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I think what many people miss, and by people I mean [censored] knuckles in the media paid to analyse footy, is that our approach is different. It is not about ruthlessness, for ruthlessness sake. Old school footy rules has a team as dominant as the dees crushing a team from the first second to the last, like a dominant boxer not once slowing up on a hapless opponent. Through that lens, we establish an early lead and the lead grows in a linear, even upward trajectory for the whole game. But that is not how we play - against any team. Stretching the boxing analogy, we certainly look to dominate early and establish a lead. Land a few early blows that rock opponents and put them on the back foot. We then absorb their pressure, take their best shot. Not quite rope a dope, because they don't land that many blows, but the ones they do we absorb. We respond to how they want to play the game. If they want to attack, we repel. We are comfortable with the ball being in our defensive zone for long stretches. If they want to play a high possession game and chip it around their back half, like the Roos and Port did, then we are happy to accommodate that approach too. Hard to score from deep inside their own 50. if they want to go wide and try to stretch us, like the saints did, no probs, bring it on. If they want to flood our forward line and bring multiple extras to the stoppage, like the bombers and GWS did, no dramas. If they want to attack through the corridor and go fast like the hawks (sometimes) tried - then be our guest, attack away. They throw their best punches. And inevitably tire. And we they tire we take over. It is a dance, with two participants. The gears we supposedly have that you hear people talk about is really about this dance. What i don't like about the idea of gears is that implies we are in cruise mode and then just flick some imaginary switch when we want/need to. Which apart from being a wrong characterisation of how we play, is disrespectful to our opponent and totally contrary to goody's philosophy. Like a dance, our game is all about tempo, rhythm (as in the rhythm of the game) and responding to what the opposition bring to the table. The goal is to win. Not win by some arbitrary margin - but win. Our approach maximises our chances of wining. Trying to win by the biggest possible margin doesn't as by definition trying to do so involves taking risks and risks create opportunities for the opposition to score. The key reason why Brisbane were beaten by the hawks was their inability, or choice, not to control and slow the tempo in the last quarter, and instead keep their foot to the floor and continue to take risks. The margin doesn't determine how good a win it was for us. Sticking to team rules, discipline, attitude, behaviors, how well we respond to the opposition's approach - how well we parried - and how effectively we got the game on our terms, to look like how we like it to look, are the key determinants.

I don't think that was the case at all. Hard, courageous , quick and reliable are the traits I remember. A very good footballer and flew under the radar due to the Bogan Prince of Primary School Poetry, the other Nathan Brown.

Let me put your arm in that position and see if you still agree with that view. 2 for the guilty plea was very fair.

I agreed with most of the amendments they proposed. The key things I commented on were - unsure about limiting tenure to 9 years as it may mean good operators are lost too early - queried whether the 9 year term limits was only for consecutive years/terms - ie can someone serve 9 years leave and then come back for another 9 years - or if someone serves one 3 year term can they only come back at a later time for a further 6 years? - would like to see something in the Constitution enshrining a senior indigenous role at the club either on the board or in the FD (similar to Matty Whelan's role) - would like to see something included around acknowledgment of indigenous culture/owners in the "inclusivity" section - would like to see the Constitution enshrine something regarding the MCG and surrounding area as our spiritual home not just our home ground. It is our home, the other clubs are only tenants (they may have done this but it wasn't clear) - queried whether the amendments related to gaming would limit our revenue options in future (I assume not but wasn't sure what these amendments were specifically in relation to) I'd be interested in any comments others may have included.

Yes I received it and took part in the survey. I encourage everyone who has even a remote interest in these sorts of things to do this. There was significant debate on here during the recent Board election about a host of issues that this survey addresses, such as the tenure of directors, the way in which elections take place, and the role of sub-committees at the club. Now is your chance to be involved in the club's future.

It'll be fairly tight early, they'll seem a little on top of us but only score a few goals without preventing us from grinding out a couple ourselves. The margin will be small in their favour at 1/4 time. In the second quarter we'll peg it back a little and by half time scores will be basically level. In the third quarter we'll push ahead a bit, peventing them from scoring much while adding three or four of our own. Early in the final quarter the game will open up just a little, both sides will kick goals, but then we'll get a couple on the trot, they'll realise they are beaten and then we'll kick the last three of the game, pushing the margin out to 50 points without anyone even noticing. [picture of a metronome]

Sounds like Vines is likely in.

I have no sympathy for the select North supporters who belittled us for 12 years. But overall this is not a good situation. it doesn't benefit anyone to have one of the 18 clubs fall apart, and it feels like North is falling apart right now. Moving the club to Tasmania runs a significant risk of leading to the Tasmanian venture failing. Tasmanians want and deserve their own team, not the remnants of a broken Victorian club. So North needs to be "fixed". If 2013 Melbourne can be fixed, I suspect 2022 North Melbourne can be fixed.

