Remove this Banner Ad

Review R24: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly vs. North Melbourne

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

The Good
Thilthorpe
Keays
Berry
Peatling
Dawson
Dowling 2 goals

The Bad
Looked like Bond and Draper seemed overwhelmed or lost

The Ugly

I rarely comment on umpiring but if this is the next 5 weeks we need to gird our loins - I hope the club sends a please explain on at least 6 bad calls
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

18 wins - a club record - 140% and a total combined losing margin of 51 points, which is testament to our defence. A great minor round, and one I certainly didn't expect.

Now the real stuff starts. It's all before us. We enter the finals on 9 consecutive wins, but with a spread of players not in good form. It does feel strange.

Anyway, as ANB says - we haven't achieved sh*t yet. Let's see if we can get it.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

How’s the commentator’s radio silence when North get three gifted goals in succession. Peatling then gets a 50m penalty that was actually there, and they’re crying.
I mentioned this is this thread on last weeks game. The commentators go on and on about the soft calls that go our way, but are either silent or laugh at those not paid to us.
 
How’s the commentator’s radio silence when North get three gifted goals in succession. Peatling then gets a 50m penalty that was actually there, and they’re crying.

You'll notice that when we actually started to pose a Top 4 threat, a lot of the Vic media shifted. Throw in the Rankine stuff and it's been, and will continue to be, an absolute pile on. But it was in the 90's, too.
 
A tricky game after a very tough week. Handled relatively ok, considering the circumstances (the disgraceful officiating you had to deal with today for one).

3 out of the four quarters won, a burst from them in the last but you weren’t losing that. Saw a bit of hesitation in a lot of the players, first time having a dead rubber like that in the final round with the finals and everything assured. They’ll learn from it, what to do and not etc.

The bye will be well enjoyed I’m sure. Very excited for you all with what lies ahead 👍
 
The 2 stories of today.

Umpiring, get that in the finals and we'd need to be a 10 goal better side than the oppo to withstand that advantage the other team will get from it.

Clearances. Abysmal. Berry stand up as you were the only one who seemed to be able to get the ball from a centre bounce, great work today. Midfield line coach needs to be threatened with something really bad unless he pulls his finger out and solves the structural problems there at the clearance
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Great: Job done, no injuries and have locked up the minor premiership. Finishing on a 9 game win streak as well, which is pretty solid.

Smith quietly had a matchwinning quarter as the sub. A goal, hit that pass to Peatling to set another and that smother when the Roos were out.

General thoughts:

Hard to take dead rubbers too seriously in terms of effort, so a bit like West Coast, I think this is one you just delete the tapes and forget about it. Just had to get through with the 'W' and without injuries/suspensions.

Dowling locks in a finals berth with two goals. Was ok beyond that.

Thilthorpe looks primed to rip this finals series apart.

Skill level looked good, but it's also North Melbourne who are one of the worst defensive units in the league.

Bond got torched by Curtis. Poor timing for a performance like that, but Curtis is going to do that a lot in the next decade. Something to stew over preseason for Hugh, seeing he'll be on the outer with Max back.

Ugly:

Considering the role we gave Draper, that was the single worst individual performance Adelaide's had this year. The good news is it's only his 10th game and really, Sid had no business being an inside midfielder in the first place so this is a coaching group setting him up for failure instead of something to genuinely worry about. That said, it does raise questions of what on earth are we doing in this space, because inside midfielders who aren't ready are developed on the wing/half forward/half back, not by playing the position in the SANFL/AFL (it's a pure quality check). Beyond that, Sid will be fine with a preseason, had one or two moments where he was able to generate space, but the pace of the game was too much for him. Gets fitter/stronger/quicker and the game will slow down.

The lack of using Curtin as an inside midfielder. This is probably the only guy on our list who is fit and could be that high volume clearance player that we need to patch up our midfield.

Umpiring was awful. We copped the worst of it on the balance of things, however, we also benefited from some shocking calls.
 
Last edited:

Remove this Banner Ad

Review R24: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly vs. North Melbourne

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top