Game Day Community Series. North Melbourne v wc Saturday 1/3/25 Bunbury WA

[DuckYeah]

Tucker played a good game

He’s just vanilla, he wont do anything spectacular, wont break a line or win a massive contest. He will do an average job on an average player.

 

[DuckYeah]

Jy especially. He's been dominant during the preseason and we saw what he did in the IAS game surrounded by some highly accomplished team mates.

If he can recover from his illness and have no effects he'll make a huge difference.

Parker as well. Had a very good pre-season. Not sure why he was left out of this game.

Hope Jy makes a recovery from his mystery illness/virus

 

[gerry101101]

 

[DuckYeah]

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Its not. Go have a look at how he is performing as a defender then come back and tell me he’s been good.

The thing with the average North supporters is they are conditioned to believe below bog average players are superstars performing well.

Its just not true. Chom has been horrible as a defender, whether its 1v1, as a distributor, not taking contested marks and taking out team mates giving oppo advantages…

He should be learning his craft as a defender in the twos or be playing as a forward.

 

[gerry101101]

Its not. Go have a look at how he is performing as a defender then come back and tell me he’s been good.

The thing with the average North supporters is they are conditioned to believe below bog average players are superstars performing well.

Its just not true. Chom has been horrible as a defender, whether its 1v1, as a distributor, not taking contested marks and taking out team mates giving oppo advantages…

He should be learning his craft as a defender in the twos or be playing as a forward.

I disagree, but all good mate.

Not sure we have the luxury of blooding promising players in the twos at this point unfortunately.

For what it’s worth, I’m also not at all saying he’s a “superstar” to quote your post. We don’t have many of those (in fact I don’t think we have any - and I’ve copped it here for saying neither Sheezel nor LDU is in that territory yet). But it’s all opinions, obviously.

 

[William Caresser]

West Coast only had 36 inside-50s yesterday and we turned it over just 45 times (last year we averaged 68). Doubt we've produced stats like that for a long time in any game, so that's promising. Obviously though, West Coast scored too often and easily when they did get through and some of our turnovers were very costly.

As for McKercher, when he's on his right side, he invariably looks to handball forwards and then get it back which is great when it comes off. But often his teammate isn't free, gets crunched and the resulting turnover is hard to defend. In those situations, he should be handballing sideways or backwards, or kicking on his right. He obviously offers a lot with his speed, breaking of the lines and linking up. He just needs to tidy this part of his game up.

 

[Themanbun]

Another disappointing aspect of the game was that West Coast roughed us up after quarter time.

Everyone but Xerri failed that test.

 

[DuckYeah]

Another disappointing aspect of the game was that West Coast roughed us up after quarter time.

Everyone but Xerri failed that test.

Yep.. I noticed that. Decided to be unsociable to see if we would wobble. They knew we were all over em with the ball then turned it physical.

 

[Only Forwards]

My ol mate reckons we run out of legs and west coast run over the top because they are used to the heat and we arent.

I suggest that a few degrees means **** all in the scheme of things but was absolutely adamant, weather/climate had a massive impact in the game

Wasn’t the end of the game where we lost it.

It was around 7 minutes at the start of the second where we completely lapsed and allowed the opposition to score at will.

We have a truly amazing ability to cost ourselves significantly in really short stretches of games. It’s remarkable really.

 

[Roosurgence]

Its not. Go have a look at how he is performing as a defender then come back and tell me he’s been good.

The thing with the average North supporters is they are conditioned to believe below bog average players are superstars performing well.

Its just not true. Chom has been horrible as a defender, whether its 1v1, as a distributor, not taking contested marks and taking out team mates giving oppo advantages…

He should be learning his craft as a defender in the twos or be playing as a forward.

Chom is just like a big puppy dog, all arms and legs and just runs around without a lot of thought about what he is doing.

Yes he athletic and has the traits to be a defender, but I think he is lacking in the footy IQ space.

If you transplanted Lever’s footy IQ into Choms body you would have one of the best defenders in the league.

Hopefully it clicks for him, but at the moment he is struggling with the tactical side of defending. Smart forwards are going to tear him a new one.

 

[Roosurgence]

Wasn’t the end of the game where we lost it.

It was around 7 minutes at the start of the second where we completely lapsed and allowed the opposition to score at will.

We have a truly amazing ability to cost ourselves significantly in really short stretches of games. It’s remarkable really.

Corr was a big contributor to that rot setting in.

 

[ferball]

I didn’t see the game but reading on here has me concerned that they haven’t worked on many of the glaring issues from last year and the years before (eg forward entries, leaking multiple goals, poor defence, skills).

They've obviously worked on that stuff. Forward entries are better (not perfect but better,) The Eagles got a run on with goals early and then we were able to shut them down completely in the second, mostly skills were better. Still some howlers but overall ball movement and retention was well ahead of last year.

Defence is good but when it breaks down we are easy to score against. Wouldn't have mattered if we kicked straight yesterday tho.

 

[Hazey1977]

It doesn’t really matter. If our players work hard enough and are smart enough to identify I numerical superiority around the ball, then it’s the simplest, un-defendable play in the game.

It’s a bit like the puck ‘n roll in basketball. It’s evolved over time but its simplicity makes it a staple of transitioning the ball through the defence.

It would be interesting to watch the game back again. It just felt like there was some extra pressing up from behind to catch us out on the returned handpass.

Not that interesting to do while on Daydream Is. fir the week though!

