Jjrogan

We have the worst kicking efficiency in the competition into 50. Dead last. That's the only thing we are even bottom 8 in. Put whomever you want up there, it's the players kicking it in there, their vision and how they are instructed to kick it in there that has to change. Was hoping Hunter would make a difference but he quite often he doesn't kick to the right spots either. It makes the forward's life very difficult. Until we move on from Trac, Oliver and Viney, my opinion is it won't change. McVee should have been given some midfield time this year. It doesn't kill to try such things. 10 minutes on the ball won't see our entire game plan fall apart. Too late in the season now. We can still kick well for the next month and win it. That's what separates us winning and losing. Our contest and defense are there every week, our kicking skills are not.

They say this every year. 2021 11 new players 2022 12 new players 2023 12 new players. Half the team are truly elite. The other half just interchange.

This would be a stunning trade if you're right. At face value, pick 2 and 3 is equal to pick 1 and 6. Even if you adjust for the belief Reid is better than your average no. 1 draft pick, North would be expecting at least a 1st rounder back. But even more stunning if Clarkson would be on board. He's already mentioned during the weekend only 3 number 1 picks have played in premierships. During his time at Hawthorn he was a big believer of older seasoned players over draft capital. (Having said that he had Hodge, Lewis , Franklin, Roughhead in the sheds already). Sure, it's slightly different here at North, but I just don't think he's into shiny new toys at that price. Also, they really need some older players in since Cunnington, McKay, Ziebel all are gone.

This is illustrated by Petracca's final quarters the last 2 months. Maybe its the extra time spent up forward but watch him fly from contest to contest at the end of games. He is absolutely in peak condition. I've said it before, we are a great team but we simply go to another level of dominance if he kicks well. When he finds targets inside 50 or the goals that's 4-8 half chances other players don't and cant create. Unfortunately it's pretty random right now.

Has a list manager ever been sacked at half time?

Dean Margetts retired in 2021. WA based umpire. The ratio of Eagles games he umpired in where Eagles had more or equal free kicks was roughly 4 to 1.

Weird that that they would rank our midfield so low given they ranked Gawn, Oliver and Trac as elite at the start of the 21 season. Not like they would have marked Viney and Brayshaw as mugs either. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-news-2021-elite-players-at-every-club-champion-data-patrick-cripps/news-story/40f359e3f8104d1262e8b2ea980683ea of course, this is the year they ranked Mason Cox as elite, so I'm thinking there was a bug in their spreadsheet and nobody fixed it.

Yes. He is. He consistently takes 4 to 5 marks per game, the absolute benchmark that separates good key forwards from ones that don't make it. A nice mix on contested and uncontested. Kicks straight and critically, he makes a couple of tackles a game. The way we structure our forward line, I'd argue we don't want the 200cm. I can read the rants now about forward pressure neglect if we had King etc. (Both average less than a tackle a game). Statistically, until now he has produced a very similar output to Oscar Allen. Would you take Oscar Allen for a third rounder? Caveat of course post ACL recovery. Loved the Grundy experiment but losing a 28yr old ruck for a 22yr key forward would balance our list nicely.

Ask him if wants to be a forward coach for mfc after he retires. He just understands the game so well. The interview after the game his comment about Sicily following the contest line and how he planned to play him was great.

They can just be 4 emergencies and we should rest anyone with a niggle. The bookies have this game as 50/50, which is a reflection they think we don't play our best 22 in what might be a dead rubber. We were stronger favourites before this weekend I believe.

Tomlinson allows Lever to take the 3rd tall intercepting and Lever is incredible every time he is allowed to play that role. The results speak for themselves. May Lever Tommo - undefeated in 18 games?? There is no way you can drop Tommo.

Game in Adelaide where the Crows got 4 free kicks in the last 2 minutes, including the winning kick and stole the game from the Roy boys. Memorable for Peter McKenna's commentary as much as anything else. This is Murder! Absolute Murder!

Fitzroy says hi. Loving it.

Assuming we know if that last game is a dead rubber, is there anything in the rules that would stop us playing all four emergencies and simply resting Gawn, May, Viney for example.

If we can't beat the Hawks without Lewis it will say a lot about our inability to fix our offensive problems. Our defenders should have a field day one on one so it's be very surprising to lose a high scoring game. Mitchell would know his and will try and deny us the ball, but it's up to the match committee to make sure we are generating 25 to 30 scoring shots this week and kickng 15 to 20 goals.

Agreed. Incredibly, they had the most AA players on their list at the start of the year, but a lot of these senior players simply gave up sometime during or as covid ended. They never bothered putting in the hard yards getting their bodies and minds right for AFL from the start of last year. And until recently, they didn't have top 10 draft picks. So both the talent and hunger isn't there. Their reserves get flogged in the wafl. Remember watching them in the 90s and wondering if we ever would see them win a wooden spoon or being awful, especially with the + 3 they played with every week at home for a decade. We live in good times.

Call me crazy but I see a forward playing as backman in those Curtin highlights. Got some toe and lateral swagger.

Bigger picture, I hope we can snag a flag this year, cause Carlscum are going to be right in it for a few years now they have discovered contest and defence and system. It was like watching the Dees in a mirror. Not happy Jan!

Petracca chasing the ball manically, gathering off the deck in traffic, standing up in and then shrugging the tackle and then forward handball to a teammate who just knows he's going to win it and fast break is my favourite moment each week.

Yup, they've got some good talent back there and their system has been excellent recently. Would like to take some contested marks/win contested ground ball inside 50 early to unsettle them. Similar to how our defenders are put under pressure at times. Would be shocked if it's a shoot out.

Hope Grundy separates away from Gawn as much as possible this weekend. Eg When Gawn and Grundy both fly for May's kick outs a huge pack typically develops and it completely negates the advantage that Gawn has for 1 on 1 or even 2 on 2. It's been very noticeable that Gawn has been a much better target without Grundy (and Grundy's man).

It's interesting that after a mid season loss, Voss basically turned into Goody during a press conference. "We have to change. I don't care about the forwards anymore don't ask me about that, it's all about defence and contest from here". Since then, their form has been excellent. If they win and he mentions "it looked like a Carlton game" and "by no means are we the finished product" I think I'll tip my cap off to them. And then spew in it. Anyway, they are decent side. Seemingly modelled on us but the difference in this game will be our number 11. They don't have him.

Collingwood are still favourites for the flag at most venues, so one could also contend he is following the pack tho. His concerns are no more than what's written here on these pages daily.

What makes a natural key forward is the ability to take marks. He had that even in 2019. Petty should never play back again imo. He's 1 quarter away from pulling down 3 marks and turning a game. Neitz. G train etc. There is precedent here.

This is an odd conclusion, pardon the pun. The odds, given our draw suggest we win 3 to 3.25 games of 4. To think we win only 2, the burden of evidence is actually against you. It's a nice narrative to think that Cerra being injured or Franklin being out actually moves odds. Its a nice fan story but for player like these, it simply doesn't move the needle that much. (Same for Oliver actually). If anything not having Franklin out there as a witches hat improves the Swans odds. There are things to work on but we are well placed, it's all going to come down to how we convert our midfield and territory dominance. We almost never get beaten behind the ball. Having said that, if we dont make a preliminary from here our game plan will need a shake up no question.