Autopsy Autopsy Vs Wet toast - it was nice while it lasted

[Supreme_Chancellor]

Can the problems be fixed though?

We’re not even dying at this stage, but not really alive either. Just in a perennial zombie state staggering around wondering why we are never allowed to see sunlight. Is that better?

Ppl just wanna enjoy footy. That’s all.

Compare our last 26 years to clubs like Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn, Brisbane, even St Kilda and the Dogs. That's a generation of North Supporters who haven't even seen a Grand Final. At some point somebody has to ask what the f*** have we been doing in the 21st century?

Even our two top 4 finishes in 2000 and 2007 resulted in some of the most humiliating finals arse kickings in living memory.

For a fella like me, born in 2000, I just want some of what nearly every other club is having.

 

[Kangapirate]

As others have alluded to the 1st quarter was misleading. It was something like 7-1 to the Eagles in centre clearances and they were winning plenty of it. We punished turnover and put it on the scoreboard. Once they cleaned things up and started using the ball like a professional team should we couldnt go with them.

Lets be honest even when we got within a sniff in the 4th it was again them making some shocking turnovers that was letting us in.

At no stage were we in control of what was happening.

 

[Ashley B]

The Eagles had to travel from Gold Coast.

Not buying it. We bottled it because of the mental struggles we've been seeing for years. No one stands up when required regardless of conditions.

Yeah last couple of yrs I would allow the heat as being a bit of a let out of why we struggled part of the game . But not anymore. As another coach said “We need to grow the fk up “

 

[perplexed]

Just quietly, I don't think our backline was the 'main' problem today. It was our midfield that was the issue.

We are defending better this year, but our backline is still the main problem. It is not so much their ability to defend as their inability to attack from defense or even get the ball out of there. We continue to be the worst team in the comp at transitioning the ball.



We couldn't do it last week either, but got away with it because we dominated clearances all game.

Our backline mix is all wrong. And things won't improve until we fix this. You need three players who can run and carry back there. Blamires counts as half a player, so we are still 2.5 short. Playing all of Parker, Daniel, McDonald, Pink, Logue and Comben in defense; FMD, are we trying to lose?
The midfield could be picking up the slack like Geelong's do, but other than our wingmen, they offer SFA.

Also, it would be great if we could get someone to the club to explain to Clarko how the stand rule works. It makes transition so much easier, but we never exploit it.

 

[tazaa]

We beat a completely shithouse Port by a handful of goals and reckoned we were good enough to go in unchanged with better players waiting in the wings, don't worry about the fact that a handful of guys contributed next to nothing. Just pathetic complacency. Our 2-years undefeated AFLW side still finds players to drop when a better option comes back from injury.

Cam Zurhaar gets the shithouse medal here. More concerned with winning the punch-on with Harley Reid than winning the footy.

Just how we felt disrespected by Ports post match comments last week - by us not willing to play Wardlaw and Hardeman cause we didn’t think we’d need them is just as embarrassing.

So desperate we were we moved Jy back into the middle just 7 quarters into the year that ultimately killed off any hope of a win.

Say it every year. We are just never going to be a serious football side.

 

[Spud11]

Compare our last 26 years to clubs like Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn, Brisbane, even St Kilda and the Dogs. That's a generation of North Supporters who haven't even seen a Grand Final. At some point somebody has to ask what the f*** have we been doing in the 21st century?

Even our two top 4 finishes in 2000 and 2007 resulted in some of the most humiliating finals arse kickings in living memory.

For a fella like me, born in 2000, I just want some of what nearly every other club is having.

I started following North in 1994. The 6-7 years that converted me and made me feel so good in the 90’s has been officially eclipsed by the last 6-7 years.

I was proud of what we achieved in 2007, especially making a prelim after having our existence in Melbourne threatened. But i truly, in my heart of hearts, never felt like we were a legitimate flag threat in any of our “successful” eras under Laidley or Scott.
Laidley? We were just clinging on.
Scott? We were flaky and couldn’t be trusted. Never a flag threat.

In my darker moments I’ve wondered what relocation might’ve meant. Even at my lowest ebb, though, I could never justify selling out our soul to become an empty franchise on a holiday coast. Not Gold Coast. It just doesn’t work. It felt even more hollow than Fitzroy being absorbed by Brisbane which was pretty freaking bad in itself.

