Ollie fan

Although he tarnished his reputation with meddling in our administration: G Lyon (I assume it should really be limited to living people )

I just can’t wait until we play them again and smash them!

Now that is a good thought!! We have had lots of great players come across from North - off the top of my head: Steven Icke, Crosswell, Brian Wilson, Alan Jarrott, and now of course BBB. And I am sure that is just a fraction of them

Did I see Jake Bowey playing forward in those clips? Interesting! As for Clarrie, in recent years he has reminded me a great deal of the great RDB. They have the same relentlessness, energy, attack on the game and on the ball, the same ability to galvanise the team.

I just love this constant focus on what we stand for. It can only be good if it is genuine, and I believe it is

I don’t understand some of the comments in this thread about the non-family nature of the old grounds. From about 1963 on, I went to the football weekly, aged 10 in 1963, in a group consisting of a mother, often one of her female friends or sisters, and up to about 5 kids of my age or within a couple of years of it. We would arrive at about halftime in the reserves and would usually have seats on the fence or a row or so back (my memory is the most grounds had rings of two or three seats from the fence back). We didn’t have any problems. A couple of times a season there would be a fight between spectators somewhere in the ground, but these fights would be over very quickly and would be very limited. True, a lot of the toilets were pretty disgusting but apart from that, facilities were basic – as were the times – but we could enjoy the footy in peace.

A lot of posters, in 2021, said we couldn’t afford losses to teams like Adelaide and Collingwood. Obviously, we could. We lost to them, we finished the top of the ladder, we won the premiership. Losing to low teams is not a problem, so long as you win against the top teams. If you win against the top teams, and GENERALLY win against middle and lower teams, you will get enough points to be top four. The real problem is if you consistently lose to one of your genuine competitors – which suggests that they are better than you are. In 2021, we beat everything in the top eight. in 1963, Geelong won the premiership. Fitzroy won one game only – against Geelong. Top teams do occasionally let their guard down against lower teams; it is inevitable. But if they mostly play to their ability, it is not fatal to lose one of those matches

Like everyone else on this site, I’m thrilled with our team and with the way we performed last year. If we can replicate those periods of glorious attack, we deserve to be favourites. But….. we should not forget that in round 23, Geelong kicked eight goals straight against us. In the grand final, the dogs went from 2 goals down to 3 goals up. During the season, there were many games where teams got a short run-on against us. The commentators generally thought we were vulnerable against a ground ball attack. There is no doubt that opposition coaches will be studying those passages in games intently, trying to find out how we were vulnerable, and to replicate and intensify it. We need to work out what went wrong, and remedy it. Then we can go back to back and more.

I went to all these grounds. I remember seeing Hassa Mann‘s goal in 1964 at Glenferrie; I certainly remember the final round in 1987 at Western Oval. But strangely, one golden day was at Arden Street, the last round in one of the late 70s, we were getting thrashed and were expected to, and a North player attempted a dropkick. He flubbed it but it was still interesting. The weather was perfect, very early spring, and the day was just golden despite the result. I loved the old football. At 2.10 on a Saturday afternoon something like 10% of Melbourne’s population would go to the footy, which I think is extraordinary.

I am with those who say Roos was essential to the development of our club. He and Jackson inherited a shambles and turned it into a professional, focused organisation. The Club is forever in his debt.

As for Hunt v Bowey, we all got carried away with Bowey’s fantastic performances when he was selected, but I think Hunt is more mature and is stronger one on one. Regrettably, one has to expect that injuries/Covid will answer a lot of these selection dilemmas.

When Tomlinson got injured, he was replaced by Harry Petty. There is no way that Petty will get dropped now that Tomlinson is on his way back, but I see Hibbard as being extremely vulnerable; in fact, I think that Tomlinson is the better man for that position.

Sorry - I should know who that is but I don’t.

Thanks to all for the help

You sound much more technically aware than I am. But I have an iPhone.

Is it just me and my phone, or do other people find that Kayo just stops operating randomly and incredibly annoyingly? As in, watching a replay, it just freezes and will not move. Is there any way to prevent this?

100% correct.

Watching that collection of goals, a few things really stand out. He is certainly able to find space very quickly, when there is not much space to be found. His kicking for goal is really good. His football nous is outstanding. And very importantly, I noticed that a lot of his goals were kicked when we were either behind or when the scores were close – in other words, he is very much NOT a downhill skier.

I think it is neck and neck between Hunt and Bowey for the HBF. Hunt is more experienced and so exciting when he gets running and breaking the lines, particularly in combination with Langers, but Bowey is so cool and so precise and his delivery. If Hunt works with Choco over the preseason and improves his disposal, he would get the nod from me.

I was there that day. I’ll never forget that piece of play. If you notice, the ball is exactly between him and the Collingwood player and Robbie runs to the side of it, which enables him to pluck it from out of the path of the Collingwood player. How his summed it all up so quickly is beyond me. as for the comparisons with some of our present greats – almost impossible, and I say that as a huge fan of Oliver. Do we really have to choose between them?

Absolutely it is Doug Wade. Staging like John Peck used to, and also our own Big Bob Johnson

Very interesting. 24 players but 27 officials – a sign of things to come? The mentality of our administration just got worse and worse - most obviously with the infamous Norm Smith sacking. Thank heavens we are now have an administration which seems quite prepared to administer efficiently and quietly!

Good on them! Being sensible and trusting players is how you obtain loyalty, and this will certainly pay off in the long run – plus, it’s the right thing to do.

In his first year with us, I thought he looked like a really good player who could ultimately replace Neville Jetta. I wish him all the best at North.

That is pretty much what was in the interview on the MFC website. I suspect there is a bit of tactics in it – Taylor is warning other clubs that if they bid on him early, to try and provoke a matching bid from us, they might end up being stuck with him for an earlier draft pick than they would like.