Preview Changes/pre-match discussion v Collingwood (FINAL CHANGES: OUT: Wood/Jacobs IN: Brown/Swallow)

[franjon]

Our back line is solid, our forward line is capable and our mids are a disgrace. How can we expect any output from our forward line when our mids aren't in control of central part of the field? And our poor back line, constantly u dear pressure because our mids allow the ball to be bombed in to the back line. Anyone making any comments about anything but the midfield is either emotional or smoking ganja.

It's been said for years, but for some reason we seem to target key position players in the draft or flankers, and now we have an abundance of them, but not enough to get the ball out. Do that and we will be top 4, injuries aside, We traded off the one bloke who did that and worked on his skill level and made a preliminary final. But we have too many soft flankers who we hope will turn into midfielders, but realistically are never going to because at AFL level they're not up to it. I wouldn't mind trading Atley at the end of the year and delisting Gibson. Neither will be an "elite" AFL level player. Certainly not part of a premiership team, unless stroke of luck appears.

 

[EBERT THE KING]

Yeah he did.... And Frankston had a team of short people playing on the other side. If he can consistently kick goals at that level it may become an option. But for balance he is behind Brown, Petrie, Daw, Waite. However if God forbid Goldy goes down..... Get him in!!!

Couldnt agree more, and i think he knows where he stands.

Waite cannot continually produce this garbage against top quality teams. Give Black another shot

 

[GarnerSmash]

It's been said for years, but for some reason we seem to target key position players in the draft or flankers, and now we have an abundance of them, but not enough to get the ball out. Do that and we will be top 4, injuries aside, We traded off the one bloke who did that and worked on his skill level and made a preliminary final. But we have too many soft flankers who we hope will turn into midfielders, but realistically are never going to because at AFL level they're not up to it. I wouldn't mind trading Atley at the end of the year and delisting Gibson. Neither will be an "elite" AFL level player. Certainly not part of a premiership team, unless stroke of luck appears.

In fairness I don't think that we expected Wells, Swallow and Dal Santo to be all out at the same time. With Basti, Froggy, Cunners and Ziebell in support of those three, and with McDonald, Turner and Atley slated for midfield roles into the future the group complete and fit looks decent enough and I'd daresay that we would be better placed right now.

But IMO there is more going on than just injuries. 3 10 goal losses in 8 weeks for a team aiming to go deep into September is reflective of more than that. There is only one bloke in the currently fit group who I have any faith in delivering a consistent effort these days and that is Cunners. The rest, well, who knows what we are going to get? The issue with Dumont and Turner is that they are young and will be inconsistent. Atley and McDonald are not getting games on ball, but more out on the wings and back flank so we don't know what they are capable of yet and Basti is being Basti. Perhaps its a coaching issue with the midfield group. Take out three keys and the likes of Harvey, Higgins and Thomas have to move in their to pick up the slack but they find themselves in the wrong positions when the opposition have the ball, putting the guys further down field under significant pressure. Or they stand in the wrong spots at stoppages etc. Truth is we simply don't know so we go with the simple 'blame Scotts' vitriol (which imo is valid as injuries are a shiteful excuse for a team in our position)

Re Atley, time is ticking on this bloke. If the aim is for him to play on ball eventually he needs to be played there now and for the rest of the year. Him and Basti should be used as the Greenwood replacement. If Scott and the coaches don't want to put him on ball send him the * back to the back line and leave him there for good. He is wasted chasing an opponent up the ground and is getting to a point in his career where a change will be too late in coming.

 

[shinboner spiggs]

Couldnt agree more, and i think he knows where he stands.

Waite cannot continually produce this garbage against top quality teams. Give Black another shot

Black unfortunately is not afl standard since last year. His one game this year proved that and although Waite is inconsistent as buggery it at least superceeds being consistently terrible.

There's a chance daw will play but our kpf depth is very low, especially considering the age of our two elder statesmen up there.

 

[danj]

No change:
in personnel,
coach,
attitude,
or result....

I'm reining in my expectations and going to just enjoy the good moments in each match, top 4 aspirations shot, might still make top 8 this year but we have some serious work to do over the off season culling and trading, depending on how that goes will determine whether a premiership is a real proposition or not within the next 3-5 years after that we're looking at generational change and a 10-15 year timetable. Beginning to think my son will be watching our next grand final appearance without me

 

[MaddAdam]

Almost annoyingly, we'll roll Collingwod and look good doing it.

Then we're back to square one.

 

[Heaps of fun]

Finding it a bit of a hard time to follow the club at the moment. Just nothing exciting happening with anyone on our list at all.

 

[Only Forwards]

Almost annoyingly, we'll roll Collingwod and look good doing it.

Then we're back to square one.

I agree with this.

What I would do to actually kick off some lasting form against this mob. Have this week be the week that the kids take the team.

Please spaghetti monster make it happen.

 

[Skarrz]

Finding it a bit of a hard time to follow the club at the moment. Just nothing exciting happening with anyone on our list at all.

This is so true, brown is at least exciting. Maybe if Dumont got given a full game it would be good to watch, but we literally watch hoping we don't embarrass ourselves with the same players making the same mistakes week after week.

 

[GarnerSmash]

On current form if the Pies bring their pressure they will roll us, and easily too. Put us under the pump and we cough up the footy. This conceded ground, soak up pressure and counter game plan only works if you can pierce the forward press and hit a ******* target around the ground, neither of which we are doing consistently this year. Collingwood will push up on us so we could be in for a very long day.

 

[blackshadow]

We don't have the players available to fix our problems, some are injured, the others don't exist. We are just going to be shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Unfortunately I agree.

