Strategy Changes Round 14 North Melbourne vs. Fremantle

[dominguez]

Xerri is probably one of the few rucks in the competition that you would consider going 2 rucks against even if we weren't talking about players the calibre of Darcy and Jackson.

The following week against the Bombers is probably a game you only want 1 ruck.

5 day break too, Darcy will probably be rested for the Bombers game.

 

[dominguez]

Well, if we want to keep an extra game in WA, i suggest everyone gets along. They wont keep it up if its a flop.

The forecast has improved a lot since this morning which helps.

If it's a sunny arvo/dry evening surely we'll get 45,000+.

 

[FreoRicci]

IMO we don’t need two rucks against Xerri. Jackson will do and Dudley back in

Jackson can dominate Darling or Larkey.

North have Comben, Logue and Pink. Should exploit them with Voss, Treacy and Amiss

 

[mattis117]

Nah I'm not going, I thought North were meant to have such a huge fan base in WA they didn't need us attending anyway. So I figure if I go I'll either be surrounded by tens of thousands of blue and white idiots or, more likely, hit in the head by a flying pig

It will be mostly Freo supporters...

 

[Deveraux]

Two interesting points from watching Treacy's presser.

Comben an out for North?

Also, he stopped in at Moose's for a cuppa yesterday and he "expects he'll be good to go for this week".

 

[Cobbler]

I’d be surprised if there’s 35k there.
It’s their home game, hasn’t been really promoted by Freo… as it shouldn’t be as it’s not our home game.

Bunbury was at least promoted because of the novelty of Bunbury, but that crowd was minuscule.

Not really worried about crowd. Just turn up and honestly this should be a 40+ point win.

 

[EastcoastDocker]

Went to that suns home home that they sold to the dockers years back. It was a supér weird feeling. Bit lacking in atmosphere.

 

[Dockeroo]

The forecast has improved a lot since this morning which helps.

If it's a sunny arvo/dry evening surely we'll get 45,000+.

Would be staggered if there’s 45k there.
There can’t be much more than 3 or 4 thousand north fans that live in WA likely to attend. Maybe a few will have taken a week off and travelled over from Vic.

Would be some effort to get 40,000 freo fans to an “away” game in our home state. Notwithstanding the fact it’s a novel occassion for our fans.

For context, in Melbourne I don’t think any club other than Collingwood would be capable of drawing similar numbers of their (away) fans to another Vic clubs home match.

 

[FreoRicci]

Team announcement this week will be very interesting, esp with the last game played was a solid win and if the players already mentioned are able to put their hand up for selection

Will see the mindset of the selection panel

Will be a looking forward approach for selection tbh.
North on Saturday Night then Essendon on Thursday.
I’d imagine Fyfe will get a game and rested for Thursday?
Darcy in for this v Xerri and maybe rested v Essendon especially with Goldstein ?

But hope the selections aren’t complacent.

No way JOM, Walters should be in without 2-3 weeks for Peel. But have seen this before with Switta who got 4 horrible games before finally coming good the past 2-3 weeks.

 

[freo_leo29]

Judging by the fact they've released $24 'general admission' tickets and almost every block has tickets available on the seating map on Ticketmaster I'm assuming they've sold very little.

I'd love to see a semi-reasonable crowd, but I'm also a hypocrite because I'm not going this weekend unfortunately.

Those $24 tix were for 24 hours only right after our last game I think, unless something has popped up since?

I've been waiting on them to go cheap again considering there are so many seats left, would be surprised if they didnt

edit: looks like the link is still active

 

[freo_leo29]

Would be staggered if there’s 45k there.
There can’t be much more than 3 or 4 thousand north fans that live in WA likely to attend. Maybe a few will have taken a week off and travelled over from Vic.

Would be some effort to get 40,000 freo fans to an “away” game in our home state. Notwithstanding the fact it’s a novel occassion for our fans.

For context, in Melbourne I don’t think any club other than Collingwood would be capable of drawing similar numbers of their (away) fans to another Vic clubs home match.

I reckon they've blundered with the pricing, they've basically kept it the same as any other Freo game, the lowest tix are $4 cheaper but the other tiers seem just as expensive

 

[malpaso]

Jackson can dominate Darling or Larkey.

North have Comben, Logue and Pink. Should exploit them with Voss, Treacy and Amiss

Comben looked like he won't get up for this week. Who knows though..

 

[ubiquitous226]

Those $24 tix were for 24 hours only right after our last game I think, unless something has popped up since?

I've been waiting on them to go cheap again considering there are so many seats left, would be surprised if they didnt

edit: looks like the link is still active

I never even noticed that deal or a link on that email!

