Autopsy The started-before-half-time All Time Insipid #norfball performance v. the team down the highway who shall not be named

[The Talent Scout]

If Clarko says "We know where we are at" in his press conference again I will spew. Obviously we also know where we are at and we don't like it one bit!

Oh leighlee, would you like me to get you a bucket!

 

[The Talent Scout]

I had an op a couple of weeks ago and in the arvo I have to stab myself in the tummy to inject something to stop blood clots.

I hate doing it but watching that game was far worse.

Hope your okay, in sport when your team is going through something like this no matter how tough you are, it can mentally take you to places you've never been. All the best DERRINALPHIL!

 

[r_boy]

Surprised (not surprised) that no-one there called this out. I’ll buy the general point, but our midfield today had no age/development excuses for being pushed around by their opponents.

I swear they've been turned into running machines at the expense of the slightest bit of muscle.

And they've been coached on offensive ball movement all summer at the expense of any semblance of defence.

 

[gustaaf]

How many chances do you want to give this bloke? He spent more than 12mths being in the spotlight, effectively suspended for the majority of 2023 and to top it off, the AFL were investigating another incident at the start of the year !!
We have a female president and CEO and a AFLW team and you want a player with allegations of another DV on the list? The latest incident was inexcusable and the club had every right to cut him before we had our own version of Jarryd Hyne or Ben Barber.
We either have some sort of club standard or just because you're a head but super talented, it's OK we'll turn a blind eye - those days are gone with the likes of Didak and his antics of 2007 which he did nothing wrong except associating himself with a bikie and strip club...it wasn't an ongoing police matter and charges like Tarryn.

I hope TT one day will wake up, look in the mirror and realise he has thrown his talent away and get the help he needs. And when that day happens, l can only romantise he reaches out to Sonja for a private meeting about returning to the club but that might be a burnt bridge.

The Didak incident was about drink driving charges that involved Heath Shaw that they lied to the club about, but that was only one of several separate incidents he had been involved in over a period of time including the matter you referred to, as well as when he was arrested and locked up for an altercation with a taxi driver. I only referred to it to highlight the different mindset that other clubs have towards players they consider valuable on-field assets rather than good human beings. Ideally players are both, but talent trumps being a good person if you want to win.

After the AFL handed down its suspension for TT, the police announced it would investigate him, but they didn't find anything that warranted any further action by them, so it wasn't an ongoing matter or about charges as you suggested. The sex of our CEO and President should be irrelevant in how the club dealt with the TT saga. We can all agree he is a shitperson, but he hasn't committed any crimes if we are to judge that based on the Police not finding anything that required any further action.

I suspect that other clubs are probably shaking their heads in disbelief that North has tossed away one of its best players when the club is in dire sporting straits. They'll be chuckling behind our back and think that it is no wonder we have been uncompetitive for the best part of a decade with little improvement in sight judging by our results. They will be lining up to try to take advantage of our generosity/stupidity in making TT freely available to one lucky club that is likely to benefit immensely at our expense. For me it highlights that we lack a win at all costs culture that is the hallmark of most successful sporting organisations.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

The Didak incident was about drink driving charges that involved Heath Shaw that they lied to the club about, but that was only one of several separate incidents he had been involved in over a period of time including the matter you referred to, as well as when he was arrested and locked up for an altercation with a taxi driver. I only referred to it to highlight the different mindset that other clubs have towards players they consider valuable on-field assets rather than good human beings. Ideally players are both, but talent trumps being a good person if you want to win.

After the AFL handed down its suspension for TT, the police announced it would investigate him, but they didn't find anything that warranted any further action by them, so it wasn't an ongoing matter or about charges as you suggested. The sex of our CEO and President should be irrelevant in how the club dealt with the TT saga. We can all agree he is a shitperson, but he hasn't committed any crimes if we are to judge that based on the Police not finding anything that required any further action.

I suspect that other clubs are probably shaking their heads in disbelief that North has tossed away one of its best players when the club is in dire sporting straits. They'll be chuckling behind our back and think that it is no wonder we have been uncompetitive for the best part of a decade with little improvement in sight judging by our results. They will be lining up to try to take advantage of our generosity/stupidity in making TT freely available to one lucky club that is likely to benefit immensely at our expense. For me it highlights that we lack a win at all costs culture that is the hallmark of most successful sporting organisations.

Richmond would be a better, more recent example, but again you don’t know the Thomas situation, the effect on everyone else at the club, or what other clubs would do faced with the same circumstances. There have also been talented but problematic players that other clubs have ditched over the years.

