At the break of Gawn

It’s happening!

I was at the game last night and I found the atmosphere very flat and almost eerily quiet for most of the match. I suppose that’s what happens when you nail 5 goals in the first few minutes against a team who is massive underdogs and everyone in the crowd thinks “ok this is going exactly to script”. I’m genuinely surprised any North fans stayed after halftime. After being really poor the last two weeks, they were horrible in the opening qtr.

Scintillating start to the game but you could tell Clarko wanted to limit the damage after qtr time with a possession heavy kick mark game. Yeah the last 3 goals were disappointing but the thing with footy is that it rarely ever goes your entire way. We were already 6 to zip that qtr before they got 3 quick ones. Regarding Schache, I feel like he gets another week. Some of his inside 50 kicks (especially the one to Fritsch in the first qtr) were very good. I know he’s still lacking mongrel, but I’m not sure BB or Tmac is the 2023 answer. 2023 is all about ground ball and Schache is much better than BB or Tmac in that area.

The leg rope given to Riewoldt makes sense if he’s marking it 60-70m out as May can then fold back and play as an interceptor, but there were also a few times when he gave Riewoldt significant meters ahead of him which allowed Riewoldt to take some pretty easy marks 30-40m mark. It was obvious that Richmond was using a tactic of lowering their eyes and not kicking in long but it seemed May was still hoping to take an intercept for a long kick and not paying any respect to Riewoldt. He should have been playing back shoulder on him when Richmond were going into their forward 50.

Yeah but he takes the kick outs most time so I’m not putting any weight to that stat.

I feel this needs its own thread. What the hell is going on with May? It’s not just this year I feel, the back half of 2022 he wasn’t the same either. For those who saw the replay of the game on Monday on Fox, there was a segment right near the end on Brayshaw mic’d up against Essendon right near the end. There were a couple of interactions between him and May, and it just seemed May is really lacking confidence. I’m not sure if it’s a niggle, old age, or a mental thing, but he’s just not the same player as he was in 2021 and the first half of 2022. it’s also getting a bit of media attention now.

He was on two pretty decent players at different stages (Baker and Rioli) last night. I’m not too concerned. Wouldn’t be surprised if he kicks 5 next week.

No doubt Clarko will rise up for this challenge. He’s had a terrific record against us over the years, including in 2021 when he somehow got a draw out of us. A 5 day break sniffs of a danger game for me. I know North only have a 6 day trip from the GC, but after what we dished up against Essendon I’m still a bit worried. I really feel it’s an opportunity to bring in Schache and put Petty back. He’s probably the ideal match up for Larkey.

Staggering the lack of love for Grundy’s game. His second half was huge and if you listened to Hardwick’s press conference you’d learn that he was becoming the difference for us and that they were forced to move Balta into the ruck which led to JVR clunking some.

That’s disgusting

I don’t even know who Miller is. Honestly they’re rubbish in 2023 and I’ll be severely disappointed if we lost to them. Those on twitter will know that Richmond have some of the most arrogant supporters. They would need to win the wooden spoon for them to accept that their dynasty is over.

Unbelievable. Bit of a slap in the face as he tried his guts out in the last qtr to get us close. I guess he probably did the votes based off when the game was won (the first half)

On First Crack, they showed some vision of Grundy’s defensive running against Draper. It was only one example, but it wasn’t pretty. I think we forget how good Gawn’s two way running is. If it was just Gawn playing yesterday, there’s no way Draper and Phillips kick 5 between them.

After yesterday’s performance and how easily we were to score against, I wonder if we’ve over corrected too much with prioritising scoring over defence? I know it’s only 5 games in, but we’re ranked No.1 for points scored but now we’re ranked 8th for points conceded. The past couple of seasons we were always 1st or 2nd in this stat.

I still can’t get over how easily Essendon scored when they got it in their forward 50. The most significant feature of “that wasn’t us” (per Goodwin), was how easily they scored against us. Lever is the best in the business at knowing when to leave his man and we missed him badly. Even Hibbo does it really well. At one stage their efficiency was at 60% which is just outrageously bad for us. I have a feeling this will be a strong focus this week on the training track.

I’m worried Goodwin won’t drop Tmac after that one poor performance, but I can’t see how he doesn’t come out for Brown on team balance. Out: Tomlinson, Spargo, Melksham, Tmac In: Lever, Hibberd, Brown, Jordan Petty, Brown and JvR as the starting tall forwards. Richmond only have two tall forwards (Ryan and Riewoldt) so Petty can play forward on Balta.

The fact that we were the best tackling team so far this season and then to dish out that seems to me that the 6 day break and consecutive interstate trips had an influence. In saying that, I think Goodwin and co. need to finally decide on what our forward mix is going to look like. Since round 1 last year it's been a revolving doors between Weid (now Schache), Tmac, Brown and now Petty. JVR has to be a mainstay, and so is Fritsch. We just need to stick with one and build the chemistry. I for one wouldn't mind seeing Shache have a go (pending how he goes tomorrow).

60% inside efficiency for Essendon is disgusting. That is terrible for the best defence in the league.

Most we’ve conceded in a first half since the 2018 prelim…

Anyone else see this tweet?

I might be in the minority here, but Carlton haven’t proven anything yet. They’ve had a very soft draw and only just beat the Giants after a ridiculous free kick and just did enough against North. Just wait until they play a genuine contender. Then we’ll see the real Carlton.

It’s crazy that 10k members sign up midway through the season. Surely most would be 3 game memberships.

Love his interviews. Always a lot more honest and insightful than what we get from most players.

I reckon BB will go out for Pickett. Melksham will stay as sub. Petty and JVR up forward. Rivers is tall enough to play on Waterman. Their only interceptor is Barrass.

Daicos would be in front. He’s probably on 7 or 8. De Goey will take votes off him though. Cripps’ early form would also mean he’d be right up there. No other mids taking votes off him at the moment.