On SM-A556E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Topparoo]

Watching training recently Comben was practising the intercept mark then passing off to Daniel the play maker. He did this drill over and over under the supervision and instruction from Tom Lynch. Lynch was telling him repeatedly that if he has to kick the low dart pass, then it is probably the wrong option. Yesterday he attempted that exact type of kick and turned it over and they goaled from poor kick which then opened the gates for them with 10 mins to go. Not sure he is the defender many of us were hoping for after some promising signs last season. His one on one defending is poor, and his decision making questionable. We really need Will Dawson or Whitlock to come on asap, Whitlock I think the one with the most upside.

 

[Caracas]

I’m dying a little but every time he turns the ball over and it leads to an opposition rebound.

People on this board seem to want to lick shit out of players but fail to recognise that McKercher is just as bad as most of them.

Jeez, man. You’re going to give yourself a seizure before the season even starts, at this rate.

 

[zoomba23]

As for McKercher, when he's on his right side, he invariably looks to handball forwards and then get it back which is great when it comes off. But often his teammate isn't free, gets crunched and the resulting turnover is hard to defend. In those situations, he should be handballing sideways or backwards, or kicking on his right.

Lefties are notorious for one-sidedness. McKercher doesn't strike me as the type to do any practice on his right at all. Hopefully he learns how to handball a bit more effectively, because right now it isn't helping matters

 

[Spud11]

They've obviously worked on that stuff. Forward entries are better (not perfect but better,) The Eagles got a run on with goals early and then we were able to shut them down completely in the second, mostly skills were better. Still some howlers but overall ball movement and retention was well ahead of last year.

Defence is good but when it breaks down we are easy to score against. Wouldn't have mattered if we kicked straight yesterday tho.

Okay… well, we were monstered by a Melbourne team missing 10 of their starters. Then this week, one of the worst teams in the comp found us easy to score against. I wouldn’t mind not seeing that.

 

[hilly]

Okay… well, we were monstered by a Melbourne team missing 10 of their starters. Then this week, one of the worst teams in the comp found us easy to score against. I wouldn’t mind not seeing that.

Harsh it was windy.

 

[Roosurgence]

Harsh it was windy.

You forgot it was a meaningless game.

Not sure why we turned up to be honest since the game was pointless and meaningless?

I do agree that we have improved though. We managed to master dominating a shit team and still losing….. progress!

 

[chubbspeterson]

A lot of good things to come out of that game and some things to work on.
Defensive pressure to lock the ball in looks better at times, but in transition D needs some work still.
And defenders staying close with opponents in the D50 (Corr needs to be better) more concerning.
Some moments of pretty sharp ball movement and hitting short targets. Then some sloppy handballs at times.
Forwards were a bit stagnant at times and we too often kick it long to the other teams interceptor.
RHJ ball use was a lot better than I thought, didn't blaze away. He's growing in confidence with each game.
Obviously didn't kick straight and get reward for our effort in the first half or even later in the game.
I think there will be some clunky things with Colby as he learns that mid/forward role. Needs a bit of time.
I'd be trying to get the ball to Daniel, Sheezel and FOS as often as possible.

 

[Spud11]

You forgot it was a meaningless game.

Not sure why we turned up to be honest since the game was pointless and meaningless?

I do agree that we have improved though. We managed to master dominating a shit team and still losing….. progress!

Meaningless, like the last few rounds of last year? “Nothing to play for”…?

Unless it’s against Gold Coast at the end of the year and Harley Reid is a possibility. That’s when we play for “pride” and a “winning culture”

 

[Merlin007]

This post will certainly have me exiled from Sensible Street, never to return, but I thought the performance in Bunbury was very encouraging. For the first time in a long while, we played some effective possession football, and did so without causing palpitations waiting for a disastrous skill error - to take one example, in the second half of the second quarter, with WC having got a run on, the team moved efficiently to F50 and then moved the ball back and forth across the top of the arc until Phillips put a long ball in. Commentators were bemoaning the slowness of the entry, lack of movement by the forwards, etc etc but IMO that wasn't the point of the play, which was to keep possession and allow the defence to set up behind the play and thereby take the heat out of the WC game.

Looking at this feature of the game from a list management perspective, we finally have a team that can move the ball by foot effectively, and handball at speed around the contest to get into open play. That to me was the biggest take away from the outing. And it's not just the usual suspects like Sheezel with the great foot skills - the replay is instructive for blokes like Archer showing real deft touch by foot.

I guess people see what they want to see - sure, Comben turned over a howler in the last quarter, so that moment tends to dominate impressions of his overall day. I prefer to look at his play in the second quarter, when he initiated a close-in handball movement under pressure in D50, kept running to be the last handball receive out of that congestion, and then hit a 25 metre dart to Larkey on his chest.

The eye of the beholder, and all that

 

[DuckYeah]

Meaningless, like the last few rounds of last year? “Nothing to play for”. Unless it’s against Gold Coast at the end of the year and Harley Reid is a possibility. That’s when we play for “pride” and a “winning culture”

We didn’t win that game. Gold coast were told to lose it so we didn’t gain pick 1& 2.

 

[Tiberius]

We didn’t win that game. Gold coast were told to lose it so we didn’t gain pick 1& 2.

Who told them to do that, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Waynesworld]

Corr has been a disaster for this club.

He’s given away more dumb goals than contest positively impacted.

He sucks the air out this team with his constant stupid errors that give the opposition easy goals and momentum.

**** him off!

Mate, I know everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I think you need a spell

Corr and Logue are both coming off injuries and will take some weeks to get back to speed. Corr has had the same every year for the past 2-3 and has proven himself to be a quality defender for the rest of the season.

I think you need to take a rest until the real stuff starts