titan_uranus

Whilst it's not all as simple as this, there's no doubt that there are a lot of over-reactions on here, which I suppose is what happens after 17 straight wins. There's also a lack of appreciation for how good Fremantle is. We cannot afford to be that far off our best (as to personnel and as to form) against a side of Fremantle's quality.

The problem with winning 17 on the trot and a flag, if there can be a problem with that, is the height of the bar that it sets. Good sides play bad games in almost every year. The media love talking about 2018 Richmond and comparing us to them. In 2018 Richmond lost mid year to West Coast by 47 points. Remained the dominant H&A side that year. Then in 2019 Richmond lost six games, each one by at least 33 points, and one by 67 points to Geelong in Round 13. The point being that good sides, even great ones like 2018-19 Richmond, can lose games badly. The fact we didn't lose one badly at all in 2021 is a testament to how good we are, not a cause for this level of concern in 2022.

Harsh. In the first half he was the number one reason we dominated. Was a class above all our other midfielders and took it right up to the Fremantle midfield almost on his own. Second half he was tagged relentlessly by Aish and couldn't break the tag. In part because Petracca wasn't there to help out.

Each loss compounded the next. May went down, exposing Petty, who then played injured, whilst Lever probably isn't fully fit himself. Meanwhile we went in without Hibberd or Joel Smith so we had a lack of height to help cover for May missing, and we went in without TMac so we didn't have him to swing back. And we had a short midfielder as the sub. And we played against probably the best ruckman in the game, so any time we tried to drop Gawn behind the ball Darcy exposed us.

Melksham - shouldn't have played Dunstan - not good enough Weideman - not good enough Hunt - season worst game Jackson - season worst game Brown - can't get worse Petracca - shouldn't have played (given he was sick) Spargo - not a winger Rivers - out of form May - irreplaceable, irreplaceable, irreplaceable

I take it you haven't met olisik before?

This has to be considered. Brayshaw was for the most part good tonight at half-back and has been great all year. I'm sure the FD will be loathe to move him after 11 weeks of learning to be a defender. But the Spargo on the wing experiment was an utter failure and we can't repeat it.

Good call on the second quarter. I agree with you - we were dominant in the middle, were walking it into our forward half, were not being exposed out the back, and should have kicked a much higher score than 4.6. I reckon the best thing that happened to Fremantle was losing to Collingwood last week. They put the GC loss down to a mulligan but when it happened again, they stood up and took notice. They got back to what made them thump Carlton and Geelong - CP and stoppage dominance, led by Darcy. Like us, they get hands on it first in the middle, and they are set up well behind the ball. Eventually, our under-strength backline broke.

Rest of your post was good but just on this, Weideman was poor beyond the forward line issues you mentioned. He can set himself apart from Brown, and play more like the man he replaced (TMac) by being mobile, attacking the ball and buttering up. He did none of that. And he visibly dropped his bundle each time he was outworked. Can't stand the whole "that's how you beat us" schtick. Not only was their ball movement not the number one thing for them (CPs and stoppages were the main reason they got on top - look at the second quarter when we dominated that area), but it's nothing surprising to see us be put under pressure by quick ball movement: literally every side in the league struggles against quick ball movement. Also, perhaps the easiest way to beat us is to not have to go up against May, Salem, Langdon, Harmes, McDonald or a fit Petracca.

Two of the Demonland top 10 in the POTY didn't play (Langdon and Harmes), a third (May) only played 15 minutes and a fourth (Petracca) was sick, may as well have not played, and probably shouldn't have played. Against a top 4 side, we can't struggle that much and expect to win.

6 - Oliver 5 - Jordon 4 - Viney 3 - Gawn 2 - Brayshaw 1 - Fritsch

Tomlinson for May is a certainty. After that depends on Petty, Petracca and Lever's fitness, and the fitness of those who we desperately need back. Melksham, Dunstan and Weideman should all be dropped. Who replaces them is TBD but hopefully Langdon, Harmes and McDonald are fit. If Langdon's not ready we can't go into the game with Spargo the starting wing. I'm prepared to give Brown one more game, in the hope that the delivery is better than it was tonight. And because Weideman was just as bad but with fewer credits in the bank.