Anyway. I blame the Scott crew for retiring too many of our greats at the same time and leaving no experience to oversee the rebuild. I don’t want that group EVER undoing the work of the true North people who kept the club alive. They weren’t North people.

What you see is what you get with North Melbourne. It’s an obsession. We’ll have 20-30k at our games whether we’re 1st or 18th - an honest, real, loyal bunch that show up, not many fairweather sleepers waiting to join the bandwagon when it turns around.

Thousands of posts on Bigfooty disproportionate to our supporter base but here we are, typing into the dark night.

These troupers have been starved for too freaking long.

Just remember - you are North as much as anyone who’s pulled on the jumper. You’re here, you care and you matter. If the current custodians don’t make it happen, don’t let them affect your love for the club or the way you see it. Just because the players and administrators aren’t getting it done, it shouldn’t change what the club represents to you.

I watch other teams play well. I envy how that must feel. But I’ll never feel that for any team but North. Wouldn’t have if they moved to Gold Coast. Wouldn’t choose anyone else if North folded. Winning ain’t winning if it’s not North. It was love at first sight when I first watched this club and it’s a lifelong passion that I’m assuming most people here share.

Don’t give up. We’re in it together. I don’t know how we’ll get out of this mess, but with more passion from the people than I’ve ever seen, we will.

I remember the year 2000 vividly, still on a high.. You’ve literally had a life of waiting and running on shinboner spirit which only goes so far.

I percent know how you feel, and these feelings are absolutely valid.

 

[scottywiper]

I feel sick for even admitting this, but sometimes I wonder how things could've gone had we just swallowed our pride and relocated to the Gold Coast in 2007. Sydney and Brisbane have maintained and glaze their Victorian Supporters all the time and the Resources and AFL backing have ensured decades of success. It would've absolutely been devastating, but ask yourselves, would we really be any worse off?

I'm absolutely about to baked for this comment, but it's just something that came to mind during the past few hours of reflection.

This probably isn't the thread for this discussion, and I do apologise if I've angered some people.

This is not really an existence.
Someone else said they just want footy to be fun again
There are kids that have never seen a decent North team and a generation of supporters will be lost.

 

[Zondor]

Terrible. We're simply no good until proven otherwise unfortunately.

So when posters have voiced their concerns about where our football club is at over the last several years and you’ve had a go at them what were you thinking? Exactly. Not much. :stern look

 

[tales129]

Lost post clearance contested ball by 35, ground ball gets by 36 and post clearance ground ball gets by 34.

That’s a walloping.

Should I bring up expected score

 

[archereleven]

This is not really an existence.
Someone else said they just want footy to be fun again
There are kids that have never seen a decent North team and a generation of supporters will be lost.

Imo, this club is doomed once genX and above dies out. There just havnt been enough wins let alone success to grow the fan base beyond us.

Gen Z and below won't bear fruit with this group running around.

 

[RustyShacklefordFalcon]

Also **** the idiot west coast fans for booing a champion of there club

*their

 

[One Eyed Roo]

Imo, this club is doomed once genX and above dies out. There just havnt been enough wins let alone success to grow the fan base beyond us.

Gen Z and below won't bear fruit with this group running around.

That is a serious concern that the club should have. The foolhardy diehards like us are earnt, not given.

 

[WesternRoo]

*their

**** off

 

[WesternRoo]

Overall we aren’t fit enough and the guys who are like Simpkin can’t hit the side of a barn by foot.

When we were fresh in the first quarter, we dominated the game.

Xerri in the ruck is an issue how he is playing. Continuing to just grab the ball and not tap it to the midfield resulted in so many turnovers today.

Konstanty needs to go. Just bring in a well positioned wheely bin, I don’t care, just not him.

 

[Madas]

Also **** the idiot west coast fans for booing a champion of there club

Mate that lot would boo their grandmothers and I’m not even joking

FFS Roos , you’re killing me , not only wrecking my tips but now we have to listen to a week of how good WC are over here until someone puts them in their place again

 

[Lavy_Panther]

Genuinely beaten by a significantly better team. Make of that what you will.

 

[groovyroo]

We won last week cause we played a team game. This week it seemed like after quarter time everyone looked at this game wondering how they can benefit, instead of the team.

I'm okay with mistakes, you always have the chance to win the next contest. But today there were too many not willing to do their part and set their team mates up for success. A classic football tale, West Coast wanted it more and it showed a lot.

