Game Day When's The Bloody Intraclub - Gameday Thread - 13 February @ 5:00pm

[The Dingrel]

The key defensive stocks after such a long rebuild are really, really concerning. We’ll need to acquire a quality tall defender via free agency/trade, otherwise I still feel we’re going to leak goals due to disorganisation

yeah dunno who'd be available though,,,,we have picked up Logue and Corr in that way, and lost McKay. Not often you're going to get an A grade KPP fall in your lap unless you're contending. Essendon paid a kings ransom for McKay and he's looked pretty mediocre there. I think at the end of the day, key defender's jobs are made easy or hard depending on the how the ball enters D50, so it all starts up the ground. I'm really hoping we see better whole ground defence this year, would be a big help to the backline.

Hopefully a fit and healthy Logue can get see an improvement.....he looked great when he first came across pre injury. Still plenty of time for Dawson, only young. A thought that crossed my mind today seeing Whitlock play well forward, and Trembath really look quite good pinch hitting in the ruck, Goad playing forward a bit, potential for X to rest forward, PC and Zurhaar both good in the air and strong in the contest....is could JD be used in defence as a stop gap? Certainly has the physical strength, conditioning and smarts! Has Coleman Jones ever been tried there, the way the bulldogs switched Lobbe to the backline, and remember Pagan dropping Capuano across half back? Dunno, but looks to be well down the pecking order as a fwd/ruck to me.

 

[Zondor]

Well I was there and I got some bad news for you all. We ain’t going nowhere in a hurry based on the rot I witnessed today. :stern look

 

[Possession]

Well I was there and I got some bad news for you all. We ain’t going nowhere in a hurry based on the rot I witnessed today. :stern look

Zondor, bruv. I'm also feeling that sinking dread of a bottom four finish. Seeing some vision from the intraclub, reality is settling in a bit. Footy is real soon.

I'm going to choose to hope for a little bit longer though - until the practice match against the Dees, at least.

 

[r00boy96]

Final thoughts and observations from watching the stream.

• Said at the outset, but don't put too much weight on any of these observations. For one, it's an intraclub. Secondly, there were only two cameras so the broadcast angles/vision was never fantastic. There's a lot we likely didn't see in terms of people gut running, defensive setups, etc.
• Main story of the day for mine was Hardeman; he looked fantastic and confident. Looked a bit bigger, and looked to really back himself in as a rebounding/run-and-carry type defender.
• Bests today: Curtis, Whitlock, LDU, Trembath, Becker (!)
  • HMs to Sheezel, FOS, Konstanty, Bailey Scott, Dovaston, and Zurhaar
• Guys who struggled or didn't do enough for my money; Comben, Dawson, Stephens, Duursma, Powell, Banch, and Harvey
• Goad looks like he could quite easily fill in if Xerri gets hurt or injured. He's not "#1 AFL ruck" ready yet, but he's good in a pinch.
• Said this based on preseason match sim, but bares repeating that after today I reckon it's locked in that we'll play all three of Larkey/Darling/Trembath. Trembath will pinch hit in the ruck.
• Pink was the best of the KPDs. Logue was okay. Had some good and bad moments. Both stayed in the blue jumper the entire game which is telling.
• Comben was... okay in moments. But his disposal is still poor. He switched teams from blue to orange.
• Zac Becker! Had some fantastic moments and is a great kick. Could be a real find for us. Lock him in for the SSP selection.
• Sheezel had one of those days where I didn't really feel his impact, but if you told me he had 35 touches I wouldn't be surprised.
• Urquhart tries hard and gets in to good positions. Badly needs to clean up his disposal.
• Colby had some good moments. Probably needed to see more of an impact from him though. Believe he was one of the guys who wore the blue jumper all day.
• I'm sure someone will challenge me as being a hater, but Duursma was poor. Softed out of a few defensive opportunities, only got I think three touches all day and none of them were impactful. Dropped an absolute sitter of a mark wide open in the forward line very late in the game.

Duursma did get a goal assist

 

[HugeJohnson1]

White line fever is the big thing we lack. You can still be a good bloke off field and a maniac on it.

We delisted Jedd Anderson as the only example of this in the last 10 years…? Don’t get used to it

 

[RightWingRoo]

We delisted Jedd Anderson as the only example of this in the last 10 years…? Don’t get used to it

I think PC and X have it and see some promising signs from Dov. But we need a few more with it.

Liked the exchange between PC and Dov on the clubroom wing. A crunching tackle and few words after it.
PC nearly killed a bloke (I think Bailey from memory) in a tackle shortly afterward.

 

[Pravda Roo]

I am in North Korea for work and was able to catch an illegal steam thanks to Elon Mask. Whilst reluctant to cast a spersion too early in the season but I liked what I saw and at 1080p things are looking clear. If youhave any queries just post them to the cloud and I'll work through.

