La Dee-vina Comedia

Reading this thread is so frustrating. Let's explain again why Weideman is an emergency and not van Rooyen or Mitch Brown. He's there as an emergency should Gawn or Jackson need to be replaced. As it happens, he could also fill in for Ben Brown or even May or Lever. But that's not the primary reason why he's the emergency. I can't see Brayshaw playing as a wingman or as Oliver's replacement. With Petty and Bowey out, it's hard to believe we would then voluntarily remove a third defender at the same time. To me, that suggests one of Hunt or Rivers gets in for Bowey, although the one that misses out could be the sub.

This could be a thread on its own, but the AFL has announced a substantial increase in the soft cap. It goes up by $500,000 next year and a further $250,000 the year after. In addition, some costs associated with player welfare and mental health will be taken out of the soft cap limit. All of a sudden, it makes it easier for North (or anyone else) to consider Alastair Clarkson as the impact of his expected high remuneration is ameliorated by the increase in the soft cap.

This. Helped by a compliant, unquestioning Herald Sun which is prepared to claim that he might retire rather than sign up for what is claimed to be a low-ball offer. Really? Buddy would retire rather than accept an offer of at least $250,000 and probably more like $400,000 to $500,000? Give me a break!

I don't think Salem's knee is quite right yet. He seems to lack penetration in his kicking. For that reason, I'd leave him in the backline. I see three options to replace Oliver: Straight swap with Dunstan Brayshaw onball with Hunt or Rivers coming into the backline Harmes to the Oliver role and Neal-Bullen being added to the midfield rotations, thereby allowing Laurie to be selected for debut on the HFF. I'm guessing they'll go with the conservative option and pick Dunstan.

So you're saying that "rock bottom" (capitalised for impact, no less) is, in fact, not as low as you can go. Good to know.🙂

If you mean Laurie to be an emergency, fine. If you mean Laurie to be the sub, no way. It's disrespectful to any player to play his inaugural game as the sub. And I seem to recall the club has already said that it won't select a first-gamer as the sub.

I have no recollection of the game played earlier in the year. When looking it up, I see that Port kicked the last three goals of the game out of their total of four. With a score line like that, I suspect it's a game not worth remembering.

Opposed to opposable thumbs! Are you sure you're not a chimpanzee rather than a chook?

That's a good question. I suspect some players will be attracted but others might be concerned at the comparative lack of assistant coaches, compared with other clubs. What I'm certain Clarkson will deliver, though, is more sponsorship, more members and more relevance for North overall. That's also got to be an attraction for North. I suspect appointing Buckley might have some similar benefits, although I can't see the same with most of the other options such as Ross Lyon, Justin Leppitsch, Alan Richardson or any first timer.

A bit optimistic. Fritsch has played 101 games and kicked 4 goals in 5 games (plus 6 goals in 2 games and 7 goals in 1 game). So, just on 8% of the times he plays he kicks four or more goals. I don't think that's "often". How times have changed, though. Peter Hudson has the highest average of all comers with 5.6 goals per game over 129 games. Imagine going to the football knowing your full forward is more likely than not going to kick 5 or more goals every game. Note: I know Fritsch is not our full forward.

And saw active service in both World Wars.

The soft cap makes appointing Clarkson a big risk. He will be the most expensive option out there. That means less money available for all the other things North needs. A coach with senior coaching experience such as Alan Richardson would be significantly cheaper and might allow a couple of extra development or line coaches to be appointed who would otherwise be unaffordable (within the soft cap) if Clarkson was appointed.

Please keep your fists to yourself.

Apologies if it looked like I was disagreeing with you. That wasn't my intention. I absolutely agree it was Pres-speak. I was just adding my thoughts as to why.

North has become so irrelevant, I don't even know who their good players are. Edit: Apart from Cunnington and Goldstein

She has to say this, even if she doesn't believe it. The club needed a reason to sack the coach, and it would be an unfair dismissal if he was sacked because the playing list is no good. It has to be seen to be the other way around - good players but a coach who is the wrong fit.

I haven't seen the context, but Salem is hardly going to say, "Nah, don't pick Melksham...he's a dud." In other words, just ignore what any player says because they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Did you feel the same way about Mark Neeld?

I feel for David Noble. I also wonder about how John Noble feels? He was part of the Collingwood team that overran North on the weekend. He may well be feeling substantial guilt in his father's demise. I could imagine he might believe that if North had won that game, his father might still be coach of North. It's like an ancient Greek tragedy.

Tweeted by the club today. Worthy of inclusion here.

The problem for Chandler is that he has been tried before and not grasped the opportunity. I would rather see what Laurie can offer for that reason. I suspect Chandler is going to be one of those players destined to be too good for VFL and not good enough for AFL level.

What might be the reason(s) for Oliver not playing after surgery? Is it (1) bone structure protection to stop further damage? (2) to allow the surgical scar to heal? (3) pain, or, conversely, having to play with a numbed hand which makes it hard to use that hand?

Thanks for this. Would that be disposals, scores, kicks, marks, handpasses, tackles and hitouts in that order? If so, I agree he's done better than my memory of reading these threads had suggested.

I like that Laurie played well. But has he strung enough good games together to warrant promotion? I seem to recall recent criticism of not getting into the game enough.

I doubt this is correct. Sure, many people have, but not "all" and, I suspect, probably fewer than half. I don't know if Jackson is homesick or not, but plenty of people, particularly young people, do get homesick. It's a perfectly understandable emotion. I don't agree with the tone of the next sentence where you say "suck it up...or get out of the way", but that's pretty much what has to happen if Jackson is indeed homesick. If he wants to stay, great. If he goes, we'll be handsomely compensated.