It is officially a crisis.

[DERRINALPHIL]

It’s over everyone. Clarko was our last chance to rebuild this club and he has failed dismally. The core senior players are rotten and culture shot. The hawthorn racism saga didn’t help and there is no way the club can survive another full rebuild. People can jump up and down as much as they like by saying sack Clarko etc but the reality is no one of quality wants to come to North as it’s a career killer. This has Fitzroy written all over it again and the club is in its death throes. Very sad state of affairs and the Tassie ‘kangaroo’’ merger will be the outcome and around 5 of our better players will be part of the new team just like the Brisbane / Fitzroy merger.

I have commented similarly elsewhere, the Roys were millions in debt, losing money hand over fist every year and the clubs were independent entities.
Stay solvent North. In the end that is the sign of success.

 

[scottywiper]

Up pops another hero. Yes by some supporters ignoring your wisdom is the reason we are crap. Piss off.

Ignoring the problems sure working out well hey Franky? Good grief

 

[Frank Thring]

Ignoring the problems sure working out well hey Franky? Good grief

What's the got to do with us supporters?

 

[koshari]

if i hear another player come out on media street with the same bollocks "were hurting', "its not where we want to be", "want to make north not a laughing stock" rubbish i reckon i will be sick.

 

[scottywiper]

What's the got to do with us supporters?

A lot. We've been far too accepting of failures by the club. And taken their word that better times are coming. Questions have needed to be asked, and our poor preseason form was another sign all was not right. But it was ignored. PS - there was a bit of a private joke in that post you responded to.

 

[Supa_Nova]

A lot. We've been far too accepting of failures by the club. And taken their word that better times are coming. Questions have needed to be asked, and our poor preseason form was another sign all was not right. But it was ignored. PS - there was a bit of a private joke in that post you responded to.

I agree with this to a degree. I think even after the Sydney and Gold Coast games there was still reasons/hope. Last night was different. Last night proved the reasons/hope was a smoke screen.

What can we do about it though? I kind of think clarko being sacked would be horrible, but him staying probably just as bad. Who takes the coaching role???? No one good will want to come. Unless its lognmire or Simpson's.... but even then those 2 are former premiership coaches who might be past it.

Hindsight is wonderful but it really does highlight heaps of decisions, duursma instead of Curtin or Watson? Signing zuurhaar? Hell even signing ldu. Bringing in Daniel for so high plus losing our first pick for Whitlock? As many have stated, don't get Daniel and that pick is Whitlock anyway. And sheezle or mckercher or fisher or Bergman or hardeman take that spot. Simpkin/mcdonald co captains. Sticking with comben down back. It's a shit sandwich of epic proportions now.

Again, people in here saw the signs but aren't privy to exactly what's happening. What have our execs been doing tho? Who signed off on that ridiculous Whitlock trade? Even if just to stop the optics of it which were horrendous and a gamble we couldn't afford, hindsight or not.

 

[Frank Thring]

A lot. We've been far too accepting of failures by the club. And taken their word that better times are coming. Questions have needed to be asked, and our poor preseason form was another sign all was not right. But it was ignored. PS - there was a bit of a private joke in that post you responded to.

Far too accepting or holding hope that we have finally turned the corner? In joke or not, you can't lash out at supporters who hold hope to that.

 

[scottywiper]

Far too accepting or holding hope that we have finally turned the corner? In joke or not, you can't lash out at supporters who hold hope to that.

Fair point. We all have hope. We all want North to do well. I just don't think that blind faith is the answer. The issues need to be tackled.

 

[Supa_Nova]

Fair point. We all have hope. We all want North to do well. I just don't think that blind faith is the answer. The issues need to be tackled.

Blind faith has worked for me to stay functioning in my everyday life.

Last night all faith gone, it looks like another 2-3 years down the bottom as a minimum. If players leave, ie wardlaw, mckercher, duursma, that sets us back enormously and it looks like 5+. Or never ending. I miss having blind faith. I guess that was the denial phase..... I can't wait for acceptance so I can move on from this crap and focus on my own life

 

[Frank Thring]

Fair point. We all have hope. We all want North to do well. I just don't think that blind faith is the answer. The issues need to be tackled.