I feel sorry for North. It is not so long ago we were in a similar position.

Good review & generally excellent recommendations. My only comment was that re The Board & Club operations I was less interested in diversity & more interested in the skills & competence of those involved.

You're kidding, right? If anything, two weeks was light for that.

Pretty much agree with what you said there, they knew they wouldn't win so the played us hard and close. BBB was harassed when he went near the ball and just couldn't get in to the game. They were very physical on the night. I went to the game and sat near the goals and because it's such a [censored] ground, I couldn't see beyond the middle, after the game I thought we were pretty ordinary but after watching the replay I thought we were OK,. We do seem to play a better brand of football when we play against a good side, they are trying to win whereas North were just trying to limit the damage, they have quite a few physical players. I've followed the Dees for many years, around 70 and I don't think I've ever seen a player as good as Clayton, he is just relentless, he just fights for 100% of the game to get the ball, I loved Robbie but they are different types and played a totally different game.

Ouch!! I honestly think we have too many Clubs at 18. The talent pool is getting diluted enough. so to go to 20 Teams would be a disaster in my opinion, but I totally get that You want a Pure Tassie Side. The only solution i can see is that one of North, GC or GW$ get totally disassembled and moved to Tassie to start again. Look at the Crowd numbers now in the heartland. We can’t afford new clubs now. we have to fix the backyard first

Hey, but you see this is the EXACT issue. The club in Tassie SHOULD be about Tasmania, not about Nth, and especially not about appeasing the fan base of Nth, or keeping Nth Melb history going! The people in Tasmania couldn't give a stuff about the history of North Melbourne...why should we? The bloods culture was created by the swans, it might have some roots from South Melb, but I can assure you it was created by the Swans largely in the time that Paul Roos was up there. The Tasmanian team has history of it's own it will harness being a heritage football state, it won't be soulless like the GWS or Gold Coast. We already draw upon the fact that players like Hudson, Baldock, Richo, the Reiwoldts, Febeys, Gales, Robbo etc came from Tasmania. We are used to punching above our weight and this team would be no different. We can draw upon a similar population base to Geelong. (We'll also take Garry Lyon as one of our own too ;) ) Not only that but we have produced a lot of good administrators in Gale, Rawlings, Fagan, Robert Shaw, Scott Clayton etc... The AFL isn't selling anything to Tassie in a pitch now, Tasmania wants it's own team, and the whole business case lead by the state, with Clarko etc. I can tell you more Tasmanian people would prefer not to have a team than to have Nth foisted onto them. We don't want a clapped out Hyundai being sold to us as if it was a shiny new Jaguar thanks (shameless MFC sponsor plug there 😁)

Most footy pundits think we don't blow teams away or score a lot. But I also think most footy pundits don't appreciate that our percentage is 161%, with only one other club in the comp within 35% of us. And I also think most footy pundits don't appreciate that we've scored the third most points of all clubs.

Played for Oakleigh Chargers as a bottom age player at the weekend. From Rookie Me Central ~ #55 Kynan Brown “One for Melbourne fans to watch as a potential father-son candidate, Brown (son of Nathan), produced some exciting moments in his NAB League debut. The hard-at-it midfielder got a run through the engine room and also impacted up forward, snaring two goals from 17 disposals and four inside 50s. Both of Brown’s majors were fair efforts, particularly the second term snap which he seemed pretty pleased with. Still a bottom-ager, there’s some exciting traits to work with.” 2022 NAB League Boys snapshot: Round 7 Height 180cm DOB 13/01/2005

Just what we (Tasmania) have been asking for, a complete basket case of a club, that nobody wants to play for and now, it seems, work for, is anchored to the bottom and has an overall brand we don’t identify with. Sign me up now!!

TMac’s perspective is brilliant. He likes seeing his friends smile.

I had a problem with Q7 regarding Committee members, Tenure, Nominations Sub-Committee The summary only gave the gist of changes proposed without any substance Generally the gist seems pretty positive in what is mentioned, but I feel there is a lot not mentioned, and concerned about intentions and powers of a Nominations Sub-committee and limitations on nominations - It's already a pretty closed shop and would hate it to become moreso under constitutional amendments Otherwise good Interested to hear thoughts on gender driven language changes and whether they are meaningful or just woke virtue signalling?

Every Saturday morning I see soccer fields packed with juniors who play. Basketball stadiums for junior players are packed. What hasn't been managed is a way to harness the pathways for these players. Basketball is growing a lot faster than you think, the number of players now in the NBA, the expansion of the NBL....

Expansion clubs in non AFL territories cannot hold onto players. Tom Lynch did not want to play in front of 5000 people but rather 75,000. So we had a situation where the best player in the weakest team walks to strongest team at the time. You can give them all the concessions in the world but if every year they are going to the draft to pick players who will request a trade while in their prime it’s never going to work. This is not like the US where every school and college in every state play American football. Trying to grow a sport in a geographic where it is not part of the culture is unique to this country. I can’t think of another example. I don’t think there is an answer.

