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

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Good: The win. Looked good going forward at times, but overdid it a bit also. TT solid as usual, Fog not bad, Worrell and Milera not bad. Keays good early especially.
Bad: Plenty. Smashed in the midfield - RoB was schooled by Xerri again, Soligo unsighted, Dawson relatively quiet. Berry and Peatling OK. Bond struggled against a good-sized small forward (he was much better against Elliott the previous week). Dowling ok at times, but was loose also against his opponent that allowed some easy goals. Sid was lost, and is off the pace for AFL right now - needs a big learning curve before he's AFL ready. ANB largely went missing again. Tex looks like he needs a rest / walking stick.
Ugly: Umps..esp in the last quarter where all of their goals came from dodgy decisions...10 - 2 free kick count, and a few missed for us.

All in all...pleased that we won the minor premiership, but I have a terrible feeling that we ain't going far - too many holes / non-contributors. Hopefully Rachele is back for next game, along with Max. I'd be pushing Milera into the centre bounces - he seems to be one of the few who can pick up the ball cleanly. Would like to have seen Curtin more also in the centre.

As an aside - North are going to take some beating next year if they tidy up their disposal.
I think at least part of the difference with Bond (and most of our back 6) this week compared to last week is our midfield getting absolutely thrashed this week allowing North to get a lot of good quality entries. Collingwood last week got a lot of inside 50s but most were long bombs and hack kicks to nothing in particular. They'd hack it in, we'd hack it out and it would bounce in and out of their 50 for a while without really threatening to score.

Our defensive pressure and tackling were well off our best all day.
 
Nah, it’s just wild how quickly things changed.

Obviously the rankine thing accelerated it but it was happening before that.

The attitude from the media annoys me though. It’s been unprofessional.
They are hideous, especially when barracking against us and replaying frees not given against us. Nothing to see when it’s the other way around. Didn’t watch any footy shows last week but still managed to see the Crow’s throws a number of times but the Daicos flop just the once.
 
That was one of the worst umpiring displays I've ever seen in the final quarter. I hope we got that out of the way before finals.

Thought it was a pretty horrible game by us. North brought the pressure, but their lack of composure across a chain of kicks/handballs let us off. We let them get on the outside spread with ease. They also seemed to win most of the ground balls. Not sure what the stat was.

I really hope we coasted.

Good:
Berry and peatling. Outperforming Soligo, which is a worry

TT usual. Great that we can expect that from him every week now.

Fog first half. Average second half.

Keays okay. Let Mckercher get off the leash though.

Milera great again.

Smith good as sub

Dawson okay. Struggled a bit in the midfield but good in the air.

Cumming was solid again. Turning into a reliable player with class.

Average:

Curtin. Struggled early and late. Good patch in the middle. Like most of the team, got caught a lot and made some errors. Had some really good moments though. Think he misses out on the rising star, but who cares. Hopefully the break is good to him.

Worrell got beaten a bit early, but dominated late.

Bad:

O'Brien funnily enough is turning until a pretty reliable player with ball in hand, but he's giving away too many free kicks in the ruck and getting beaten generally. Needs to lift a lot of finals. Regain mid year form.

Keane, Hinge, Murray all forgettable games. Move on.

Bond first game where he really struggled imo. Would persist, but glad Michaelaney is coming back.

ANB game to forget.

Draper was really poor. Not sure he had an effective possession?

Dowling looked like I remember him last year. Doesn't look ready for afl.
 
Ben Dixon.

How does someone who was such a mediocre squib of a player get such a cushy media job?

The Vic Boys Club really will give a role to anyone.
 

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I don't think clearances are that important unless you're getting smashed like today. The bigger issue is getting done on the outside easily. We let them run the ball with ease and they always had a releasing handball on the outside which set up run.
 
Come on man, we've just beaten Hawthorn and Collingwood as well in the last few weeks, todays game was about getting through it with no injuries. People need to chill out.
I'm chill :thumbsupv1: .
Maybe a little bit in a good kinda shock that we finished Top; which is great :D.