I agree but aim it at the club not to supporters who fork out cash in the hope that after so many years and high draft picks that we may come good instead of paying for the privilege of watching the shit the club is producing.

 

[tazaa]

The alarm bells were ringing loudly after preseason and plenty of people were happy to ignore them.
Those who voiced concerns,which have proven to be on the money, were shouted down by feeble posters

Happens every ****ing year mate

Every ****ing year.

And then we start the season and in a couple of months find ourselves in crisis and in the same position as we always have been.

Not sure what we change but we can’t keep doing what we have been doing.

No answers. No solutions.

 

[tricknologist]

It's been a crisis since we tipped out Boomer, Petrie, Firrito, and NDS. We lost too much institutional knowledge too quickly. Then we re-signed Scott for who knows what reason. Then we delayed doing a proper rebuild. Then we strained our soft cap by letting Scott go early in his contract. Then we rushed to sign Shaw without a proper hiring process because we liked his vibe and panicked about him getting poached. Then we signed that terrorist Rawlings and he blew the entire list up and proceeded to be a Phoenix Suns tier front office operator. Then we signed Noble because we were trying to copy the Brisbane model (kinda difficult to do when you don't have their Academy). Then we decided to build from the midfield out. Then we signed Clarkson without a proper hiring process because we fell for the romance of the returning saviour. It's just been one disastrous decision after another for a decade.

 

[Devil Fish]

I know I come across as Ultra Negative on here but I've had my reasons. One or two good games doesn't get me excited. We'll know it's "turning" when we play at least 6-8 weeks of decent football. Until then, we are just pissing into the wind.

Importantly, just because the club keeps telling us it's gonna turn, doesn't mean we have to blindly believe it. Those in charge have now proven themselves to be nothing short of imbecilic, and yet we want to take comfort from their blind faith. And unfortunately, I think the players now believe it's gonna magically turn because that's what those in charge keep preaching. But sorry to break the bad news, the severe lack of talent on our list, despite 5 years of top end picks, means that even if these guys turn themselves inside out, they just don't have the tools to make it "turn" in this elite professional competition. EVERY single player on our list has significant deficiencies. Every single one. And that includes, Larkey, Sheezel, LDU, Xerri etc.

Clarko is now AFL's Joe Biden. A bumbling mess. And I think he genuinely believes, wrongly, that things are gonna magically turn like they did at Hawthorn. But where's our Buddy, Roughead, Burgoyne, Cyril, Lewis, Hodge.........That's why things turned at Hawthorn. Not because they just pumped 50 games into 12 average kids.

The last 5 years have been so so BAD, it is actually hard to comprehend that paid professionals have made some of these decisions:
1. MSD - we take Jacob Edwards ahead of Jai Newcombe.
2. Pick 25 for C Daniel who was barely getting a game at WB. And that has in turn cost us a 1st round pick next year because of the Matt Whitlock pick. We're gonna finish bottom 3 for Gods sake & won't have a pick to show for it!!!
3. 2nd round pick for CCJ. Total bust. We paid way overs for him. And that was clear at the time but as Rawlings said, "It's a good deal. Everybody got what they wanted." Come on man. Richmond got more than what they wanted.
4. Not playing hardball with JHF. We could've gotten so much from Port but we buckled.
5. Unable to identify a single decent small forward. The drafting of Mahony and Spicer made my head spin. When B McCreery was there for the taking!!!!
6. Obsession with 6ft and under mid paced, mid skilled, mids. Phillips a perfect example.
7. Ridiculous 4 year deals for very average footballers like D Stephens & Fisher.
8. Darling - 3 years!!!! Come on man. He's done.
9. Searched the country far and wide for a KPD & came up with Biggy & Pink. And then had trigger clauses in Pinks contract!!!
10. Drafting Duursma with pick 4 when we had 6 half forward flankers on our list. Watson, Caddy or Curtin would've made much more sense. Duursma may end up being a player but he's not what we need.
11. Tarryn Thomas

