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The clear answer is no. Not one coach could be as bad as MN.

Hawthorn look like a shadow of the side that discovered the blueprint to beating the reigning premiers.

I know who I’d prefer (hint: he played an epic 3rd quarter in the 2021 GF).

I think the players actually like Noble. Neeld was pretty obviously disliked and no one seemed to play *for him*. North simply aren't up to it and don't have the cattle.

I thought he had them playing decent footy without wining many in the back half of 2021. It's gone to tripe this season. One thing is certain. No club is as reliant on one player as Norf are on Ben Cunnington. Rudderless without him.

"Have you got your keys?" "Ohhhh, mum." "Have you had enough to eat? You're out there for a long time you know." "Ohhh, mum." "I'll bring you some oranges at half time, and a dry jumper." "Ohhh, mum." "Have you got everything? Socks? Boots? Take some extra money just in case. Do you need a towel?" ************ "Christ, what a nightmare." dit doot doot dit dit dit *bring* *bring* "Hello, is that Simon Goodwin? Mate, we need to talk."

No David Noble is a much better coach tha Neeld ever was. The reason that Norf are so sheeit was because previous coach got rid of everyone who could play including BBB

Last week I was having a few beers with a Roos-supporting friend. It was all "Horne-Francis this, Horne-Francis that". "You're cute" I told him. "I used to be like that with Jack Watts..." That didn't stop him. "Oh no, this guy's good" etc Now, I'm not dissing Horne-Francis at all (or Jack Watts) . He looks a very good player - and may even be elite one day. It's just that I could see the desperate desire to find something positive in what is yet another abysmal year for NM. One that must hurt even more knowing they got rid of a player of Brown's calibre for (relative) peanuts.to the team his mate supports. He's in the middle of the denial phase. Next will come anger which will be ugly. Finally acceptance. Only then will he move forward. I feel for him. Not.

Also, Paul Roos has been paid a truckload by Norf as some sort of consultant. The best thing Roos did for us was he took pressure off the club and was able to deflect a lot of the media scrutiny on us at the time. He can’t do that for Norf in his current role (whatever it is).

The way the record tackles isn't always consistent with what supporters expect either. The official definition is: Using physical contact to prevent an opponent in possession of the ball from getting an effective disposal. And Effective Disposals are defined as: A handball to a teammate that hits the intended target; or A kick of more than 40 metres to a 50/50 contest or better for the team or a kick of less than 40 metres that results in the intended target retaining possession. So if you grab and take someone to ground or spin then around and around, but they handball off, it isn't recorded as a tackle. This happens a lot in close quarters. If they slap it on the boot as you tackle and it goes 40 m it probably isn't a tackle. If you gang tackle, everyone involved gets a stat. So it is possible we are creating pressure without getting credited with tackles. Corralling players into ineffective disposal perhaps. Or tackling players unsuccessfully (they handball off but still creates pressure) and then the final player fumbles without the tackle being applied. Or perhaps we are starting out of the contest and having one person tackles instead of 2 or 3 person tackles. Unfortunately, it's a case of "they don't give us the real stats".

This is one of the most ridiculous takes I've ever read on DL

Some holes appearing in the Swans game. Really struggling to score, and too easy for opposition to rebound out of their forward 50. They need a couple of small defensive forwards to help keep the ball down their end. I think Casboult has been outstanding for the Suns. His kicking might still not be great, but he keeps on presenting and is such a good mark.

Finally got into Melbourne and got this down the other day. Mash up of the 64 head on a version of the 88 body.

Back to the lost Dogs home for the Dishlickers. Great result IMO

Yeah. Nah. Not once this season have I thought we were going to lose. It sounds weird saying this but I'm hoping for a team that can challenge us. Where are they?

Stats wise Tmac can actually take a mark. Weeds problem has beeen the same for 6 years. He's a key forward. The best key forwards take marks, either uncontested or contested. Sam does neither consistenly well. 2 marks in 2 games. Thats not mental. That's ability. Up until now in his career, he's too easy to defend. He's not overly fast, sly or strong. His ground ball pressure doesnt help but if he was clunking 5 or 6 marks a game it would be overlooked. Its a harsh assessment, but the exposed evidence is there.

I don't think he is Neeld II... I do think he is only coaching because it worked for Brisbane with Fagan. Unfortunately the AFL & it's clubs like to go with flavour of the month thinking rather than critical thinking. Somehow they thought putting another administrator in as coach would get the same result. ...but Noble isn't Fagan & North aren't Brisbane. Every person & every organisation are unique...you can't plug & play.