 

[Rod Stroker]

That wasn't a great performance. Wouldn't be surprised if we lose next week out at Casey.

 

[DuckYeah]

Stevens
Blakey
Crocker
Longmire
Simpson
Abraham
Martyn
And more

These blokes were/are far from being campaigners off the field.

It's a myth that our success was off the back of some players getting into fights or partying it up off-field.

There was a player in 1999 who won a norm smith who was a complete campaigner of a bloke on and off the field, wayne was awesome to the North faithful but certainly wasnt a great bloke off the field, there was a whole heap of em. Im not saying you need an entire team of em, you need a balance of em.

 

[SammyRoo]

I am in North Korea for work and was able to catch an illegal steam thanks to Elon Mask. Whilst reluctant to cast a spersion too early in the season but I liked what I saw and at 1080p things are looking clear. If youhave any queries just post them to the cloud and I'll work through.

While you are there can u confirm that Kim Fat Jung once playing AFL kicked 23:0 goals in the first quarter of a game ?

 

[iloveireland]

After that performance hope we can get a second SSP but go for a tall defender. Because we really need a small defender with some semblance of defensive ability and a tall defender who can actually compete.

 

[Mixed Results]

LDU's game was entertaining to watch.

He went about it quarter paced, but whenever he had the ball nobody could stop him.

That about summed up the game from the Blue team. I thought there'd be more melts on here about us being evenly matched with our VFL side, but it obviously wasn't that simple.

The commentators talked up our intent to use the corridor in attack, but we must have had that kick intercepted four or five times in the first quarter. In the second we returned to our typical brand of slower ball movement, and it returned the typical result of one goal for the quarter. Obviously you can't take much tactical information from an intraclub, but the experience was a little eye rolling.

Funnily enough I thought the Orange team's ball movement was pretty good at times. If that's what we see come round one, then I'll be happy.

Obviously lots of positives with the young players who had the motivation to go in that little bit harder. Overall a good experience, and the biggest positives were no injuries and getting to see something that resembled North Melbourne footy.

 

[Chip Scab1]

Stevens
Blakey
Crocker
Longmire
Simpson
Abraham
Martyn
And more

These blokes were/are far from being campaigners off the field.

It's a myth that our success was off the back of some players getting into fights or partying it up off-field.

Whilst I agree with the post, I abhor Necks Dad being included.

I'll remind you;

5 possessions in the 1994 Prelim.... 5.

6 goals kicked on him in 1998 GF.....6

His lack of indoctrination of his son is completely unpalatable. I'm sorry. And to think Denis had him up on a pedestal. Ridiculous. He was directly responsible for the 2 worst afternoon's of supporting this once-great U19 team.

--- so good to see Winston's name, simply the most underrated player in our clubs' history.

 

[rooboynorth1]

LDU's game was entertaining to watch.

He went about it quarter paced, but whenever he had the ball nobody could stop him.

That about summed up the game from the Blue team. I thought there'd be more melts on here about us being evenly matched with our VFL side, but it obviously wasn't that simple.

The commentators talked up our intent to use the corridor in attack, but we must have had that kick intercepted four or five times in the first quarter. In the second we returned to our typical brand of slower ball movement, and it returned the typical result of one goal for the quarter. Obviously you can't take much tactical information from an intraclub, but the experience was a little eye rolling.

Funnily enough I thought the Orange team's ball movement was pretty good at times. If that's what we see come round one, then I'll be happy.

Obviously lots of positives with the young players who had the motivation to go in that little bit harder. Overall a good experience, and the biggest positives were no injuries and getting to see something that resembled North Melbourne footy.

After watching the replay I don’t think our mids chase hard enough…too many entries into the forward line and our small forward need to transition run more and defend when ball is not in hand. No backline can hold up if they get hammered. Small forwards need to chase and place pressure.

 

[ChopChopDigDig]

Well I was there and I got some bad news for you all. We ain’t going nowhere in a hurry based on the rot I witnessed today. :stern look

I was pretty optimistic over the Summer, but this week watched back a few of our better games from last year, and none of them were really convincing. Richmond went with us for a half, Carlton jumped us and then came back after a good couple quarters, Adelaide took their foot off after getting up by four goals, etc. Then we stumbled over the line against west coast & richmond (the first game), teams which we would all consider a tier below even our team.

I don't want to look too much into an intraclub, though. But, those saying we should be 5-1 after six, that we should easily blow past the bombers, port, etc or we should be looking at squeaking into a wildcard spot are going to be sorely disappointed IMO.

I hope I'm wrong but I've just not seen enough change/improvement over summer to suggest otherwise.

