Analysis Positives and Negatives vs the Blueberries - Rd 18, 2015.

[ozzyoslo]

This place hates winning and losing.

For me :- I would like the gap between our good solid football and our bad football to be smaller. To be at a level where you know you're going to play 4 qtrs of footy ( if we get beat, then we got beaten by a better side on the day , that most of the team were committed to play their role for the team ) But at the moment we don't have that, if we did we'd be entrenched in the top 4 right now.

 

[ozzyoslo]

Has averaged 22 touches, 7 clearances and 1.3 goals in the last 6 games. If that's quiet I'll take it.

I just went for a look at footywire.............he's down about 25% the last fortnight but slightly above his 2014 output on averages. Personally I wouldn't have thought that.

 

[gigantor77]

A big positive is that, if everything goes to plan, we'll have five players who will kick over 30 goals this season:

Petrie: 30
Higgins: 29
Waite: 25
Thomas: 24
Brown: 23

That will be a good effort if they all do that...recruiting Higgins and Waite has made a difference.

This made me think when we had a big scoring year....1993. Times have changed:
Longmire 75
McAdam 68
Carey 64
Roberts 47
Al1ison 21

 

[TooUglyForFugly]

Positive: Swallow yet again leading the tackle count
Negative: Apparently some of our posters take this as currency for trading him out

 

[LuvtheKangas]

Positive: Swallow yet again leading the tackle count
Negative: Apparently some of our posters take this as currency for trading him out

Is it necessarily a good thing that the one who should be leading the clearances (i.e. first to the ball) is the one leading the tackles (...)?

We're not getting enough out of the centre square for the dominance of our ruckman.

 

[Woodson]

I must say that Swallow has an amazing tackling technique.

I'd like to claim some of that credit because I sent him a 'technique video' on twitter last year? or was it 2013? and he has really ramped up his tackling since.

 

[Woodson]

Positive: Swallow yet again leading the tackle count
Negative: Apparently some of our posters take this as currency for trading him out

You know Swallow is miles ahead already of Simmo (WCE coach) for North's all-time tackler?

That's one aspect of the GAME that is very important. Swallow and Atley are amongst my fav tackling stars at North.

 

[Woodson]

Is it necessarily a good thing that the one who should be leading the clearances (i.e. first to the ball) is the one leading the tackles (...)?

We're not getting enough out of the centre square for the dominance of our ruckman.

Well pointed out. It's a damning concern. Does Leigh Tudor have a ace up his sleeve or is what we see is what we'll get?? Because when the opposition don't bring the mustard.. North tend to look better but I'd like better tactics… should be hurting them on that third touch after a clearance.

 

[Bigming]

...having finally recovered from the second quarter and off the medication required :
+'s 10 goals up and not down
jz, cunners, higgo; mcd in the latter stages
swallow's tackling
gibbo off to the magoos

-'s that quarter.
ugly ball movement. Player-to-player; player-to-goal, it was awkward, and so bad sometimes the afl internet coverage dropped-off here, seemingly in disgust. You are a forward paid 300k a year to kick goals. You are 35 m out. Complicated? Ok, here it is, simplified:

300,000 + 35 = goal

and lastly, not really a neg, more like a head-just-above-the-water kinda thing, Goldy is pumping out the ball just as fast as the umps can bounce the thing, and we're not savaging the opposition.

Sorry, one more neg. :
one of my +'s will not happen

 

[dus]

That will be a good effort if they all do that...recruiting Higgins and Waite has made a difference.

This made me think when we had a big scoring year....1993. Times have changed:
Longmire 75
McAdam 68
Carey 64
Roberts 47
Al1ison 21

Dat forward line!!

 

[B4Bear]

+ve's we won

-ve's this board after the win

 

[SpearPass]

Positive: Swallow yet again leading the tackle count
Negative: Apparently some of our posters take this as currency for trading him out

Laid two bone-jarring tackles, kicked a goal, and won a really important contest to give the ball off to a streaming past mid (can't remember which one) during the crunch moments of the game. Everyone gets fired up over Ziebell's work during that period (which was fantastic), but Swallow was also instrumental at that point.

 

[RobZombie]

+ A win is a win and a 10 goal win is better than squeaking out a 4 goal win. Percentage is starting to look tolerable.
- Should be good enough to beat that mob by more, even though they were stung by the Hawks thrashing.

+ Spread of goal kicking, lots of guys finding ways to contribute.
- More contribution on the scoreboard from Turner and Garner would be nice.

+ Even allowing for poor opposition the team defense overall has been good, and the squiggle agrees.
- In the second, they found new and interesting ways to suck. Carlton's goals came from mistakes in the back six more than poor midfield pressure. Sammy Wright kept undoing his good work with ordinary kicking.
- Didn't love Jacobs' game. Better in the second half but Murphy had more influence than we would have liked. Still, 6 tackles to go with 21 possies is not terrible.

+ Higgins, Ziebell, Goldy.
- Whoever I end up calling for to be dropped in the changes thread.

 

[Only Forwards]

That will be a good effort if they all do that...recruiting Higgins and Waite has made a difference.

This made me think when we had a big scoring year....1993. Times have changed:
Longmire 75
McAdam 68
Carey 64
Roberts 47
Al1ison 21

3 players with 60+ goals in a season is exceedingly rare.

Marstermind how many times has it happened?

 

[DarwinRoo]

3 players with 60+ goals in a season is exceedingly rare.

Marstermind how many times has it happened?

I think 3 with 50+ has happened 4 times as at 1999

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

Laid two bone-jarring tackles, kicked a goal, and won a really important contest to give the ball off to a streaming past mid (can't remember which one) during the crunch moments of the game. Everyone gets fired up over Ziebell's work during that period (which was fantastic), but Swallow was also instrumental at that point.