We are the Boa constrictor, we suffocate teams until there is no breath left. In some ways I'd find playing against that worse than being wiped off the park and put out of your misery.

SWYL, can't agree with this sorry How many years will it take to fix the backyard though? Tassie's got a momentum issue that has to be addressed in the next meeting of the presidents, if they haven't gotten their 'cr@p' in order thats on them. This is basically the one and only time this bid will be put forward. I'm not sure on the argument of the talent pool being diluted, I see that a little bit of a cop out. 18 AFL teams started in 2012, Australia's population was a 22.9 million people. As of 2 days ago, the population of Australia is 26,057,364 people. You are saying that we can't find 40 talented players amongst those 3 million people? Add Tasmania and you will build talent pathways that have withered for too long cos the AFL has ignored the state. The impact the JackJumpers have had on basketball participation in the short time they have been here has been nothing short of stunning. This is also a commitment to both men and women's teams. Tassie will absolutely become a footy heartland and produce AFL quality players in very little time. Finally, you can't look at crowd numbers for 2022. Look at what they were in 2019, and what they will likely be in a couple of years when things are post COVID. Look at viewer numbers watching the game on TV.... that is what will drive the next media agreement.

It's nice not being the club in shambles for once but don't want to be too mean to North as they've been nice to us in recent years; Tyson/Preuss trade - which eventually strengthen our trade hand in the... BBB trade. Pick swap that got us Pickett.

The leniency on Ryan still angers me, and I agree that there is absolutely zero consistency when considering potential for serious injury.

Whilst I agree that he's not ready for senior footy, I think he does show enough AFL traits to suggest he could be an AFL player. He needs to improve his defensive game, and get more involved at VFL level on a consistent basis. Goody mentioned in his presser that we have players at Casey that no-one has heard of, who they believe will make it with development, and used Jordon and Sparrow as examples. The players that came to mind are Laurie, Moniz-Wakefield, Deakyn Smith, Woey, Turner and Rosman. I didn't include JVR because he's a high draft pick, and everyone would be aware of him.

Shin bone....

Having watched a fair amount of Casey this season I'd be shocked if Laurie was selected as wing - at this stage he does not appear anywhere fit enough for that role. Nor does he have great pace - what he does have is good footy IQ, evasive skills, great hands and good kicking skills albeit over shorter distance (the player he reminds me most of is Greg Williams - I know that is a stretch but just think he is the closest like for like. Whether he will ever get close to Diesel is anyone's guess - if he does he will be a very handy player)

Go get Gaff???? Go Get F#%^*@d !!!!!😠

He's an injury to TMac, Brown, Jackson or Gawn away from moving back into the seniors. He re-signed last year knowing that was going to be his lot. Why, now, would he change his mind? At any rate, unless he gives up on us and wants out, there is no way in hell I'd be pushing him out for a so-called "ham sandwich".

Because I couldn't remember their location! Fixed!

Technically 24, but 25 in just a month, and 26 end of season next year when he's OOC and the club has to make a call on him. I don't think he has time on his side for comingg through with the next group of players if next year isn't the one where he steps up and solidifies a spot in the best 22. Our list manager next year is going to be weighing up whether a 26 year old key forward that hasn't broken into the side, is worth the cap space, given there are alternative options like targeting a free agent or trading for a full forward in the 2023 trade period. Re-signing Weid and hoping he will be good enough to be in the team is the kind of leap of faith that could see us (in 2024) with a broken forward line connection, unable to capitalise on all of the inside 50's again like in 2019-2020, that would have us back in the middle tier pack. We'll see what happens anyway, I could be wrong and of course, hope he proves me wrong.

I feel bad for them. I know how it feels to literally spend every game sitting there just feeling everything is so hopeless. But there is the cold reality as well. North is not like Narrm, they don't have the tradition we have, nor do they have the link to the very origins of the game that we have. Their name is just ours with a compass direction added on - there is no need for two teams with the name Melbourne in it due to the number of Victorian clubs already in the League. They have very low supporter numbers and could never rally their members like Stynes did with the Foundational Members. They need to move to Tasmania, or the NT, and be reborn again. We're just watching a very slow death and it is very sad to see

Unlike Sam and other posters I've never been called "big sexy". Which, in all the circumstances, isn't that surprising.

He’s gassed. At least 3 years too late. He would have no chance at a starting 22 position with our current team.

Lotta people saying we should feel sorry for them. Might be interesting to go fishing through the Big Footy threads from when we were in danger of folding and see what their supporters were saying. I think that's around the time that they were all starting "who has the best midfield" threads just so they could name themselves while throwing a bone to another random club to make their gloating seem genuine. First thought is "poor bastards" After a minutes recollection all sympathy evaporates.

