Beaten in Box

[Moti.com]

While I have no doubt that the players poor disposal and decision making cost us the game, our coaching staff got a right royal shalacking to.
2 quick things.
1. - Watt should have been put immediately on Whitnall the minute he moved onto the wing. While Lance has a giant girth, the guy is smart and Jase had no idea. In the last quarter, Watt showed he has potential and should have been used more.

2. - Pagan again reverted to the philosophy of putting everyone at CHF. Mistake, big time. If we had someone in the goalsqare, we probably would have won. Many people, including myself warned against this practice earlier in the year and again it was used, and again it failed.

Congratulations to Brittain, you took the cake.

However, I think we can still match it with any of the 14 sides in the competition (Ess in own league). Colbert looked good and we certainly played well in the 1st half. No doubt the run of Abraham, Motlop and Makepeace was sorely missed. Oh and that other forward bloke as well.
GO ROOS.

 

[Carey_is_King]

Moti (Pleased to see you are now incorporated), you are correct in what you say. Now ask yourself how the "best coach" in the competition makes a mistake like that when we can all see it. Furthermore, why does he persist for the entire second half ?
I tell you, Denis is stale. He is still the good coach he has always been, but he needs something to change, and I would recommend the scenery.

 

[Moti.com]

The worst thing is that it isn't like it happenned once or twice. It happenned at least ten times. The coaching staff were just so slow.

 

[Redd]

I don't neccessarily agree.
It looked to me like the players came out after half time exhausted.

The first half of the game was some of the best i have seen from the Roos for a very long time.
Their attack on the ball was also second to none. I think it all took its toll.
In the second half they didn't have the energy to cover Carltons defence, then sprint forward with the ball.
Carlton would have came out after half time as fresh as a daisy. They certainly didn't use up any energy in the first half.

When players are tired they tend to go back to old habits.

But i certainly do agree, and it pisses me off no end, when we have nobody anywhere near the goals when the ball comes down quickly.
We must look like idiots to other clubs when this happens.

BUT.... it was some of the best footy i have seen from North for a while. We have a great future. And we won't have to wait 10 years like the Wombles, to field a decent competitive team again.

PS
Can anyone tell me why Harris isn't playing in the firsts?

 

[Yianni]

I'm not surprised that the boys ran out of legs after halftime. I don't think the majority of those players have ever been required to run much given the way North used to play (hopefully it is in the past!).

However, you also need to take into account the fact that the team is very top heavy. We have a lot of big guys, and they are not the big but sleek Jade Rawlings type player, they are the big and unsleek Jason McCartney type player.

Even with extra fitness training, none of these guys are necessarily going to become speedsters. The young guys look a lot better in this respect, but it is unrealistic to expect them to shoulder that much of the responsibility this early in their careers. They will at best be very up and down.

 

[Darky]

The problems are too complex to define as "Pagan was outcoached". Obviously in any loss, coaching and tactics come under scrutiny, but the coach is only as good as the 22 players at his disosal for the match.
Rather than question Pagan's grip on things as a match-day coach, I think the question mark should be on what kind of players are selected, and how their flaws are to be rectified. In this regard, depth is a big worry - the experienced players all contributed on Friday night, but the younger guys were generally disappointing, and failed to step up.

Not a critique per se, but just about every player these days has his flaws.
These are general, and not necessarily indicative of how they fared against Carlton.
Some of these flaws are ingrained, others are temporary - don't take this review as me bagging the players.

Of the players used on Friday night, consider these :
Colbert - Rarely plays four quarters, but is getting better. Can't really be faulted on Friday's game. Versatility is an asset, but it might make him lose the ability to play a specific role every week.
Rawlings - Lacks presence and strength. Turns the ball over a little too often.
Martyn - Lacks pace and mobility.
McCartney - Can be found out against mobile forwards who cover a lot of ground.
Grant - Has become more aggressive (and is losing the perceived flaw of being soft), but still not as quick as most midfielders.
Simpson - Poor disposal. Would be in the Campbell/Daffy "bomb merchant" category, except he goes in and gets the hard ball, and can tag opponents out of a game.
McLaren - Not a bad kick, but sometimes chooses poor options.
Sinclair - Awful disposal. Slowly improving.
Stevens - Very hard to fault him at all. Kicks to bad contests sometimes, but this is not a major problem considering the kicking of some other players in the side.
Blakey - Not his fault at all, but is often forced to play on taller opponents who take him apart.
Jones - Nervous, causing dodgy disposal.
Burton - Size is a hindrance around the ground. His lean frame means he is outbustled at boundary throw-ins and around the ground ball-ups, and does not get to capitalise on his height.
Clayton - Poor disposal. Goes missing too often. His propensity to make space finds him out when the ball is rebounded out by the opposition.
Rocca - Kicking for goal has been disappointing this year. Has consistently kicked 1-2 goals every week, but this should probably be 3-4 without Carey in the side. Is hampered by poor delivery though.
Lange - Too short for key position, too slow for a flank. Forward or back pocket maybe?
Pickett - Tends to be loose in defence. Is played in defence probably because of his aggression. Should be moved into the centre square for centre bounces, to run in and kill a few blokes.
Harvey - Kicking is reasonable but lacks a bit of penetration. Accuracy in front of goal has been ordinary this year.
McKernan - Confidence has been down, so until 2 weeks ago EVERYTHING was a flaw. Appears to be working it out though.
As a player generally, he is a poor judge of the moving ball, and runs under it at marking contests, and jumps too early in the ruck.
King - Confidence is great, but sometimes tries to do a little too much.
Watt - Looks a fraction slow, in the McCartney mold.
Cochrane- Kicks the long goals, but disposal in general play sucks.

The job at hand is to work on the evident flaws, and if they can't be fixed, or can't be worked around... give the player the flick. By taking less flaws (read : players as liabilities) into a game, surely that increases the chances of winning before the coach has to make his first match-day decision.

 

[Darky]

I will also add that it does look like some issues are being addressed.

John Blakey's disposal by foot let him down a lot, earlier this year, so he appears to have been instructed to handball handball handball over the last 4 weeks (racking up 50-60 handballs in that time), and has been in our best players every week since, in sort of a sweeper role in the back half.

 

[Moti.com]

Blakey has always played on without looking. he hanpasses because other teams know that is what he'll do and trap him.
On Watt, he is probably our quickest big man. He has fantastic mobility and only looks slow as he never gets a decent chance. Look at the tapes of Brisbane and Sydney and see him charge through the packs. He should have been on Whitnall. He is very atheltic. Opposite of McCartney.

 

[Back Seat Of A Taxi]

Darky, you forgot to add on Harvey "goes missing in big games".