26

Tarryn Thomas

Age

25

Ht

190cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.0

3star

K

5.3

2star

HB

5.7

4star

M

2.1

2star

T

3.3

5star

CL

0.9

3star

D

7.8

2star

K

4.0

1star

HB

3.8

3star

M

1.3

1star

T

3.2

4star

CL

0.2

2star

D

12.8

4star

K

6.2

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

2.8

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

0.4

3star

issue - could we have handled that better? He was a prized asset but because we're such a nice club, we washed our hands of him. I don't know enough about it, but if it was Collingwood, & Eddie was in charge, my gut says TT is still playing at Collingwood.
12. Cooper Harvey, River Stevens, Joel Crocker, Baily Scott.......Do these guys get drafted if they had a different surname???
13. Beating GC Suns last game of 2023 to cost us a generational player in Harley Reid. Powerful, line-breaking, goal-kicking mid. We simply had to orchestrate a loss that day. We couldn't even do that. And there's no way the AFL could've accused us of tanking. We were crap. That's why we were in that position. And to those here who climaxed that they got to sing the song & that win would set up a winning culture...... I won't ask how you're feeling now. Instead of Reid, we got Duursma...........And spare me the "I'm happy with who we've got" nonsense which was rife at the time.

That's 13 monumental blunders just straight off the top of my head without even thinking about it. There's probably another dozen.

And yet these same people, are responsible for resurrecting this once great club. I would suggest they are just digging a bigger hole for us to climb out of. One that we may never be able to.

I find it interesting that all of a sudden the supporter base is up in arms. We've been a mess for years. But because these guys wear a NM jumper, so many of us whack the rose coloured glasses on and fall in love with them, ignoring the players glaring deficiencies.

A win or 2 over the next month & suddenly a lot of fans will be thrilled & convinced we're on the "right track". They are just sugar hits because this current list has more holes in it than a piece of swiss cheese. The sooner one comes to realise that, the sooner one can let go of the false hope being sold by the club & see the club for what it is - from top to bottom - a CIRCUS.

 

[Supa_Nova]

I know I come across as Ultra Negative on here but I've had my reasons. One or two good games doesn't get me excited. We'll know it's "turning" when we play at least 6-8 weeks of decent football. Until then, we are just pissing into the wind.

Importantly, just because the club keeps telling us it's gonna turn, doesn't mean we have to blindly believe it. Those in charge have now proven themselves to be nothing short of imbecilic, and yet we want to take comfort from their blind faith. And unfortunately, I think the players now believe it's gonna magically turn because that's what those in charge keep preaching. But sorry to break the bad news, the severe lack of talent on our list, despite 5 years of top end picks, means that even if these guys turn themselves inside out, they just don't have the tools to make it "turn" in this elite professional competition. EVERY single player on our list has significant deficiencies. Every single one. And that includes, Larkey, Sheezel, LDU, Xerri etc.

Clarko is now AFL's Joe Biden. A bumbling mess. And I think he genuinely believes, wrongly, that things are gonna magically turn like they did at Hawthorn. But where's our Buddy, Roughead, Burgoyne, Cyril, Lewis, Hodge.........That's why things turned at Hawthorn. Not because they just pumped 50 games into 12 average kids.

The last 5 years have been so so BAD, it is actually hard to comprehend that paid professionals have made some of these decisions:
1. MSD - we take Jacob Edwards ahead of Jai Newcombe.
2. Pick 25 for C Daniel who was barely getting a game at WB. And that has in turn cost us a 1st round pick next year because of the Matt Whitlock pick. We're gonna finish bottom 3 for Gods sake & won't have a pick to show for it!!!
3. 2nd round pick for CCJ. Total bust. We paid way overs for him. And that was clear at the time but as Rawlings said, "It's a good deal. Everybody got what they wanted." Come on man. Richmond got more than what they wanted.
4. Not playing hardball with JHF. We could've gotten so much from Port but we buckled.
5. Unable to identify a single decent small forward. The drafting of Mahony and Spicer made my head spin. When B McCreery was there for the taking!!!!
6. Obsession with 6ft and under mid paced, mid skilled, mids. Phillips a perfect example.
7. Ridiculous 4 year deals for very average footballers like D Stephens & Fisher.
8. Darling - 3 years!!!! Come on man. He's done.
9. Searched the country far and wide for a KPD & came up with Biggy & Pink. And then had trigger clauses in Pinks contract!!!
10. Drafting Duursma with pick 4 when we had 6 half forward flankers on our list. Watson, Caddy or Curtin would've made much more sense. Duursma may end up being a player but he's not what we need.
11. Tarryn Thomas issue - could we have handled that better? He was a prized asset but because we're such a nice club, we washed our hands of him. I don't know enough about it, but if it was Collingwood, & Eddie was in charge, my gut says TT is still playing at Collingwood.
12. Cooper Harvey, River Stevens, Joel Crocker, Baily Scott.......Do these guys get drafted if they had a different surname???