This year, it has been really good to see Swallow assert dominance across HB as a sweeper and plug in our defense. It has happened in about 5 games where we are being tested and he is thinking ahead and putting himself in every situation to influence the play. He is a bull and a lot of the work he does goes unnoticed here on BF in favour of other mid's more spectacular but more inconsistent play. Has been deceptively good with his leadership this year.

 

[giantroo]

 

[Shermanator]

What makes it even worse is that the green maggot was in the square so he had direct line of sight to Boekurst's number 12..
If it was a push in the back shouldn't the number 12 be buried in Thompsons chest??

 

[jess_1804]

It's a sad day when BT is the only one making sense in that commentary.

 

[shintemaster]

It's a sad day when BT is the only one making sense in that commentary.

Can't like more than once so have PM'd Arthur Clokes 69 mates to get them to do so also.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Something else completely wrong in that.

Umpire pushes himself between ST and Duckhurst blocking STs run, if the Ducker had taken off Scotty would not have been able to apply pressure due to the maggot standing in his way.

 

[shintemaster]

Something else completely wrong in that.

Umpire pushes himself between ST and Duckhurst blocking STs run, if the Ducker had taken off Scotty would not have been able to apply pressure due to the maggot standing in his way.

What's the point of gifting a free kick unless you give them a chance to use it?

I was fuming after they were handed their first goal.

I also loved one particular free where the umpires took long enough to hand the ball back to ensure that every player that has played for Carlton in the last 15 years had a chance to park themselves in our forward line. Great reward for a free kick guys.

 

[The Other Dean]

I think people are overly sensitive on Gibson. I think he is one of our best players on the spread and runs hard in both directions. Just look at that handball in Giantroos every goal video clip, around 7:40 in. His kicking is definitely not good, but he has so many other attributes which are positive and are necessary to the team. Yet every single week he is always called to be dropped.

Yes. It's a weird form of Bigfooty flagellation that some posters seem to enjoy.

Watching the game on Saturday night, I thought Gibbo was a solid contributor without being a standout...only to pop in here after the game and encounter some incredibly negative comments regarding his performance and (alleged) litany of disposal errors.

I'm no Gibbo fanboy but I do tend to cut him a little more slack than your average poster, so I thought my recollection of his game might have been a little too forgiving. I could remember several skill errors and missed targets, poor I50 entries, and wayward, "momentum killing" shots on goal from the game, but I didn't recall Gibbo being any kind of heinous offender in that department. I checked his stats and saw that he was our 4th highest possession-getter with 23 disposals. Disposal efficiency was recorded as 78% (higher than Jack, Higgins, Boomer, Sammy and Linds) - but insert obligatory reference to that sometimes being a misleading stat. He was also listed as having one clanger for the night.

Feeling slightly baffled, I said to my brain "let's go to the videotape"....and today I was able to spare a couple of hours to track his game on replay. Of his total 23 possessions, I counted 4 that could be perceived by some of his harsher critics as suspect. The other 19 were fine - on target, and/or didn't put the intended target under the pump, etc.

Rather than list those 19 on-point possessions (and feel free to go and check the replay if you're doubting, Thomas), I'll save myself some time and stick to the 4 "bad" ones. (You'll see why I used those quotation marks on "bad" in a second.)

- In the Second Quarter, Gibbo dishes an average handball to BJ at Half-Back. The ball is spilled but Gibbo immediately follows up, retrieves the ball, and kicks down the line to a 1-on-1 on the Wing. Not great but kind of a 'no harm, no foul' situation.

- Also in the Second, Gibbo sharks the tap from Goldy (from a boundary throw-in on the Wing), and under extreme pressure and in very heavy traffic, he shoots off a quick handball to Boomer who is immediately claimed. (To be fair, he could have picked any of the 5 nearest teammates to hit up with a handball, and every one of them would have been claimed. Given that, a kick out of congestion would have probably been the better option but I question whether he actually had the space and time to do so.) Ball is spilled loose as Boomer is tackled and again Gibbo goes straight in to mop up. He is held while doing so, and earns a free-kick for 'holding the man'.

- Deep in defence in the Third Quarter, Gibbo hacks a kick out to space on the Half-Back. The ball takes a leg break and dribbles out of bounds. The sort of kick that if it was anyone else, no-one would bat an eyelid. The sort of kick that is Spud's stock-in-trade.

- And finally....dat (much-criticised) out-of-bounds on the full!

That's it. Four suspect disposals. Of which only one was truly cringe-worthy and involved actually turning the ball over to the opposition. Hardly the stuff of football nightmares.

Also, just as a quick aside, the other thing that really stood out on the replay (AGAIN) was his spread and endurance. Consistently running to space and providing an outlet option when others seemed either unwilling or unable. His ability to get to stoppage after stoppage, and be involved in the action in, say, the Back Pocket and then seconds later get a touch in the Forward line on the other side of the ground, is super impressive. Especially for someone going at 90% TOG. I know it's old hat to highlight his running, but it really shouldn't be understated.

Anyhoo....tl;dr? I'll accept criticism of the bloke on various different levels, but this whole 'he butchers the ball a zillion times a game' thing is flat-out ridiculous.

 

[King Corey]

+ve's we won

-ve's this board after the win

What's the view like from up there?

 

[B4Bear]

What's the view like from up there?

Pretty good actually, yours?

They knocked us off last year, we win by ten goals this year and people are complaining. So they got off the leash in the 2nd quarter, Murphy played well and got off the leash.

Second half it was 10 goals to 2. Nothing to complain about as far as I can see.