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

[Fritz n Sauce]

The heavy training load for finals has had an impact on gameday for all the players but especially the younger lads. Remember most have not had to go through a late season preseason fitness schedule. Don’t discount the heavy training load on our game performances over the past month.

The week off will do all the playing group wonders. Nicks even said they’ll have a few days off to freshen the body and mind.

 

[Thrillthorpe7]

Do they matter?

A lot of successful sides have lost clearances.

Geelong were terrible at them for many years when winning flags. North being one of the best clearance teams in the comp should tell people plenty about the importance of them as an isolated stat.

 

[Fritz n Sauce]

I’ve said previously that Draper is a 2026 player much like the development year for Curtin was important.
Too many people just want these kids pushed into the side without thought of how they are playing in the SANFL or future development

 

[pjcrows]

What happens post-clearance is more important than pure clearance stats. We could have Matt Crouch

5

Matt Crouch

Age

30

Ht

181cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

28.4

5star

K

12.0

4star

HB

16.4

5star

M

3.3

3star

T

3.9

5star

CL

4.8

5star

D

24.9

5star

K

9.7

4star

HB

15.1

5star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.4

3star

CL

4.4

5star

D

21.2

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

10.8

5star

M

4.4

4star

T

3.4

5star

CL

2.0

4star

playing and it'd boost our clearance numbers immediately.

 

[Thrillthorpe7]

I worry about Keane for that reason. He doesn't know a lot of the intricacies, like how he could have got that ball over the line as opposed to strangling the post or whatever the hell he was trying to do.

Little things can have big consequences in finals.

Keane will always have one or two brain farts a game, but the rest he offers is very good and obviously a key reason why our defense is conceding 60 points a game since Gather Round.

 

[Crow_Magnon]

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

One's missing. Hurty words - Death Penalty!

 

[Thrillthorpe7]

What happens post-clearance is more important than pure clearance stats. We could have Matt Crouch playing and it'd boost our clearance numbers immediately.

Exactly, which is the stat we are a clear number one in. It’s obvious our game doesn’t rely on winning the initial clearance, but pressuring that player enough to turn it over and rebound off of that.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

It doesn't matter whether there's no concussion, Cripps wasn't concussed and he still received a week suspension.

Didn't seem to be high contact, and given the way the outcome weighs into things at least as much as the action; not high, and no concussion, should be no case to answer.
Maybe a match if its deemed an intentional charge and medium impact (probably only happens if Colingwood finish fourth), perhaps a fine if deemed low impact, but really to my mind nothing more than a free.

 

[1990crow]

Didn't seem to be high contact, and given the way the outcome weighs into things at least as much as the action; not high, and no concussion, should be no case to answer.
Maybe a match if its deemed an intentional charge and medium impact (probably only happens if Colingwood finish fourth), perhaps a fine if deemed low impact, but really to my mind nothing more than a free.

Michael Christian has shown himself to be a Collingwood protector.
He will rub as many of our players out as possible.

 

[WeeBlake]

Found this on the North board

 

[1990crow]

Found this on the North board
View attachment 2405214

 

[Mattrox]

And it's not often that a club goes from 15th to 1st in one season ... oh wait, it's never happened. We're the first.

History in the making, if you will.

 

[Crow_Magnon]

Bad:
Draper and Bond, not this year guys. I think Draper ran to the most benign positions on the ground, like the pocket or 20M off the player with the ball in heavy traffic. Bond isn't good 1 on 1 (he can learn of course), he is better in traffic but seemed overwhelmed today.

I think this is the key, positioning for Sid...although there was a couple of instances where he got to good spots, but was ignored by our defenders for the short lead up kick (about 60/70 from goal). So there's a lot of learning for him, but also for the others to trust him with the ball. Poor ol' Bond...coming up against Curtis - who's one of the best small/medium fwds around. Even Junior was on him at one point and was outpointed. As someone else mentioned, it was more the ease with which the ball came in that made their jobs harder.

I'm starting to hope we get another wet night game for the first final, as I think it covers up our midfield / clearance woes to an extent, and we then have the fire power up forward to win when we do get it forward.

 

[CrowBloke]

Good: Getting the job done, getting a break now to prepare and hopefully get players back for the QF.

Yes, the win-without-injuries was important.
Also meant 1st spot decided on games won and not %.
9 wins on the trot + Minor Premiers, wow.

I'm starting to think that winning Ugly is what we do now, ie just find a way to win using a two-paced game that has taught the players how to lift when needed.
Kudos to Nicks, Davis, Burgess et al especially Hombsch who has created such a tight defensive unit.

Bad: Not much, conceding a fairly highly score wasn't great though.

It won't matter if we concede 100 points in a Final if we score 101+ .

Also BAD: Laird's brainfade bump which will give the VFL a chance to suspend him for another game, yes again, for a similar incident to last time .
Our one-on-one defensive free kicks against (usually holding or push-in-back) need to be minimised.