That's 12 monumental blunders just straight off the top of my head without even thinking about it. There's probably another dozen.

And yet these same people, are responsible for resurrecting this once great club. I would suggest they are just digging a bigger hole for us to climb out of. One that we may never be able to.

I find it interesting that all of a sudden the supporter base is up in arms. We've been a mess for years. But because these guys wear a NM jumper, so many of us whack the rose coloured glasses on and fall in love with him, ignoring the players glaring deficiencies.

A win or 2 over the next month & suddenly a lot of fans will be thrilled & convinced we're on the "right track". They are just sugar hits because this current list has more holes in it than a piece of swiss cheese. The sooner one comes to realise that, the sooner one can let go of the false hope being sold by the club & see the club for what it is - from top to bottom - a CIRCUS.

I'm one of the rose colored glasses fools.

Right up until last night. Last night ripped those glasses off and smashed them into a million pieces. Will take more then a couple of wins to piece them back together. Last night evaporated all hope for mine.

 

[scottywiper]

I know I come across as Ultra Negative on here but I've had my reasons. One or two good games doesn't get me excited. We'll know it's "turning" when we play at least 6-8 weeks of decent football. Until then, we are just pissing into the wind.

Importantly, just because the club keeps telling us it's gonna turn, doesn't mean we have to blindly believe it. Those in charge have now proven themselves to be nothing short of imbecilic, and yet we want to take comfort from their blind faith. And unfortunately, I think the players now believe it's gonna magically turn because that's what those in charge keep preaching. But sorry to break the bad news, the severe lack of talent on our list, despite 5 years of top end picks, means that even if these guys turn themselves inside out, they just don't have the tools to make it "turn" in this elite professional competition. EVERY single player on our list has significant deficiencies. Every single one. And that includes, Larkey, Sheezel, LDU, Xerri etc.

Clarko is now AFL's Joe Biden. A bumbling mess. And I think he genuinely believes, wrongly, that things are gonna magically turn like they did at Hawthorn. But where's our Buddy, Roughead, Burgoyne, Cyril, Lewis, Hodge.........That's why things turned at Hawthorn. Not because they just pumped 50 games into 12 average kids.

The last 5 years have been so so BAD, it is actually hard to comprehend that paid professionals have made some of these decisions:
1. MSD - we take Jacob Edwards ahead of Jai Newcombe.
2. Pick 25 for C Daniel who was barely getting a game at WB. And that has in turn cost us a 1st round pick next year because of the Matt Whitlock pick. We're gonna finish bottom 3 for Gods sake & won't have a pick to show for it!!!
3. 2nd round pick for CCJ. Total bust. We paid way overs for him. And that was clear at the time but as Rawlings said, "It's a good deal. Everybody got what they wanted." Come on man. Richmond got more than what they wanted.
4. Not playing hardball with JHF. We could've gotten so much from Port but we buckled.
5. Unable to identify a single decent small forward. The drafting of Mahony and Spicer made my head spin. When B McCreery was there for the taking!!!!
6. Obsession with 6ft and under mid paced, mid skilled, mids. Phillips a perfect example.
7. Ridiculous 4 year deals for very average footballers like D Stephens & Fisher.
8. Darling - 3 years!!!! Come on man. He's done.
9. Searched the country far and wide for a KPD & came up with Biggy & Pink. And then had trigger clauses in Pinks contract!!!
10. Drafting Duursma with pick 4 when we had 6 half forward flankers on our list. Watson, Caddy or Curtin would've made much more sense. Duursma may end up being a player but he's not what we need.
11. Tarryn Thomas issue - could we have handled that better? He was a prized asset but because we're such a nice club, we washed our hands of him. I don't know enough about it, but if it was Collingwood, & Eddie was in charge, my gut says TT is still playing at Collingwood.
12. Cooper Harvey, River Stevens, Joel Crocker, Baily Scott.......Do these guys get drafted if they had a different surname???

