Fremantle V North Melbourne @Subi

[Tiger2709]

to depressed to get riled up tonight.
Sick of not having our best 22 on the park...

How many teams have there best 22 on the park at any stage in the season though?

 

[TheKanga]

How many teams have there best 22 on the park at any stage in the season though?

True injuries have been a problem for all clubs this year, but we haven't had our best players out there together all year.
We were never any chance of beating Freo with our outs I don't know why people are even trolling us.

 

[Docker Alyssa]

Under Lyon we've won with significant outs. We still field a "best 22" to play our gamestyle.

Seems the haves and the have nots as measured over a seasonal spread is by "best 22" being a crux.

If your best 22 is needed every week to be competitive against top 4, good luck ever being top 4.

(Gold coast the most egregious there)

 

[AstonSouffle]

Under Lyon we've won with significant outs. We still field a "best 22" to play our gamestyle.

Seems the haves and the have nots as measured over a seasonal spread is by "best 22" being a crux.

If your best 22 is needed every week to be competitive against top 4, good luck ever being top 4.

(Gold coast the most egregious there)

Yet we've only had one notable out in McPharlin and he just came back this week?

 

[PapaJ]

Yet we've only had one notable out in McPharlin and he just came back this week?

Technically Dawson would be (at least has been) a lock in best 22 and Sheridan is being played into form when, historically at least, an injury free Mzungu may well have kept him out earlier in the season.

But yeah, long and the short is that Dockers are near full strength and at full strength where it matters. You've got to give some slack for Nth missing it where it counts, in the midfield. Injury toll matters, no doubt about it.

On the other hand, Freo are 8-0, beating teams like Nth while 'managing' players in and out of games. It's not just dumb luck that Freo are injury free, credit should be given for the intentionality going into managing the load etc.

 

[Spoken4]

True injuries have been a problem for all clubs this year, but we haven't had our best players out there together all year.
We were never any chance of beating Freo with our outs I don't know why people are even trolling us.

Hawthorn performed all of last year and the year prior with injuries to key players. Shouldn't be an excuse for that type of performance. Injuries expose lack of depth in the playing list of a club.

 

[The Joker]

Yeah. Played full time against two rucks and still pulled decent stats. Doesn't hurt his case for AA this year.

Pulled decent stats? Surely you jest!?!

 

[Dancing Dougy]

We are far far off top 4 quality.
But have you seen our injury list?

No Wells, Dal Santo, Swallow, Brown, Grima

I agree completely, but mental application was a long way off. That said, all teams have down days.

 

[Kingjames]

Can't blame injuries. If North don't have the depth to make up for a couple of injuries then they are just not a top 4 side.

 

[Superduperouzel]

Can't blame injuries, look at the dogs last week, nearly beat Freo without Libba, Morris, Macrae and without a godamn ruckman. If North don't have the depth to make up for a couple of injuries then they are just not a top 4 side.

Thats very true. The top sides have coverage or Plan B´s & C´s. North get exposed by the top 3 and then battle it out with the other top contenders for 4th spot. I have them 4-6th best side in the comp but not in the same ball park as Freo, Hawks and Sydney.

 

[Engimal]

Pulled decent stats? Surely you jest!?!

I knew if I mentioned something other than Goldstein being the worst ruck in history that you'd show up.

 

[HTPunter]

We will likely be flogged by Sydney too and GWS/West Coast will kick 15+ goals against us (although we're a chance in a shoot-out v those 2 sides ala v Port).

Teams like Essendon don't have the forward line to beat us.

Any team with a solid midfield and efficient forward line will flog us.

 

[The Swans Blog]

One of those 'I told you so' games.

Lol north win. Fremantle by at least 10 goals

 

[A Swallow]

One of those 'I told you so' games.

Yep. Full strength in-form Freo beat severely depleted North in Perth. You're a genuine Nostradamus.

 

[The Swans Blog]

Yep. Full strength in-form Freo beat severely depleted North in Perth. You're a genuine Nostradamus.

They weren't that 'severely' depleted, certainly missing a few midfielders. Fremantle did run over them in the end but most were predicting this by 4 goals.

 

[hench]

Just because you make the preliminary doesn't mean you are a true premiership contender.

 

[Ambrosia]

This result makes me think my suspicions that last Friday nights game was actually quite poor standard both North and the Dons are playing extremely average footy atm

 

[awaremind]

North's body language in the warm up was terrible, heads down and not much energy. This was mostly in their heads, but no, it never helps to be missing 4 good midfielders.

 

[DieSwans]

I don't know how anyone rates North ever these days, complete junk team, nothing interesting about them.

Did laugh at Petrie talking them up the other day

 

[Kram]

I don't know how anyone rates North ever these days, complete junk team, nothing interesting about them.

Did laugh at Petrie talking them up the other day

 

[The Joker]

I knew if I mentioned something other than Goldstein being the worst ruck in history that you'd show up.

Like Sandilands, I only want to find out the truth about how good they really are.

 

[jayvee]

We are far far off top 4 quality.
But have you seen our injury list?

No Wells, Dal Santo, Swallow, Brown, Grima

Swallow, and I actually think Brown - as he provides a target and contest - are solid outs. But realistically - Wells - it almost feels a bonus if you get 10 games out of him in any season. I really like him, but he's been injury prone from day 1. Dal Santo is slick, but just an accumulator - I honestly don't think he would have made a difference in a game like this. Grima is just a standard defender in my mind. Can have a decent day, but can be slow against manic forward pressure.

I think with North, the problem lies with some of the guys that were out there. The Atleys, Gibsons, Bastinacs etc who don't perform often enough when they do get the opportunity. When Boomer is still looking like one of the sharper mids, there is an issue. Also, the forward line and in particular Lindsay Thomas, tend to struggle against strong defensive setup - which may work ok against middle of the road mobs, but won't bode well against the top teams.

In any case, I genuinely like North, and hope they can get it together somewhat. But I think they have some pretty big holes and areas of concern (including the coach, who's defensive strategies border on non-existent at times). Best of luck for the coming weeks.

 

[The Joker]

They won with a worse 22 last year.

 

[Damon_3388]

Brownlow votes:

3. - Lachie Neale (Fremantle)
2. - Michael Barlow (Fremantle)
1. - Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle)

"Where is Nat Fyfe at?!" A seemingly rare non-BOG for Fyfe (hardly a clear difference, and he's as good a chance to get the 3 from this game as any on Brownlow night). No doubt he's having a consistently brilliant season, but on further analysis, though, I feel I'm not as crazy about his Brownlow chances as some are:

Round 1 vs. Port Adelaide - 0 votes
Round 2 vs. Geelong - 3 votes
Round 3 vs. West Coast - 0 votes
Round 4 vs. Sydney - 3 votes
Round 5 vs. Melbourne - 0 votes
Round 6 vs. Essendon - 0 votes
Round 7 vs. Western Bulldogs - 3 votes
Round 8 vs. North Melbourne - 1 vote

Total - 10 votes

Considering I'd have Dan Hannebery (Sydney) on 12 votes at the moment, and how the votes are given game-by-game, I don't think that "Fyfe for the 2015 Brownlow" is quite the lay down misère that everyone is making out. Still, I'd have him as the overall MVP and best player in the league so far this year, though.