I think stats wise the key point of difference between Tom and Sam is their defensive effort. Tom averages 1 tackle (below average), .8 inside 50 tackles (average) and 11.2 Pressure acts (above average). Sam 1.2 tackles (below average), .4 inside 50 tackles (below average), 5.4 pressure acts (below average). Tom is not setting the world on fire defensively, but Sam is barely registering any pressure at all. It’s visible in how he plays sadly, once he misses the mark or lead he’s out of the play. Both of them need to do work on their intensity and pressure around the ball and I’d suggest this will be Sam’s main area to concentrate on back in the VFL. Hopefully Sam can lift as he’s actually a very good tackler, but at the moment Tom is doing more of the defensive bullocking work and that’s why he’s back in.

I admit that my memory is deteriorating, but I'm sure we chased Amon a few years back. Maybe it was around the time we got Langdon? Very interesting if true. It shows that we may have more salary cap space than we think and that we are looking at all avenues to keep the flag window open. (the conspiracy theorist in me says that it is planning for life ex-Angus)

@Sir Why You Little god damn it man. Never have I seen a hole dug so quickly and… eagerly.

I don't hate Frosty but must admit I enjoy watching him have goals kicked on him. I do hate Essendon - everything about them. But, the 22 blokes in those hideous black & red jumpers deserve credit tonight. That was a tremendous win under the circumstances. Even found myself barracking for them. Time to give myself a shower & possibly disinfectant treatment. I feel very dirty.

Wow. They had a backline?

Drinking game for anyone interested- take a sip of beer every time Brad Johnson says ‘hit the Logos’ or laughs about nothing gonna be a long arvo!

I actually follow Norf pretty closely (for a Deez guy). You are right on one thing mo64, there is some talent down at Arden Street. Disagree that Noble's not the guy or that he's lost the playing group though. Norf are where they are due to decisions made under Brayshaw, who's a complete &^%$, at the end of the Scott regime. Shaw was their Neeld . . . God bless his heart. Noble's been left cleaning up the rubble. And FWIW, IMHO . . . I'd suggest Norf's list is in a lot better shape long term than Wet Coast's or Essendscum,

I think you need to add on GST here

Noble should sue for defamation if he sees this. There can be no unkinder comparison.

We play North and WCE in next two rounds. We must get big % boosts; none off this shutting down in the last quarter that we have of late. Time to put the pedal to the floor. As @Sir Why You Littlewould say: "Show no mercy" Otherwise, we don't really get another big % boost chance as the rest of our games are against current top 8 sides or a few pushing for top 8, the latter being Bulldogs, Power and Crows. If other contenders continue to beat up on the likes of Eagles, North, Ess, Suns the % diff can and most likely will cost us top 2 or heaven forbid top 4 as they have, 'on paper' easier draws than us.

Dear Victoria, Please cease trying to dump your garbage on our state, immediately. We don’t want it. Regards Tasmania

A week premature, but the Weid/Tomald forward-line tinkering debate has been going on for more than a year now and is getting a bit tedious. Neither are delivering. Can we maybe just try a whole new combo for the WC-NM matches and bring in Daw or van Rooyen or both and see how it goes alongside BB and Fritsch? I even have more faith in Mitch Brown than both of Weid and Tomald nowadays. He's taken 26 marks in his last three games. Weid has taken six.

I actually saw a Footscray player asleep on the ground and the umpire walked up to him and said its your free mate.

While the (general) tackle stat is one indicator of pressure and sure we are well off our overall position last year, i would not discount that this might be by design vs an actuall drop off. By design i mean the FD may have asked for a certain level / system to be played and met by the boys. Given our results/ladder position we would appear to have well and truly implememted / met the level & methods being asked so far. Some of these aspects being asked might be more critical to efficiency of ball usage and movement out of & away from stoppage/congestion. Including efficiency of transition off HB such as cleaner ball use, utilising space a tad better, presenting to the right places & effective delivery etc. Defensively the FD might be asking a tad less of most players from a general tackle count at this early phase of the season....preferring instead to build and bring the heat slowly as the season progesses, ensuring more players have more left in the tank for some of the bigger matches to come?? Also if the boys are turning the wick up on efricency of ball movement, winning contested at a high level et al then it might also explain the lower general tackle count vs 2021 as we are in possession much more of the time?? The time in possesion stat might be handy here! In a defensive aspect it would appear we are keeping the forward half pressure up by the looks of the inside 50 tackle count vs last season or at least, not very far off our best of last season. Pressure acts inside 50 (averages) and scores from turnovers inside 50 would also be interesting to know vs last season. While it is a fact the general tackle stat is off i would like to think this has more to do with good management and well designed playing styles/methods & executions (uncluding talent) vs a lack of willingness from some (or many) players to bring enough heat till now. It would be interesting to compare the tackle averages pre bye vs roughly 6 to 8 rounds post the bye and see how we sit both individually and in a team averages sense vs the rest of the comp. All up we are leading in so many other key aspects of the game. +20 in stoppage clearances the last two weeks one nice example. No.1 in contested possession averages differential as per 2021. Improved one place in uncontested possessions differential from 7th in 2021 to 6th at the moment. No.1 in meters gained differential as per 2021. Average meters gained is up by 200 meters a game vs 2021. Obviously Sam Mitchell saw this part as a huge asset he needed to try and curb as much as possible which he did successfully last week by locking down Lingers who had only 178 meters gained vs a massive 599 the previous week vs the Tiges. In a team sense we went from 6305 meters to 5960 vs the Hawks. My only concern might be that i am wrong about all of the design aspects above and maybe, just maybe, a few too many players are coasting a little too easy on the pressure front (aside from what happens inside 50!??) and might be leaning a little too much on our amazing defensive linemen & zoning system to always save the day. Hopefully not the latter and would be very surprised if this were the case.