That's 12 monumental blunders just straight off the top of my head without even thinking about it. There's probably another dozen.

And yet these same people, are responsible for resurrecting this once great club. I would suggest they are just digging a bigger hole for us to climb out of. One that we may never be able to.

I find it interesting that all of a sudden the supporter base is up in arms. We've been a mess for years. But because these guys wear a NM jumper, so many of us whack the rose coloured glasses on and fall in love with him, ignoring the players glaring deficiencies.

A win or 2 over the next month & suddenly a lot of fans will be thrilled & convinced we're on the "right track". They are just sugar hits because this current list has more holes in it than a piece of swiss cheese. The sooner one comes to realise that, the sooner one can let go of the false hope being sold by the club & see the club for what it is - from top to bottom - a CIRCUS.

Negative? You? I won't hear it
You are spot on regarding player deficiencies.
It seems every one of our best players has at least one glaring weakness that hurts us regularly. They are not fully rounded players and therefore cannot be elite or be match winners.
From the short bit we've seen I'd say O'Sullivan appears the most complete in that he appears to do all things well. Kicks both feet, chases, tackles, has some toe, good overhead.
The rest of our key players, guys who we have high expectations of, almost to a man have obvious deficiencies that kill us. Other teams seem to have plenty of players who can be relied upon when the heat is on to do the right things most times.
Simpkin - poor ball user.
LDU - poor ball user, especially forward of centre. Not overly defensive minded.
Wardlaw - scrappy kick.
Sheezel - lacks a yard of pace and not overly defensive
mcKercher - doesn't like physical contact, very one sided and doesn't chase.
Larkey - not a physical player or a good contested mark.
Comben - poor ball user and struggles to play on a man
McDonald - poor ball user (although been much better this year generally I reckon)
Scott - poor ball user
Phillips - lacks a yard of pace. Not a huge ball winner at AFL level.
Powell - small and doesn't defend well
Duursma - lacks intensity at this stage
These are the guys we have put our faith in.
And that's without addressing a number of other team members who are battlers like Daniel, Darling, Tucker, Fisher, Stephens.

 

[mightyroos06]

I'm one of the rose colored glasses fools.

Right up until last night. Last night ripped those glasses off and smashed them into a million pieces. Will take more then a couple of wins to piece them back together. Last night evaporated all hope for mine.

I agree with this. I've been backing Clarko and the club all the way but something about yesterday's loss had made me question if Clarko and co are the people to be taking us through this rebuild.

 

[mightyroos06]

Will Phil and guys like Pink and Kallan Dawson need to be given a crack. Blokes who defend and run back with the opposition midfield. We are completely embarrassing when we don't have the ball with open players all over the ground and leaking I50s left right and center

 

[mightyroos06]

IMO, if we sit with less than 6 wins by seasons end I think we need to throw the book at either Horse Longmire or Simmo.

Get these guys in who have prior success with turning clubs around and have an affiliation already with us.

Clarkson had a slow start with the hawks when he came in but hit the jackpot multiple times with their drafting. Not sure if he's the man for the job to get us out and think the game might be past him at this point. I think it's smart for us to hold out until the end kf this year and not jump the gun on anything

 

[GoRoos2023]

I agree with this. I've been backing Clarko and the club all the way but something about yesterday's loss had made me question if Clarko and co are the people to be taking us through this rebuild.

I’m certain after this year he isn’t the right guy. We need to make a move.