Our forwards (as a collective) will need to play better against the better opposition that we are going to be up against in the next block of 4 games On Saturday there were instances of some forwards playing from behind or not creating enough separation to present as targets A good example was when Petracca was bursting forward with no Demon to kick it too ... he hesitated and then got tackled from behind. Opportunity lost Another time Brown got caught out playing from behind and then ended up giving a free kick away. But Brown usually gets to the front position. There were probably at least another 6 standout examples and each time we gave up an opportunity to score. Various forwards were involved. As previously stated, more so as a collective. 74 inside 50's resulting in 14.16 is inefficient in my view I'd like to believe that we just had a bit of an off day up forward but we probably should have slotted at least 20 goals against North. And the connection between our mids & forwards needs to be first rate against the good teams By contrast, our defence and all over team defence was excellent once again. North didn't take on the corridor which played into our hands, but that's their problem

FWIW he grew up a Demons supporter. My kids and I used to go to Demons' matches at the G with him, his younger brother and mother regularly in the late 90s/early 2000s. How's that for quality name dropping? But it's a no from me.

What rubbish, a strong competition is better for everyone.

Paul Roos prime performance metrics were percentage and points against. When he took over at the end of our dreadful 2013, our percentage was 54.1% and our average points against was 122. By 2016, this had improved to 102% and 88. Now it's 161.7% and 58. With a 10-0 record, it's hard to see how we are "underperforming". We are doing exactly what we need to be doing.

Oh and just noticed that for this amazing attacking side, they have actually scored 6 less points than us for the year but let in an extra 233.

Just wait until we actually lose a game. The knives will be out and our dynasty will be declared over. And that's just from the Demonlanders ....

Sorry if this has already been mentioned by someone else, but I missed Steve's post game presser but just came across it on FB, he said something which all Dees fans should find comforting. When asked if he was happy with the score they kept North to he said he wasn't happy, because they were able to generate more scores than they should have per inside 50. Whether you are worried that we aren't in form or happy to bank the points, it is very clear the boys aren't complacent. Steve is less than 10 minutes off the ground and is already mentioning areas for improvement after a 47 point win, I dare say the boys have the right attitude this year.

It is not too much to ask at all Pates. I was literally the only one out of my Melbourne friends who got down to Marvel on Saturday. Was actually kind of shocked when I realised in the group messenger chat with them that they were all saddling up for an arvo/evening of viewing on Kayo... like it was an interstate match. I know a lot of people have home memberships (myself included, bought a ticket this week) but I just don't get that some people wouldn't want to see this great team play in Melbourne whenever they can. Get on down this week, it's probably going to be the best build up to a Melb v Freo game on this ground.

Not much!! Of 10 pages on Bigfooty they don't seem to interested in the game or the Dees. They seem preoccupied with: coming to terms with losing two games in a row being ordinary in the wet and praying for no rain on Saturday team changes and Fyfe's unavailability Switkowski's Tribuanl appearance (predictions he will get between 1 and 4 weeks). But there were a couple worth listing: Super underdogs this weekend. Nothing to lose hopefully we throw everything we have against the dee's. We have games coming up against Melbourne, Brisbane, and hawthorn and if nothing changes then we're 7-6 and no better than previous years. Nice to go into a game as a underdog for a change. Feels more natural, less pressure.😂 The 'are they the real deal?' question has been answered in the negative and reallocated to Carlton.😉 I will check again in a few days for more worthy quips.

The Blues are a reasonably good team on offence but they don't play total team defence like we do. In fact, they are nowhere near our levels in that area On top of that we have a stellar defence against their quite-good forward line and our midfield shades theirs from an overall perspective Our forward line against their defence is more of a line-ball match-up but they'd do well to keep 2 of Fritsch, Brown, T-Mac and a resting Gawn or Jackson quiet. And our small forwards continue to apply forward line defensive pressure Match it all up and we win by 6 goals with the big difference being our overall defensive pressure. They just can't match us in that area

I know Glenn Luff personally, he is a good man and loved his job. Its North's loss.

Lets put that pre-season game in perspective! They benefited form a heap of 50m penalties courtesy of the new 'dissent' and 'holding up play' rules (...what has happened to the latter...) Remember we were the guinea pigs for those new rules. iirc they scored at least 5 goals directly from frees/50 m penalties. And they won by only 5 points. Sure they had Charlie Curnow, Jacob Weitering and Sam Walsh out but we had Steven May, Harrison Petty, Michael Hibberd, Trent Rivers, Christian Salem out ie 5 of our Premiership defenders. I think they will make a formidable opponent but that game isn't a reliable reference point.

We are one of the only teams I've seen that can lead by a relatively small margin (3-4 goals) and be in no danger of losing whatsoever