The [censored] returns. First post since the season began. Fifth post since we were behind in the Grand Final. Honestly, the worst thing about a loss is seeing people like olisik return.

Fremantle's best is very good. They were two players off their best 22 and they played the best football they've played since 2015. We can't beat good sides, let alone sides flying like Fremantle today, when we had as much go wrong as we did today. No Salem, Langdon, McDonald or Harmes. No May after 15 minutes. If you were at the game you'll have seen Petracca was wholly devoid of energy. It doesn't surprise to hear Goodwin suggest he was sick. Petty was injured and popped painkillers to run out the game. And Lever's been carrying something for weeks. The replacements were almost all really poor. Melksham was just terrible, Dunstan not much better, Bedford isn't good or fit enough (not sure which) to play four quarters, and Weideman was both shocking and lacking in all confidence. We tried to cover Langdon with Spargo on a wing. It didn't work twice - it meant we were exposed on that wing, and we lacked Spargo's pressure inside 50. Brown had a nightmare but to be fair to him, we kept kicking the ball on his head and he was double-teamed for most of the game because we had no other marking options. And then our inaccuracy hit us again. Fritsch and Weideman missed shots they should have kicked and we honestly should have been 7 or 8 goals up at half time. Game could and I suspect would have played out much differently had Fritsch's set shot goal in the third restored a 6 or 7 goal margin, rather than a 3 goal margin. We still generated enough opportunity to keep ourselves in the game but when we needed a goal to get the crowd going and to give us some confidence, Trac missed his snap in the third and then Spargo missed his early fourth quarter shot. May going down is a disaster, compounded by Petty being injured (and I reckon Lever being injured too). And then double-compounded by having no McDonald who could have covered infinitely better than Weideman. We haven't missed Hibberd all year but we could have used his height today: Bowey, Rivers, Hunt and Brayshaw aren't tall enough to help cover tall forwards and it showed. We should see a handful of changes next week. There is a lot we need to improve to be sure of restoring our form.

Not hugely surprising, which we've come to expect these days. Baker, sadly, has never shown enough form at even VFL level to suggest he's ready to become a consistent AFL player, and his AFL opportunities, although limited, have never really been good enough. Well done to Melksham on 200. I'm not sure how many more there will be once Salem, Langdon and Harmes get fit, but here's hoping he puts in a stunner for his milestone.

Fair reason why Geelong might still be a more solid side than Carlton, but the gap just isn't wide enough to have the worst Geelong model scoring just as high as the best Carlton model.

Yes they did - Fremantle, in Round 6. At the time Fremantle were flying. And they gave Carlton a right old touch up, with Carlton only capable of scoring 9.8.62, their equal lowest score of the year and lowest number of scoring shots. Point taken though, they haven't beaten anyone with a particularly good defence.

He's the loosest of cannons. He cannot control himself when he gets emotional. Like in the Round 1 press conference. One he gets riled up he has an anger management issue and cannot rein himself in.

I love stats, data and analysis, but there is a real problem with what's going on right now if even the worst assessment of Geelong right now is higher than the best assessment of Carlton right now.

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

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.

These two posts should be stuck to the top of this thread and rolled out every time someone says "but Carlton are so attacking". Carlton's best is good enough to beat us. Their one-wood is contested ball and if they dominate in the middle, and get good supply into Curnow and McKay, they are hard to stop. But if they don't dominated contested ball, they fall back to the pack. Like the Dogs, they can't win if their midfield isn't dominant. It doesn't matter how good Curnow and McKay are, Carlton's wins come off the back of supreme midfield dominance, and in the games where they've built a lead and then had it eroded, each one has turned on them ceding dominance in the middle.

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".

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.

Their last two games were terrible. But their performances vs Carlton and Geelong are enough to worry any side, including us. We will, as we always do, be planning for their best, because their best remains top 4 quality, albeit it's disappeared in the last fortnight.