 

[Jeremy Jordan]

Surprised (not surprised) that no-one there called this out. I’ll buy the general point, but our midfield today had no age/development excuses for being pushed around by their opponents.

Hey I’m just as pissed at North as the rest, and I’ve always been told excuses are for losers, but no age/development excuses for getting beaten?
Bowes is 26, Parfitt 25, and Atkins is 28. Compare that to Powell, Wardlaw, Lazaro and LDU. Shows how much more mature and better developed their list is, the commentary all day were like ‘with Danger out, it gives Parfitt a chance to play more midfield minutes’. The bloke is 25 and played 125 games.
The bloke we planned to give more midfield minutes to, is 18 years old, weighs 25kgs wringing wet, and got his ribs smashed.
ill give ya Bruhn, as at 21 he looks like a genuine nugget.
And Holmes didn’t out muscle us, he outran us. And outskilled us.

 

[Tas]

Shizenhousen!

 

[domiroo]

I really wasn’t originally fussed about losing the first round draft pick with that win against Gold Coast last year.

I bought into the rhetoric that a win would be better for the club than finishing bottom again.

And that would carry over to 2024 and give us some belief.

But watching West Coast belt Richmond tonight and Reid dominate proves that was simply another monumental f*ck up by our club.

It doesn’t seem to matter who our coach or administration are but we continually seem to make poor decisions that will likely screw us over for another 5 or 10 years.

We are broken and I honestly don’t see how we move out of this.

Today was boys against men, even though Geelong had plenty of kids out there as well, their kids were all just bigger, stronger, fitter and had better skill

Where did Reid dominate?

 

[Caracas]

Agree with most of that but the hidings are unacceptable no matter the circumstances.

Agree. They’ve been unacceptable for over 4 years. Yet, here we are. We’ve been digging a deeper hole over an extended period of time. Unfortunately, that means no quick fix. You can’t fast-track the ages of Sheezel, Wardlaw, Duursma… We literally have no solid basis in our team.

 

[Caracas]

That was our 2nd highest losing margin to Geelong in the last 15 years fwiw. 4th highest over the last 20 years.

Not pretty at all.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Hey I’m just as pissed at North as the rest, and I’ve always been told excuses are for losers, but no age/development excuses for getting beaten?
Bowes is 26, Parfitt 25, and Atkins is 28. Compare that to Powell, Wardlaw, Lazaro and LDU. Shows how much more mature and better developed their list is, the commentary all day were like ‘with Danger out, it gives Parfitt a chance to play more midfield minutes’. The bloke is 25 and played 125 games.
The bloke we planned to give more midfield minutes to, is 18 years old, weighs 25kgs wringing wet, and got his ribs smashed.
ill give ya Bruhn, as at 21 he looks like a genuine nugget.
And Holmes didn’t out muscle us, he outran us. And outskilled us.

That’s fair, thank you - I thought their guys were younger. To the eye it looked like partly the Geelong mids being faster and able to break any tackles that reached them and still get the ball away to advantage, however dodgy some of the passes were, and mostly that they were working to a system and setup they were very familiar and comfortable with. All of that does only come with experience and time.

 

[Only Forwards]

That’s fair, thank you - I thought their guys were younger. To the eye it looked like partly the Geelong mids being faster and able to break any tackles that reached them and still get the ball away to advantage, however dodgy some of the passes were, and mostly that they were working to a system and setup they were very familiar and comfortable with. All of that does only come with experience and time.

Rick's analysis is fairly enlightening to why this occurred in the centre.

It clearly has to do with system and syngery and that because they have been a strong team for a long time they have the ability to afford development time in the VFL.

We have been poor for ages and it is almost the direct opposite. We have kids trying work it out on the job while being crushed week in week out.

 

[Caracas]

It is galling to think that we had both JHF and Reid and lost both in fairly bizarre circumstances. Hopefully, Sheezel, Wardlaw and Duursma prove to be better in the long run. However, both JHF and Reid have the physiques we’s been dreaming of. Already, they look like monsters next to our young string beans.

 

[Jeremy Jordan]

If I see Simpkin do one of his dummy handballs and burn a bloke running past, to then swing around and kick it straight down the oppositions throat, that might do me for the year.

 

[scottywiper]

It is galling to think that we had both JHF and Reid and lost both in fairly bizarre circumstances. Hopefully, Sheezel, Wardlaw and Duursma prove to be better in the long run. However, both JHF and Reid have the physiques we’s been dreaming of. Already, they look like monsters next to our young string beans.