I take your points about winning with no injuries which is probably smarter than I'm giving credit for,
plus
the Hawthorn and the Mugpies wins, against both of whom we came back after shit starts.
Good wins, and we walked a win in today, but to me they all lacked authority.
No killer instinct.

37 points up, today? KILL THEM OFF, show the other Finalists we have no mercy.

It's just that without Rankine, a poor showing from Draper and patches of being scored against so quickly, you know, burn brightly and get ahead then stop and look like shit again. it makes us look vulnerable.

If we win our QF with a 4-quarter, high-pressure effort I'll be happier than I am now and
I promise
I'll start to really believe, ok?
 
To be fair north have done that to us many times, even when Izak was playing. Lucky they are no good either end of the ground
I think their forward line is starting to come together. Curtis is good and Trembath is showing a ton of potential, only 19 and plenty of improvement in him.

Their defense though? Absolutely terrible, North fans were ripping Logue all night and Pink tries hard, but he's very limited. Corr is 31 and Daniel looks mostly washed up.
 
Off the ball, Roo not aware the hit is coming, solid impact.

I'd be surprised if he didn't get a week.

How does off the ball come into it?

Careless, medium impact and body - Fine

Careless, low impact and body - Fine

Intentional, low impact and body - Fine

Intentional, medium impact and body - 1 week

Screenshot_20250823_174441_Chrome.jpg
 

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Plenty of bizarre umpiring decisions to comb through.

I want to highlight one though. First quarter, Berry gets pinged for a high tackle (that wasn’t high).

He then proceeds to do that stupid push in the back when the player is on the ground.

Now I hate when players do this, but it happens multiple times a game and it is ALWAYS let go by the umps. Always. But not today.
 
The worst decision today had to be the non holding the ball call that should've been awarded to Jordan Dawson. Even Dawson looked totally bemused by it. And yet we have 4 umpires who couldn't make that decision.

Then of course it went down NM end and goal to them.

what they were paying depending on which team it was was incredible.
 
Turned on the radio, 3AW football, talking about Grand Final odds etc.

"The Crows are in the box seat, but even though they finished 1st, you can't have them as favourites. If they have to play Geelong or Hawthorn or Collingwood in the Grand Final, the MCG factor tips it in the Victorian team's favour".

They all nod and agree and then move on to the next topic, as if the MCG Grand Final contract is just some natural phenomenal that developed out of thin air.

Always makes me laugh.
 
Yes the umpires were horrid, but i alluded to this earlier this week. 4 no names for the least inconsequential game of the round. Not one of them umpires a final. They run well… that’s it. Jeez did you see the Sheila have to come in 10 meters for a throw in?? This wasn’t a AFL stitch up, they are just genuinely clueless but fit blokes. They will be scored on the positions they took , how well they kept “control” (hence the dick swinging 50’s) and last of all decision making. They get games based on a matrix.
 

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How does off the ball come into it?

Careless, medium impact and body - Fine

Careless, low impact and body - Fine

Intentional, low impact and body - Fine

Intentional, medium impact and body - 1 week

View attachment 2404775

I guess it comes down to how they classify it re high vs body - if cited as it’s high contact due to the HIA, I doubt it’s classified intentional because from my understanding Christian would have to think that Laird meant to bump him high (not just bump him and it slipped high, which is a careless classification). This is the concerning bit from the tribunal guidelines:

“Any high bump which constitutes Rough Conduct that has the potential to cause injury will usually be graded at a minimum as Medium Impact, even though the extent of the actual physical impact may be low”

So if Christian thinks it slipped high (which he very well could because the Roos player went off for a HIA), then it’s likely careless, medium impact and high contact - 1 week.

If it’s classified as body contact and intentional then force classification comes down to if: “The degree of force applied by the person bumping was excessive for the situation; The Player being bumped was in a vulnerable position; and The Player could reasonably expect the contact having regard to his involvement in play or ability to influence the contest”. Watch Christian say because it was off the ball he was vulnerable as he gets 1 anyways
 

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

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