Review Our Finals Series

[scottywiper]

With 4:30 left on the clock we trailed Essendon.

We dominated Geelong however we panicked late and only won by a goal.

Sydney simply thumped us and quite frankly our performance was unacceptable.

Now don't get me wrong. I loved our two wins in the finals but the way we exited the finals was piss weak.

We have taken a step in the right direction this season but there is still a fair bit of improvement required.

As a learned BIg Footy Poster said to me we need to become more ruthless. We can't drop games against lowly sides like we did this season. We need to make top 4 to give us every opportunity to make the Grand Final.

Hopefully our journey as a top 4 side has just begun which will ultimately lead us to Premiership Glory.

Oh yeah. :stern look

I don't want the players to dwell on the preliminary final loss. I want them to consider the losses against Brisbane and Carlton. They snuffed our chances of top four. To be a threat we must turn up every week with an uncompromising attitude. From a distance it looked like we started do that in the last two months.

 

[Black2Blue]

Counterbalanced by the 'overachieving' viewpoint and the notion that the top 4 changes year to year; we'll be most pundits choice for team most likely to fall out of the top 4. A punt you can you understand.

Next year could be a very interesting race to the top. Sydney look scary for the near future so I can't see them anywhere but top 4 with Goodes the only likely significant retirement. The Hawks will likely be the same, although their core midfield are all 30-somethings (Mitchell, Lewis, Hodge, Burgoyne) and may start to drop of a little, probably with 2016 starting to hurt. Geelong 'over-achieved' in finishing 3rd, still hanging on, but now Kelly, Johnson, Enright, and Mackie are really starting to face the question of football mortality. Freo is going to suffer when they lose Sandi, Pav, and MacPharlin and you would think 2015 will be the start of this transformation but they have a brilliant collection of mids and smalls. Port Adelaide are building beautifully for a sustained period of success. * will be in a world of pain. Richmond yeh, nah, maybe. Adelaide should push up with the squad they have. West Coast don't look like having massive improvement in them. Nor do Collingwood. Although both will probably try to buy some stars. Gold Coast should genuinely step up into finals contention next year. Carlton...cant make it on the back of 3 stars alone. GWS will likely be more of a threat. And then the rebuilders...the Bullies, Saints, Dees, Brissie...still a way off, although the Western Bulldogs should push up the ladder.

I would think we would be starting the year in the 3-6 bracket along with Port, Freo, and Geelong (with Adelaide the wildcard). The fact that our progression under Brad has been a steady, slow build, makes it hard to see us falling off the perch suddenly, despite a harder draw. But there will be plenty of pundits who think everything revolves around the big clubs (Collingwood, Adelaide, West Coast) and their pre-ordained returned to the top will be at the expense of some club...."errrr, Norf will do". The genuine analysts will put high expectations on North, just as we are, and just as the club will.

 

[Deadeyeroo]

I think the team and the coaching staff learnt quite a few things late in the season. If you remember mid season we rarely dropped players who were out of form and that changed about rd 15ish. When we brought Brown in and then Sugar in, the team definitely became more consistent in its performances. We also learnt that Cunnington and Ziebell can add a different look to the forward line and we needed to change the team up.

For more than the first half of the year the team lined up in the same positions every week giving the opposition a head start on how they played against us, I blame this coaching strategy for our inconsistent performances. I will never forget what Brad Scott said in a press conference after a poor loss late in the season, he said "clearly its something i'm not doing". After that younger players got a run and we found some exciting players for the future.

In summary I think we had a pretty good year and finally Brad changed his style of coaching a little. I still think he has a few things he needs to improve at like the Black situation. You cant play a guy out of form all year because we all seen how he went in the Prelim.

 

[tazaa]

Ziebell to half forward, Wellsy's first final, Swallows resurgence, Cunnington coming of age, Dal Santos class, Drews 3 games, LT contributing, the acts by Luke and Kanye, Goldstein becoming the premier ruck of the comp, Levi and Gibbo, Benny Browns influence- seriously so many stories to look at by a team with plenty of contributors.
This is the making of us. We have gone from being the hunters to the hunted. Bring on 2015

 

[Deadeyeroo]

Ziebell to half forward, Wellsy's first final, Swallows resurgence, Cunnington coming of age, Dal Santos class, Drews 3 games, LT contributing, the acts by Luke and Kanye, Goldstein becoming the premier ruck of the comp, Levi and Gibbo, Benny Browns influence- seriously so many stories to look at by a team with plenty of contributors.
This is the making of us. We have gone from being the hunters to the hunted. Bring on 2015

Yep couldnt agree more and while were at it trade Tarrant, cant afford passengers

 

[Pres]

From someone who saw all the action in the 90's the most significant thing for me over the finals series is how much our support levels have grown.

I recall finals in the 90's against Richmond, Essendon etc where it seemed that 90% of the crowd was wearing the colours of the opposition.

Not any more. And our turnout in Sydney on Friday was miles in excess of the paltry numbers we got there in 2008.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Not any more. And our turnout in Sydney on Friday was miles in excess of the paltry numbers we got there in 2008.

Yep, I was very impressed with the number of North fans up there. If we were all sitting together it would've made for a very noisy army of supporters behind the boys (for the 15 mins we were competitive at least).

 

[naturally north]

From someone who saw all the action in the 90's the most significant thing for me over the finals series is how much our support levels have grown.

I recall finals in the 90's against Richmond, Essendon etc where it seemed that 90% of the crowd was wearing the colours of the opposition.

Not any more. And our turnout in Sydney on Friday was miles in excess of the paltry numbers we got there in 2008.

That's a very valid point, when it comes to player 'x' wanting to leave club 'y' in days gone by if a bigger club was interested we'd struggle to get his signature. Having bigger crowds, more money makes North an attractive proposition.

I think we were all over Gunston but he chose Hawthorn, hopefully those days are over.

 

[Gasometer]

From someone who saw all the action in the 90's the most significant thing for me over the finals series is how much our support levels have grown.

I recall finals in the 90's against Richmond, Essendon etc where it seemed that 90% of the crowd was wearing the colours of the opposition.

Not any more. And our turnout in Sydney on Friday was miles in excess of the paltry numbers we got there in 2008.

I think that its the 1990's crew who have since had kids/families and are bringing the next generation along...lets hope we all get to see a Flag in the next few years!