That's different to the one I was given, and I can't confirm it works but it's here in case it helps someone.

Email link

 

[ubiquitous226]

Comben looked like he won't get up for this week. Who knows though..

Looked pretty average and was described as a serious left shoulder injury, whether that's correct or not I guess we'll see.

There's seems to be a suggestion from the North board he broke the scapular of his shoulder and will be out for a fair while.

 

[mightymouse75]

5 day break too, Darcy will probably be rested for the Bombers game.

AT least we aren't traveling

 

[JammoMonty]

I’d agree with this.
Won’t be a great look if the stadium is looking half empty and only 25,000 show up.

Especially if next year the eagles play them at Optus and there is 50,000 there.

Given it’s a Saturday night game and good weather I’d say the attendance will easily be over 40k which is double the average attendance, so it’s a win for all parties involved.

 

[Stevooo3940]

This week is potentially the start of a deep run. Put North to the sword to the tune of 10+ goals and the Hawks get beat by the Crows and we jump to 6th potentially. Equal 5th on points. Following week, Suns have GWS away, Hawks have the bye and Cats play Lions. Beat the bombers well and we are close to top 4.
If this mob thinks they are them, then this week needs to be the start. No forgiveness for a poor start post-bye. No 3 goal win, ground out over the 4 quarters. An absolute belting is what's required. Anything less and we can be sure that we are just another also-ran this year.
Sit back and watch it all unfold!

 

[freo_leo29]

Given it’s a Saturday night game and good weather I’d say the attendance will easily be over 40k which is double the average attendance, so it’s a win for all parties involved.

There are a whole lot of tickets to be sold if we are hitting 40k

 

[Rob]

I reckon they've blundered with the pricing, they've basically kept it the same as any other Freo game, the lowest tix are $4 cheaper but the other tiers seem just as expensive

Yep they've ****ed it up. People aren't going to pay full price to watch Norf. Should have been set at Melbourne prices for this game, i.e $25 for most seats, $50 family tickets. Not only would you have sold a lot more tickets, you would have got a lot of people going that don't normally go to a game.

Looking at the ticketmaster seat map, they're going to need a big surge in sales just to reach 20k.

 

[ilikepotatoes]

Just had a quick look at when Gold Coast sold a home game to us and that game got 52k.

Also happens to be their home crowd record still lol.

But don't think we will get anywhere near that.

 

[Vintage]

Yep they've ****ed it up. People aren't going to pay full price to watch Norf. Should have been set at Melbourne prices for this game, i.e $25 for most seats, $50 family tickets. Not only would you have sold a lot more tickets, you would have got a lot of people going that don't normally go to a game.

Looking at the ticketmaster seat map, they're going to need a big surge in sales just to reach 20k.

The state govt and afl should have focussed on filling the place, and if possible getting as many non members (or people who can’t normally get a ticket) to the game as possible. Would be so much better to have 50k there than 20k.

 

[Purple Suit]

Just had a quick look at when Gold Coast sold a home game to us and that game got 52k.

Also happens to be their home crowd record still lol.

But don't think we will get anywhere near that.

It’s because it was a lot cheaper. Only like $25 for a lot of the seats from memory.

 

[DragoDelph]

Honestly wouldn’t be a bad thing if 20k west coast fans showed up and supported north. Give the team a hostile atmosphere to deal with, while being in comfortable surroundings

 

[Catalpa]

Sean Darcy

4

Sean Darcy

Age

27

Ht

203cm

Wt

111kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.1

3star

K

3.4

1star

HB

6.6

4star

CL

2.4

4star

HO

28.8

5star

D

6.8

1star

K

2.0

1star

HB

4.8

3star

CL

1.8

4star

HO

20.3

5star

D

11.4

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

6.8

5star

CL

2.6

5star

HO

32.0

5star

is a very good ruck, and what I assume the match committee are doing is giving him every chance to be cherry ripe come August and Sept. We want the combination of Darcy and Jackson to force opposition coaches headaches. I imagine Darcy will play every possible game on a planned increase in minutes.

What's different this year, compared to a couple of years ago when Darcy was covering the ground, is Voss effectiveness as a third tall. If Darcy doesn't break down again and regains the ability to run reasonable defensive and offensive patterns at AFL speed, do they drop one tall forward?

 

[Perfect Purple]

Honestly wouldn’t be a bad thing if 20k west coast fans showed up and supported north. Give the team a hostile atmosphere to deal with, while being in comfortable surroundings

Yes it would but the Eagle fans I know aren’t happy that North beat them.

They were convinced that they would win on Sunday.