Cooked. When you're constantly injuring your calf at 32 years of age then your chance of coming back to AFL level fully fit is very slim. This is like the 3rd time he's had the set back already this year. Old man injury in football terms.

Perhaps we are worried we will lose Gus or want to keep him down back. There is no doubt the opposite wing to Lingers can definitely be improved. Never stop getting better.

Don't see how he fits in the picture, at all.

Wholeheartedly agree with majority of sentiments expressed. Great speech by Pert, with underlying message sacrifice and one in all in for success. But my favourite was Goody at the end: - “We’re only getting started boys” Denasty - hear we come!! Go Demons!!

I actually think the Suns have the bones of a really good side.. they probably need a better coach, and 2-3 really good experienced players but i reckon they can be optimistic.

Agree. Calf injuries can be career killers for older players. Might see a retirement call if it lingers. Not the worst thing to play your last game in a winning GF. Pretty good memory.

Heavy Cairns game and tight last quarter up there appears not to have slowed Port. Saints also have extra day.

Yeah, yeah. In most of those games I also was not really worried we'd lose, but to dismiss those close results as meaningless or saying we were resting or whatever, strikes me as being unwise. If you let teams get close ot you in the last couple of minutes you are risking a loss because of an unlucky bounce or an umpires bad call. The coaches and team know that and know we need to bank 4 points. So the inability to get so far ahead that there is no risk poses questions which I fear are being too lightly dismissed by some. Let's hope the coaches know what's going on.

Don't think Noble has two desks in his office. Or drives a reality bus

Gee when you look at that league it really doesn't make sense why they aren't playing a reserves comp. 14 of the AFL clubs are effectively fielding a reserves team either directly or by proxy, and they are travelling across three states. Take them out and you still almost have a full VFL grade with 7 standalones. Also, why do 3 clubs have a bye? Surely this comp should be playing as many games as possible to ensure that AFL stand by players are match fit and in form? Anyway, good luck Casey!

Pitched for Isaac Smith after Langdon's first successful year - selected Rosman when that fell through. Brayshaw lauded for his defensive wing role. But are we aiming for dual attacking wings?

It’s a disgrace. The Dogs are blatant cheaters and the umpires rarely penalize them. Can’t stand them. ****test club in the league the soft whingers. Was thrilled we belted them in the grand final last year. Rewatch that demolition regularly!

A beautiful kick of the footy. Pure. All day for him Side note: Lingers on one wing, Amon on the other woweee

bringing him in as a free agent is exactly how you maintain quality and ready-to-go ability on the list amon has been excellent tonite fwiw - gut running and good decision making

TMac did the greatest shepherd at the most important time in the clubs history, Letting through Tom Sparrows killer goal in the 3rd 1/4. by pushing aside, and not infringing, against Josh Dunkley (I think but may be No. 12) THAT made him an all time great.

Took a pay cut so the club could retain the other coaches due to the reduced soft cap , says a lot about character , hopefully others may take same attitude

As I attended the 1964 GF and have been a supporter since the 50s so I have no choice but to place Norm Smith first. Second is Simon Goodwin. A premiership gets you to the top of the list. Third John Northey who took a young, struggling group to five consecutive years of finals. Old style coach who got the best out his team. Fourth is Neale Daniher. Notwithstanding the mess we were in in 1997, in 1998 he inherited a team that recruited White, drafted Johnstone and recovered from injury Lyon, Tingay, G Lovett, Schwarz to play in the finals in his first year. A brain fade in the preliminary final possibly cost us a chance to beat Adelaide again in the GF. Consecutive years in the finals eluded us until 04, 05 and 06 so that we were not consistent. A wasted era. Fifth is Neil Balme. His tenure was blighted by injuries to key players to the extent that in one game (forgot year) our key forward position selections were Charles and Farmer. There was no-one else. His one good year was 1994 (notably due to Lyon and Schwarz who were missing thereafter) but he did discover Neitz's forward ability and had the courage to play his best player in the forward line and not at CHB where he had starred.