The only way we fix the problems is a change of attitude - we just don't put enough pressure on the opposition when they have the ball, we need to lay bone crunching tackles consistently, this will force our opponents to start feeling pressure and that will force mistakes from then. At the moment we just can't seem to put pressure on the good sides. Pressure causes mistakes, mistakes cause turnovers and we are capable of burning teams on the rebound.

 

[Kanga1996]

Finding it a bit of a hard time to follow the club at the moment. Just nothing exciting happening with anyone on our list at all.

Cant think of anyone who will improve on 2014 other than Godly.

 

[BowWow1978]

Out; Scott
In; Bert and/or Ernie

The dual coaching team of Bert & Ernie would be a real coup....

 

[TheKanga]

Finding it a bit of a hard time to follow the club at the moment. Just nothing exciting happening with anyone on our list at all.

In: 2014
Out: 2015

 

[MaddAdam]

The dual coaching team of Bert & Ernie would be a real coup....

Big Bird as ruck coach.

 

[BowWow1978]

OUT: Atley - Disposal horrible. Needs to improve or simply cannot play in the side.
Waite: I know what to expect with Waite, but I'm not willing to put up with it like Carlton did for 10 years. I can't endure 4 s**t games for the one game where he kicks a bag against a poor side. Ultimate down hill skier in a team that has a lot of down hill skiers....
Gibson: Tries his guts out, but his disposal kills us. That first turnover in Q1 on Saturday night.........

IN: Mullett - 2 decent games in the VFL now. Can't be worse than Atley at the moment.
Brown: If fit obviously.*
Daw: Majak has been smashing the door down and needs to be rewarded. Wood can push up to the wing where he was actually playing reasonably well prior to being "rested." Wood isn't big enough to be a true KPP as AFL level, however he could have a good career as a third tall forward in the vein of a Breust from the Hawks - of course that requires our mids to be able to hit a target on the lead.....

*If Brown isn't fit, Waite gets a very very reluctant reprieve from me......

 

[archereleven]

On current form if the Pies bring their pressure they will roll us, and easily too. Put us under the pump and we cough up the footy. This conceded ground, soak up pressure and counter game plan only works if you can pierce the forward press and hit a ******* target around the ground, neither of which we are doing consistently this year. Collingwood will push up on us so we could be in for a very long day.

I agree.

Collingwood will belt us in the middle. Pendles, Sidebottom, Swann will all rack up 30+ and all 3 will hit the scoreboard as they do almost every week.

Opposition gameplan- Win the middle, press up, apply good pressure around the ground and watch them cough it up=WIN

 

[BowWow1978]

Big Bird as ruck coach.

Snuffaluffagus as skills coach.....oh hang on, he might actually be our skills coach right now...nowhere to be found!

 

[Only Forwards]

Unfortunately I agree.

I don't

We have players who need to stand up and own the team.

I reckon we missed an opportunity here with not making Jack the Captain while Spitta is out. Giving him the instruction of, for right now NMFC is on your shoulders.

We need our youth to take the team, it is our next step.

 

[dus]

Cookie monster: head of supplements

 

[blackshadow]

I don't

We have players who need to stand up and own the team.

I reckon we missed an opportunity here with not making Jack the Captain while Spitta is out. Giving him the instruction of, for right now NMFC is on your shoulders.

We need our youth to take the team, it is our next step.

Have a look at my edited post...

We can't rely on bringing players in we simply don't have - but we can change our attitude.

 

[BowWow1978]

Big Bird as ruck coach.

Snuffaluffagus as skills coach.....oh hang on, he might actually be our skills coach right now...nowhere to be found!

Last week i went to Arden st to get a new hoodie, afterwards watched training for about 3/4 hour, the old saying that you play like you train is very true, i did not see any intensity to speak of, plenty of unforced disposal errors, dropped marks etc etc basically ignored, a few fancy looking drills, but mostly, with minimal pressure, how in hell are we supposed to improve skills under pressure, if there is bugger all at training, you reap what you sow, i presume the coaching panel/ leadership group are responsible for training standards, = miserable fail

I watched training last year - thought exactly the same thing. More intensity at a country fair bake off.

 

[blackshadow]

I watched training last year - thought exactly the same thing. More intensity at a country fair bake off.

phillyroo's fault

 

[Event Horizon]

On current form if the Pies bring their pressure they will roll us, and easily too. Put us under the pump and we cough up the footy. This conceded ground, soak up pressure and counter game plan only works if you can pierce the forward press and hit a ******* target around the ground, neither of which we are doing consistently this year. Collingwood will push up on us so we could be in for a very long day.

If this happens, I'll really stop believing this team is anywhere near where we think it should be. I can take some early losses, two of them being away against inform teams, and one against reigning premier on rebound. But losing to Collingwood in the rebuild mode, and on the back of the pathetic loss the week before would prove that our list management may require a major rethink and our coaching panel a major shakeup.

Email to Arch?

 

[Only Forwards]

Have a look at my edited post...

We can't rely on bringing players in we simply don't have - but we can change our attitude.

SLF made the assertion before that we are Geelong in 06. Well in 07 the players all but had a revolt against everything before having themselves collectively take control of the team and say we are better than this.

The current North side is better than the 10 goal floggings it is recieving. Now people can paint the injuries and outs in whatever light they like. We are better than what we have put out 3 out of 8 times this season.

4 losses means only 2 more this year or the door is completely shut on this being anything other than another year where we mire in the middle.

Jack, Ben, Shaun, Sam your time to take the team is right now.