 

[PSiddy68]

This football club (mens program) has hit crisis point. I personally believe the players and whole group are just submissive, weak, frail, defeatist and insipid because that is what they are used to being. The rot has set in. North of the 1990's set out to dominate teams, and individuals dominate opponents. I don't see that with this group. There needs to be a crisis meeting, a huge review of the whole football department. Financially we are fine, we are not Fitzroy as we are not broke, but on the field is broken, completely shambolic, and need review NOW!!! And nothing against Sonia and Jen, but they need a hardened bloke like a Kerry Packer personality to shake them up. Coaches, development, list management, the LOT!!!!

 

[Rod Stroker]

Rod,

We have the worst Win / Loss ratio in this history of the AFL over any five year span.

14 per cent from 2020-24

Next worse - 19 percent

Sydney of 1990-94

That’s how bad we are.

Thanks for confirming my point, and reinforcing why the current club leadership needs to go.

 

[Rod Stroker]

In all seriousness, players like Jy are our downfall. I get it we dont have players to replace him but he is a shell of a player.

Last month he was BOG ahead of every other talented indigenous player in the country.

Pulls on a North jumper and it all turns to shit. There is clearly something wrong with our environment.

 

[BigRedRoo]

Negative? You? I won't hear it
You are spot on regarding player deficiencies.
It seems every one of our best players has at least one glaring weakness that hurts us regularly. They are not fully rounded players and therefore cannot be elite or be match winners.
From the short bit we've seen I'd say O'Sullivan appears the most complete in that he appears to do all things well. Kicks both feet, chases, tackles, has some toe, good overhead.
The rest of our key players, guys who we have high expectations of, almost to a man have obvious deficiencies that kill us. Other teams seem to have plenty of players who can be relied upon when the heat is on to do the right things most times.
Simpkin - poor ball user.
LDU - poor ball user, especially forward of centre. Not overly defensive minded.
Wardlaw - scrappy kick.
Sheezel - lacks a yard of pace and not overly defensive
mcKercher - doesn't like physical contact, very one sided and doesn't chase.
Larkey - not a physical player or a good contested mark.
Comben - poor ball user and struggles to play on a man
McDonald - poor ball user (although been much better this year generally I reckon)
Scott - poor ball user
Phillips - lacks a yard of pace. Not a huge ball winner at AFL level.
Powell - small and doesn't defend well
Duursma - lacks intensity at this stage
These are the guys we have put our faith in.
And that's without addressing a number of other team members who are battlers like Daniel, Darling, Tucker, Fisher, Stephens.

I think mostly you are correct, but I do think that you could go though each AFL list and make the same or similar comments. No list is perfect just less sucky than ours.

What I do see is a near total absence of running patterns and structural plays.

Carlton were able to bring the ball from backline to their forward line with ease thanks to knowing just how they would do it. Players up the field running to position knowing where the ball was going before it was kicked.

This is even more evident when you see almost every occasion we would bring the ball out of d50 get the ball to half back line and then stop and wonder what to do next, giving Carlton all the time in the world to flood back and setup.
Most of the time this would result in a long kick down the line, which we almost completely failed to take a contested mark. It seems like we are being coached to play not to our strengths.

Our forward 50 looked more congested than Burke Street in the post Christmas sales. Seems like the strategy we are employing is nothing more than pot luck. At least three times the ball was kicked deep into the forward line and over the heads of the pack, not one small forward or mid running past for an easy pick up and goal?

Ultimately we are a physically weak football team, other teams know if they apply enough pressure long enough we will wilt and they can enjoy big wins, while we flounder, in bum chasing, missed tackles and half efforts.

 

[The Talent Scout]

Everyone is upset with anger but nothing will be done.
We are like an alcoholic who won’t face up to it’s problems until its too late.
We are an Embarrassment to Australian sport on all levels.
As Apolllo Creed said to Rocky in Rocky 3
There is no tomorrow
There is no tomorrow

On facing Port next week....

 

[Zondor]

Up pops another hero. Yes by some supporters ignoring your wisdom is the reason we are crap. Piss off.

C’mon Franky. :stern look