 

[gerry101101]

Random thoughts watching the first 2.5 quarters on the replay:-

• our goalkicking was very ordinary; JK in particular …same old story
• RHJ chasing and tackling like an animal , and put his body in traffic on several occasions- excellent to see. Highly skilled; Of all the players who probably won’t make it but would be difference makers if they can, he is top of that list for me
• LDU going at half rat power but a level above in the guts
• Duursma … nice if the ball comes to him. Does not work at all to get himself to the ball
• Trembath is so athletic in the air and clean on the ground. The last 3 games of 2025 were not a fluke
• Scott with a few touches but still looks like he’s lost pace and any intensity from 2 years ago. Was hoping it was just him carrying injuries all last year, but this game didn’t help suggest that it true
• Curtis is just about our best and most important player with Sheez (who was going at 60% but silky)
• Whitlock developing nicely
• Powell anonymous. May have had a few touches but for whatever reason he never catches the eye for me.
• Goad still very raw but a few signs
• not convinced re Harvey in the baxklone
• Daniel: I’m a critic, but I will say this/ he works harder than most to provide outlets and options in the back half (and boy do we often need that). Until our backline develops, he may be a necessary evil
• Colby looks fit and good running patterns. Not smashing it so far in this game, but continually visible running past in frame. Need to maximise use of him, but at the same time still some tidying up of disposal for him to work on to maximise value of that
• Urqhart some talent but foot skills….
• ball transition looked better - although against ‘us’
• Bull looks fit and (notably) used the ball smartly in patches
• Simpkin barely sighted after opening minutes (maybe I missed his touches)

 

[Lavy_Panther]

Could be in for another long season.

 

[rooboynorth1]

Random thoughts watching the first 2.5 quarters on the replay:-

• our goalkicking was very ordinary; JK in particular …same old story
• RHJ chasing and tackling like an animal , and put his body in traffic on several occasions- excellent to see. Highly skilled; Of all the players who probably won’t make it but would be difference makers if they can, he is top of that list for me
• LDU going at half rat power but a level above in the guts
• Duursma … nice if the ball comes to him. Does not work at all to get himself to the ball
• Trembath is so athletic in the air and clean on the ground. The last 3 games of 205 were not a fluke
• Scott with a few touches but still looks like he’s lost pace and any intensity from 2 years ago. Was hoping it was just him carrying injuries all last year, but this game didn’t help suggest that it true
• Curtis is just about our best and most important player
• Whitlock developing nicely
• Powell anonymous. May have had a few touches but for whatever reason he never catches the eye for me.
• Goad still very raw but a few signs
• not convinced re Harvey in the baxklone
• Daniel: I’m a critic, but I will say this/ he works harder than most to provide outlets and options in the back half (and boy do we often need that). Until our backline develops, he may be a necessary evil
• Colby looks fit and good running patterns. Not smashing it so far in this game, but continually visible running past in frame. Need to maximise use of him
• Urqhart some talent but foot skills….
• ball transition looked better - although against ‘us’
• Bull looks fit
• Simpkin barely sighted after opening minutes (maybe I missed his touches)

Agree goal kicking was not the best but it looked very windy. I agree Daniel’s works hard but he is very loose, too far up the ground. Also Dursma, Goad, Konstantin and Banch don’t work hard enough running both ways. Who do you think are our best small forwards that can transition run and keep that pressure in our forward half…I don’t mind Cooper down back also!

 

[Chip Scab1]

The only thing that matters re yesterday was no further injuries. We can't afford to lose anyone else. We're obviously still no good, but it was Windy and X wasn't there. He does make us a lot stronger.

 

[Passmore]

I'm liking the small forward situation with Dovaston and Banch. Both bring an energy and work rate we haven't had. Konstanty cracks in hard, but lacks polish.

Nice to have a few young talls show something. Looking good in that area.

Becker looked alright.

 

[rooboynorth1]

How did that Markovsky go?

A lot of write up about him a few weeks back…I was wondering if he had backed it up? From what I saw on the replay kicked 5 behinds…what a story if he kicked 5 goals for a VFL player…

 

[Possession]

Left him hanging

 

[kanga kanga kanga]

Left him hanging

View attachment 2528059

I guess DuckYeah was right

he really is selfish.

 

[Wayne Campbell]

The only thing that matters re yesterday was no further injuries. We can't afford to lose anyone else. We're obviously still no good, but it was Windy and X wasn't there. He does make us a lot stronger.

No Wardlaw or X our 2 best pressure players in the middle

 

[scottywiper]

Well I was there and I got some bad news for you all. We ain’t going nowhere in a hurry based on the rot I witnessed today. :stern look

Clarko will have to pull a rabbit out of the hat.