This group is capable of playing good footy, but they need to start doing what's right for the team a lot more. And that involves getting your head down and winning the contest. It involves chasing on defence. We just don't run hard enough the other way as a group.

 

[amaz199]

Our backline is still utterly horrific. Some goals went through like as if no one was contesting the footy.

I love Pink, I really do appreciate the no fuss attitude, but we're kidding ourselves if he's part of the future. We need three KPDs that can either play 1v1 or zone off and intercept. At the moment, Pink can play as a third tall but not as a proper full back.

Comben is either hot or cold. Not in-between. It's like he has a 50% chance of either being really good or really shit (this can also apply to any contest where he's in a 1v1 situation). It's infuriating.

Logue is the interesting one because when he finally gets back to full fitness and suddenly looks half competent he cops a knock or gets injured. It's like he has a meter on top of his head that progressively fills until the competence level reaches a certain amount then boom soft tissue injury. Its utterly ridiculous how often it happens when we need him the most.

Daniel is playing his best games for us right now (somehow) and he's being forced to try work with a ball movement style that involves:

1. Slick ball movement that makes him look awesome. May or may not last more than a quarter.
2. Stagnant ball movement which makes him try to hit whatever we put for him as 'options'. Lasts for a long time and we think its his fault.

McDonald. He's trying so god damn hard with the limited ability that he has. In a weird way he has been better since the captaincy pressure has been lifted. Battled as best he could without Logue. It's a tough caper. Should not be playing but we got no one else.

Parker. If we could clone the 26 year old version of this bloke and put him everywhere, we would be premiership favourites. He can't do it on his own especially now.

Blamires. Being asked to do far too much. This is on the playing group and if he debuted today it would've been baptism of fire.

FOS. Same as Blamires. Literally being asked to do everything possible to carry us.

The concerns were apparent in the first quarter. We just concede far too easily and our backline cannot handle it unless our midfield pressures and dominates for 120 mins. It just doesn't happen. Sometimes, you gotta deal with movement that is under slightly less pressure and hold up. The best teams can't do 4 quarters of relentless defensive application so we can't be serious about our backline if it needs the midfield to constantly run back like as if they are all superhuman fit.

The backline is a mess. A complete and utter mess. To suggest otherwise just isn't accurate.

 

[amaz199]

The midfield. Oh my god.

They completely lost the plot. Hold width? Stay with your man? Nope. Just run at the ball carrier like donkeys.

You're gonna be in for a rough replay Themanbun

 

[amaz199]

I'm not going to go after the forward line because for two quarters it barely got a look in. It looked ****ing sensational in the first quarter when we weren't dreadful.

 

[Devil Fish]

Can’t say I was surprised by the shlt-show today. It’s only the 7th time over the last few years where we’ve won a game, the fan base hysterically rejoices and then we shlt the bed the next week.

There’s no better playing group at drinking its own bath water than ours.

I liken NMFC to a girlfriend that keeps cheating on ya. She apologises. You take her back and then she cheats again.

There has to come a point where you don’t take her back. I’m starting to feel that way with the club.

 

[DuckYeah]

Im going to package up (if I can find some time) of all the momentum killing moments from Simplins, Konstanty and Happy Meal gimp McDonald.

All this defending of luke McDonald is sickening. It churns the insides of my guts reading opinions and being told we are clueless? ****ing bullshit. Why? Because his opponent only kicked 1.3 but spent half the game behind the ball? What about the turn overs? Missing targets by 20 metre under no pressure? The sideways slow ball movement? Falling over? The campaigner has to go. Its embarrassing watching this gimpy campaigner run around. **** off

I’ll say it again. We will never go anywhere as a club whilst those past leaders are in the team. Mcdonald and Simpkin both need to go.

 

[Gasometer]

This is not really an existence.
Someone else said they just want footy to be fun again
There are kids that have never seen a decent North team and a generation of supporters will be lost.

Maybe, maybe not

1930 to 1950’s and we make a GF. North fans were there. That’s 20 years

Another 20 years to 1970’s success and North fans were there

This has been a long gap coming up 30 years

Point is that success brings fans back as some choose to hibernate their support due to the cost

And what cost is that?

There’s 15 pages of cost in this Thread.

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

Woke up still ready to punch walls.

**** finishing at 9pm Sunday night

 

[DuckYeah]

Woke up still ready to punch walls.

**** finishing at 9pm Sunday night

I woke in the middle of the night and shouted “GET SIMPKIN OUT OF THERE”