Ugly: The "stand" rule and 50 m penalties paid due to players not doing exactly what trigger happy umpires want are a stain on the game.

The STAND rule has given some Umpires (not all) who thrive on control/power the opportunity to be pedantic about a rule where common sense should prevail. Its application needs some leeway as opposed to, say, blatant one-handed throws when a player is tackled that are often called PLAY-ON.
In the heat of a tense moment, fast-moving players cannot just stop on a dime and freeze when an Ump shouts "Stand!".
The 50m given to us (Peatling, I think, on the far wing?) created a goal for us in the last when we really needed one. Great, I'll take it (they owe us), but the NM player's movement wasn't time-wasting and the Penalty far exceeded the infringement imo.
By contrast, the enforcement of HTB seems to be a Lottery based on the moment's whim. If a player has time to lift his arms in possession, or change direction, or half-spin into a tackle, that's "prior opportunity" and should be pinged to reward good, fair tackling.

 

[Mattrox]

What stat is that? We’re 16th for score from stoppage, ahead of North and Eagles. Interestingly 15th, 14th and 13th is GWS, Hawks and Pies.

They rate it as a percent. If you have a high % in, for example scores from turnover, it has to be a lower percentage in other sources.

We might not be strong out of stoppage, but because we are really really good at intercepting, and a really efficient i50 to goal ratio the % is league leading.

 

[1970crow]

Michael Christian has shown himself to be a Collingwood protector.
He will rub as many of our players out as possible.

Intentional and body are locked in. High, Medium or light impact is the only argument. High and light are as likely as each other, medium is long odds on.

 

[CrowBloke]

And have noticed Peatling is a very neat set shot.

Yep (and very good post).
Dowling took his chances for 2 goals as well; great to see an inexperienced player nail those (eg compare to Burgess' misses the week before).

The 3 talls (+ Dawson) marking superiority and ambidextrousness really contribute to a lot of our scores especially on the transition. The 3 talls are our POD and arguably our 2nd-4th most important players for this finals series.

This! + our delivery to them to their advantage has improved markedly.

 

[chrisso crow]

Didn't get to see the game at all, but looking at the highlights looks like it was a relatively bruise free game and we appeared to be in cruise control the whole match.

I heard some rumblings about Dawson colliding with umpires and this is his third offence. Was anything mentioned of this?

 

[1970crow]

They rate it as a percent. If you have a high % in, for example scores from turnover, it has to be a lower percentage in other sources.

We might not be strong out of stoppage, but because we are really really good at intercepting, and a really efficient i50 to goal ratio the % is league leading.

turns out that was 2022, no wonder it was interesting. Current year much aligns with the ladder more as expected.

 

[adelaidecrows]

The ball actually ended up in Curtin's hands, and Trembath just ripped the ball out and claimed the mark. Farcical.

And the footage clearly shows the umpire had a good view front on. Which means he did likely cheat. The AFL must be asked questions about this decision. It is not even amateur u12 level. He must be sacked immediately. Imagine a final being decided like that.

 

[marvin]

U: Obviously the terrible umpiring decisions. Total amateur hour. The short boundary throw ins were annoying.
The Arc not having a camera pointing the other direction for the score review.

There was someone up a ladder looking at the top of the padding on the goal post as soon as the players left the arena

G: Minor premiers. Keays. PAOC getting relegated to Div 2.

B: Michael Christian will be licking his lips about potentially banning Daws and Laird, especially if we’re playing the Pies week 1.

U: Obviously the terrible umpiring decisions. Total amateur hour. The short boundary throw ins were annoying.
The Arc not having a camera pointing the other direction for the score review.

 

[PeterSalt]

Keane will always have one or two brain farts a game, but the rest he offers is very good and obviously a key reason why our defense is conceding 60 points a game since Gather Round.

So does Thilthorpe

 

[MarcusP2]

G: Minor premiers. Keays. PAOC getting relegated to Div 2.

B: Michael Christian will be licking his lips about potentially banning Daws and Laird, especially if we’re playing the Pies week 1.

U: Obviously the terrible umpiring decisions. Total amateur hour. The short boundary throw ins were annoying.
The Arc not having a camera pointing the other direction for the score review.

Ned McHenry couldn't get the job done?

 

[Carmo]

For those who don't get why the umpiring was the way it was... It was not about trying to get North a win, that's absurd, it was about stopping a 15 goal flogging. Why? How do you think Norths memberships and vibe (and therefore $) would've been in the off-season with a 15 or 20 goal flogging last game of the year versus a 13 point loss to the top team with a heap of players out?

 

[Mattrox]

turns out that was 2022, no wonder it was interesting. Current year much aligns with the ladder more as expected.




View attachment 2405245

I think I got my analysis wrong anyway. This stat is as a percent of the event. I was thinking of another metric.

Play on.