Reid has a massive onfield presence and oozes leadership. He is exactly what we needed.

 

[Epictetus]

Reid has a massive onfield presence and oozes leadership. He is exactly what we needed.

He's a rare player. He is confident, massive, asserts himself already, will be hated and envied and just be a nightmare to play against.

 

[MisterMarcus]

If you don't mind the intrusion, I did see quite a few positives from you guys yesterday.

* Comben looks at home as a KPD, and Nyuon looked pretty handy down there as well. Considering the insane amount of easy ball coming in there at times, I thought they held up very well. Corr seems to be an unpopular figure among North fans, so perhaps you could look at moving beyond him if the two young KPDs hold up.

* Sheezel as a HFF kicking pinpoint passes inside F50 looked incredibly dangerous. I don't know why he's not used in that role more.

* The forward line mix of Larkey, Curtis, Ford and Drury looked okay when the ball actually got down there. I hope you persist with Sellers, even just to stop Larkey getting endlessly swamped. I certainly don't think you need Stephenson anymore.

* Most of your guys seemed hard enough at the contest, just lacking some skill and confidence on the outside.

* The fact that Sellers, Comben, Nyuon, McKercher, Duursma, Ford and Drury are starting to emerge means there'll be some genuine selection pressure going forward. If that means some of the underperformers and battlers can be transitioned out, that can only be a good thing in the short to medium term.

 

[BigRedRoo]

While its hard to stomach a big loss, I see improvement in so many areas. Under Noble we were a structureless rabble. Now I see good ball movement and running patterns. Yes we got monstered by a team with years of stability and maturity, but I think there is one area we can improve which will yield scoreboard results and that is Tackling. Not just tackling but Effective tackling. Far too many times we lay a tackle but don't kill the ball movement. Too many time we tackled and Geelong kept the ball alive and where able to force a score though sheer will. I did notice our players trying to take the arm in the tackle this week far more than previous. This is a good thing and can bring results quickly by adding pressure to the ball carrier. Suddenly the opposition miss targets and fumble, this is the area that need the most attention right now and quickly.

Our on field leaders are rubbish. Sheezel is the best we have and he's 19!
We must bring in several mature age players to right the ship, I don't think we can just hope to keep drafting youngsters and hope to develop our way out of this hole. We need to find some bigger bodied experienced talent that will give us some on field leadership. McDonald is next to useless and Smipkin has seriously regressed this year. I'm not sure if he has on going issues from the preseason head knock, but he isn't giving us anything. One step lazy kicks that fall short are inexcusable and he ran past the player with the ball on a number of occasion. Corr wouldn't get a senior game at any other club. I don't think we missed Zurhaar at all. My biggest concern is we will burn a lot of the young guys like Melbourne did playing them to early. McKercher and Dusmar these guys should be developing in the VFL instead of being throw to the wolves every week.

 

[Psicosis]

I don’t really agree tbh. I think our structure / system / game plan (whatever you want to call it) is a significant part of our issues. Statistically our players, particularly our young players are going ok. They have no system to fall back on though. If they don’t win first possession, the oppo is off to the races. Our structure around stoppage is non-existent and was completely exposed by a side like Geelong who structure up extremely well around stoppage. This is also reflected in our offensive and defensive transition. It’s why when you watch a North game, the oppo always appear to have an out number.

I agree that skill execution is horrendous, which is caused by both personnel and confidence. This inevitably causes us to breakdown on the rare occasion that we do have an outnumber.

Credit to Rick for the visual which explains it far clearer.

 

[Better Loosen Up]

View attachment 1960153
Credit to Rick for the visual which explains it far clearer.

So the umpire has just bounced the ball and Stephens is standing there on the wing with his hands on his hips... says it all really.

Also, a good point being made here

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

I don't think you can drop everyone, but a few more statements at the selection table wouldn't hurt.

At the moment, there's probably only 5 or 6 who are absolute locks and then the others you pick because there's no-one else. Phillips seems to be doing well in the VFL so maybe he comes in. The cupboard is bare otherwise.

Maybe give LDU a couple of weeks in the VFL to be in a winning side. Bring in Will to be the ball winner and let Wardlaw be the mover in space:

Xerri Phillips Wardlaw
Ford Powell Scott

 

[Skarrz]

I wish we could get Selwood/Hodge as assistant coaches. I actually really rate Barlow so I think the fact that a lot of kids are showing good signs can be attributed to him

 

[giantroo]

 

[King Hansen]

On the positive side, Cameron and Hawkins only kicked 6 between them.

 

[giantroo]