Opinion Acceptance of Mediocrity

[shinboner_99]

I'm an old bastard.
I saw my first North game live at Arden St in about 1967.
That day we played Collingwood which were a good team at the time. North as usual for then were hopeless.
Now the thing that struck me about that day was the way North accepted mediocrity,
Let me explain. In the first quarter Collingwood ran all over us, outclassed us in every way, we were clearly second rate in comparison. Second quarter things remained the same and then suddenly in a ten minute burst North piled on the goals, ran all over the Pies and went in at half time a couple of goals down.
What happened next explains North's culture at that time. As the players were leaving the ground for the break the members stood and applauded the team and the coach and players. Keith McKenzie (coach) smiled and waved and the players looked pretty pleased with themselves.
After half time they were thrashed, didn't give a whimper.
After the game I went down into the rooms and was amazed to see the players laughing, joking, mucking around. You'd have thought they'd won. I reckon they thought winning the second quarter was as good as winning the match.
That attitude was typical of North in the sixties and early seventies - they accepted mediocrity.
I've seen a lot of North games since and once Barassi got there the culture changed and no longer was mediocrity acceptable. There have been some fabulous teams and players and there have also been some ordinary ones, but never have I felt that they suffered defeat gladly.
Lately I'm not so sure. Being beaten doesn't seem to hurt so much.
From what I saw at Brisbane on Saturday neither the players nor the coach seemed to be all that unhappy with themselves.
I'm afraid there is once again an acceptance of mediocrity at Arden St.

 

[Mav]

I'm an old bastard.
I saw my first North game live at Arden St in about 1967.
That day we played Collingwood which were a good team at the time. North as usual for then were hopeless.
Now the thing that struck me about that day was the way North accepted mediocrity,
Let me explain. In the first quarter Collingwood ran all over us, outclassed us in every way, we were clearly second rate in comparison. Second quarter things remained the same and then suddenly in a ten minute burst North piled on the goals, ran all over the Pies and went in at half time a couple of goals down.
What happened next explains North's culture at that time. As the players were leaving the ground for the break the members stood and applauded the team and the coach and players. Keith McKenzie (coach) smiled and waved and the players looked pretty pleased with themselves.
After half time they were thrashed, didn't give a whimper.
After the game I went down into the rooms and was amazed to see the players laughing, joking, mucking around. You'd have thought they'd won. I reckon they thought winning the second quarter was as good as winning the match.
That attitude was typical of North in the sixties and early seventies - they accepted mediocrity.
I've seen a lot of North games since and once Barassi got there the culture changed and no longer was mediocrity acceptable. There have been some fabulous teams and players and there have also been some ordinary ones, but never have I felt that they suffered defeat gladly.
Lately I'm not so sure. Being beaten doesn't seem to hurt so much.
From what I saw at Brisbane on Saturday neither the players nor the coach seemed to be all that unhappy with themselves.
I'm afraid there is once again an acceptance of mediocrity at Arden St.

I was at Freo's first ever final and couldn't believe how the crowd clapped them off after losing. I knew then they would never get better if they accepted that as a good performance. It took a new CEO and coach to turn around their culture.

Here's a sure sign of accepting mediocrity from our supporters, drafting Nicky Dal and then expecting to come 6th!

 

[Gasometer]

shinboner_99 joined in 2002? 10 posts a year since...come on lift!

 

[Event Horizon]

Unfortunately mediocrity is our best description since about 2001.

 

[Zondor]

I've been banging on for a while that we are wallowing in the sea of mediocrity.

It is time that as a collective the NMFC Harden the **** Up. Enough of this shit. :stern look

 

[hilly]

From what I saw at Brisbane on Saturday neither the players nor the coach seemed to be all that unhappy with themselves.
I'm afraid there is once again an acceptance of mediocrity at Arden St.

I don't know about the players, but I reckon Scott looked shattered.

 

[ozzyoslo]

From mondays presser the feeling is as if there was a death in the club......we may come out swinging.

 

[Twinkletoes]

I hope so oz.

 

[ozzyoslo]

I hope so oz.

You see the tennis??

 

[Twinkletoes]

You see the tennis??

My bloody word I did. Hence why I'm buzzing still at 4.30am despite knowing I'm yet to get any sleep and my alarm will blast me from here to eternity at 7am. Mentioned it in the non North thread.

 

[ozzyoslo]

There's no Tv for it here (can you believe it) and forgot all about it.......went to the streams and caught the last set !! good on the lad !!

 

[Psicosis]

It starts from the top, there is way too much "back them in" and "persist" for mine.

Club needs to get ruthless and set an example, which might start with someone feeling the knife, whatever it takes.

 

[ozzyoslo]

It starts from the top, there is way too much "back them in" and "persist" for mine.

Club needs to get ruthless and set an example, which might start with someone feeling the knife, whatever it takes.

I do not want to hear this on Thursday night !!

 

[Only Forwards]

From mondays presser the feeling is as if there was a death in the club......we may come out swinging.

I hope so oz.

My optimistic self say we are about to turn a corner.

The lions loss was a loss too far.

F*** I hope it happens.

 

[koshari]

My optimistic self say we are about to turn a corner.

not this week we wont,

the bookies say, $3.75 and we all know that the only time a team wins with these odds is if they are playing you know who.

 

[Only Forwards]

not this week we wont,

the bookies say, $3.75 and we all know that the only time a team wins with these odds is if they are playing you know who.

I could not give a flying f*** what the bookies have us at. Its a two horse race and we need to want it more.

The players cannot have the attitude you have outlined.

My anger post game through to Monday boiled down to knowing that it was complete bullshit for North to lose to Brisbane.

Its in our faces now, we explained away other losses with short Perth turn arounds, being away intersate, being at Geelong.

There is no excuse for Saturday, none. They have to look at themselves and demand better.

That is exactly what I expect to happen.

 

[Gasometer]

Jut remember odds are reflection of what the market is betting.

 

[King Corey]

There is no excuse for Saturday, none. They have to look at themselves and demand better.

That is exactly what I expect to happen.

That'd be right. We'll peak a day late.

 

[Only Forwards]

That'd be right. We'll peak a day late.

We played Brisbane on a Saturday there are no excuses for that loss.

 

[King Corey]

We played Brisbane on a Saturday there are no excuses for that loss.

Then you should've posted that as Only Backwards.

 

[Only Forwards]

Then you should've posted that as Only Backwards.

What if time isn't Linear??

Only Sideways.

 

[shinboner_99]

I don't know about the players, but I reckon Scott looked shattered.

He doesn't need to be shattered - He needs to be ANGRY.

 

[King Corey]

Only Sideways.

Jess Sinclair likes this

 

[archereleven]

Turning the corner against the ladder leaders would be something, but highly unlikely imho.

They are everything we are not, except for talent in some instances

 

[The Maestro]

Brad said in one of his pressers that the playing group is somewhat reflective of the coach.

Scott mentioned having ruthless player standards and expectations but the results show that we are not a ruthless side and perhaps he hasn't been ruthless enough towards the playing group.

It was as honest as it gets from Scott and something we have been waiting to hear as supporters. This message was different to the usual lines Scott throws out at press conferences and actually points out a specific problem explaining our inconsistency in performance.

Maybe the Brisbane loss is the turning point and from here we see a consistent hard edge to our games. I'm sure not holding my breath because I have been let down by this group so many times, but it is a point worth raising.