine as he’s a more versatile player. 
 

Spargo was really clean, excellent score involvements, didn’t look as rushed and took advantage of the space. 
 

Tomald tried hard, did a couple of good things, but none of it made up for his Port effort. And again did costly avoidable skill errors. Back out for me. 
 

Kozzie was kinda like Spargo but with the woohoo factor. Apparently having his jumper and shorts ripped off when he hasn’t got the ball is fine. Maybe he should change his name to Rioli or Selwood. 
 

Big fan of Rivers’ future. 
 

Despite the earlier ramblings, it was great to see Angus mixing it up with Trac and Oliver. Excellent game. If Trac had have nailed all those goals he would’ve gotten all 6 Brownlow votes, what a freak.
Oliver is starting to take the [censored]. He was good, but now he’s realised  how easy it can be. 
 

Good games from Weed and Jackson again. 
 

Langdon’s little fumbles are stopping him being a really good player. So many times he fumbles, costing him time and space that he works so hard to create. It’s so frustrating. 
 

North are excellent to watch. Long may it continue. 

[pinkshark 950]

 North were terrible.   Absolutely bloody hopeless.

So it was right we finished them the way we did, but theres a few on here getting a bit carried away.

Still though, God love the dees for keeping themselves alive. 

Brayshaw is all class.  

Harmes has been terrible all year.  He's lost it.  Give him a spell.

Loving Lever.

Lots of good players tonight who all at times did typically stupid things and exhibited poor decision making and executed skills poorly. Id love to be super excited about that but North were effing deplorable.

Bring on the Pies!