- Apr 29, 2009
- 2,470
- 3,280
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
- Other Teams
- Waterford GAA, Glenorchy, Hob (BBL)
2-7-1 and 80.2% is our best standing after the first ten games since 2020 (3-7, 88.5%). It's kind of strange to look at the ladder this far into a season and see that the gap between us and the below-average pack filling out the bottom 10 isn't actually all that big anymore. And with a club so starved of any signs of success that even an opponent like this isn't an assured victory, it's great to come away with the 4 points.
Which is all wonderful, genuinely, but where I think the disappointment creeps in after quarter time is in the difference between something that felt truly circuit-breaking and a definitive step forward, and 'merely' jagging the kind of scrappy win against a fellow lowly side that we've already shown ourselves capable of in all our down seasons. Any team can find itself fumbly and with structural breakdowns now and again, but it felt like we just hung in there for most of the game, barely managing to mitigate the usual horrid turnovers and flailing tackle attempts. I'd hoped to come away from a win today feeling gently confident about our next month; instead, it feels like we got the win our form and ladder position warranted only, which is not a loss or a negative but does deflate the positive a fair bit.
Some good individual games today - McKercher still had frustrating moments (e.g., calling for the receive rather than putting on the shepherd when Hardeman had it) but played a much more complete game all round; LDU even more frustrating in his inconsistent efforts but some crucial influence around contests in the last; Wardlaw a quiet day but continues to make it feel like anything could happen if he's in the vicinity; Pink not perfect but a very good game from a player who generally gets the basics right where most in the side aren't so reliable, including two big moments in the final term with the chase-down tackle and the D50 mark; Zurhaar very effectively busy up forward; Xerri continuing on his good form. Some others not so good - Scott literally looks lost out there now, Corr had a shocker - but our problems are more about lapses, how often they happen, and how well we do or don't mitigate the damage. In those terms, last week's draw was more convincing than today's win - the grinding and dour stoppage game was to our tactical advantage against the Lions, but today, at least after quarter time, it seemed more like it was a grim attempt to neutralise Richmond that only just managed to succeed.
So yeah - winning great, W-L for this time of the season the best for five years is great, some individual efforts great, but even for a team so unaccustomed to winning anything anymore, it does feel a bit like we missed an opportunity to categorically take another stride and build some lasting confidence in our capacity to be better than where we've been at for so long now. Still, the change in approach post-Good Friday is proving fairly durable despite the uglier games it engenders, and if we can keep ourselves consistently competitive in games using it, wins should be a lot more likely, and if that's the case then I don't think anyone here will mind them sometimes being a little lacklustre like today's was.
Which is all wonderful, genuinely, but where I think the disappointment creeps in after quarter time is in the difference between something that felt truly circuit-breaking and a definitive step forward, and 'merely' jagging the kind of scrappy win against a fellow lowly side that we've already shown ourselves capable of in all our down seasons. Any team can find itself fumbly and with structural breakdowns now and again, but it felt like we just hung in there for most of the game, barely managing to mitigate the usual horrid turnovers and flailing tackle attempts. I'd hoped to come away from a win today feeling gently confident about our next month; instead, it feels like we got the win our form and ladder position warranted only, which is not a loss or a negative but does deflate the positive a fair bit.
Some good individual games today - McKercher still had frustrating moments (e.g., calling for the receive rather than putting on the shepherd when Hardeman had it) but played a much more complete game all round; LDU even more frustrating in his inconsistent efforts but some crucial influence around contests in the last; Wardlaw a quiet day but continues to make it feel like anything could happen if he's in the vicinity; Pink not perfect but a very good game from a player who generally gets the basics right where most in the side aren't so reliable, including two big moments in the final term with the chase-down tackle and the D50 mark; Zurhaar very effectively busy up forward; Xerri continuing on his good form. Some others not so good - Scott literally looks lost out there now, Corr had a shocker - but our problems are more about lapses, how often they happen, and how well we do or don't mitigate the damage. In those terms, last week's draw was more convincing than today's win - the grinding and dour stoppage game was to our tactical advantage against the Lions, but today, at least after quarter time, it seemed more like it was a grim attempt to neutralise Richmond that only just managed to succeed.
So yeah - winning great, W-L for this time of the season the best for five years is great, some individual efforts great, but even for a team so unaccustomed to winning anything anymore, it does feel a bit like we missed an opportunity to categorically take another stride and build some lasting confidence in our capacity to be better than where we've been at for so long now. Still, the change in approach post-Good Friday is proving fairly durable despite the uglier games it engenders, and if we can keep ourselves consistently competitive in games using it, wins should be a lot more likely, and if that's the case then I don't think anyone here will mind them sometimes being a little lacklustre like today's was.
