Opinion Commentary and media

[Zondor]

Zondor....a media Gobble Gobble????

What part of what Ro-Co says do you think I disagree with? :stern look

 

[Gasometer]

What part of what Ro-Co says do you think I disagree with? :stern look

I asked you the question.

 

[Zondor]

I asked you the question.

And before I take, what I consider to be an important 10 minutes of my life to answer it, I ask once again what part do you think I disagree with? :stern look

 

[astrovic]

Garner = Dumont
Vickers-Willis = Vickers-Wills
Cunnington = Dumont
Dumont = Cunnington
Thompson = Hansen

Give it up Baz.

To be fair, he did know all of the Freo player's names, which no sane person could ever be bothered doing.

Personally I just call them all "s**t hairdo".

 

[Gasometer]

And before I take, what I consider to be an important 10 minutes of my life to answer it, I ask once again what part do you think I disagree with? :stern look

You expect Wild Bill to answer your question yet can't answer when it's your turn.

Forged about it

 

[Zondor]

You expect Wild Bill to answer your question yet can't answer when it's your turn.

Forged about it

I will answer the question. Just want to understand what part of Ro-Co article you think I disagree with. :stern look

 

[Gasometer]

I will answer the question. Just want to understand what part of Ro-Co article you think I disagree with. :stern look

I've lost interest...you turn a simple tag out of interest into another drama in here.

I made a mistake.

Just forget it

 

[Zondor]

I've lost interest...you turn a simple tag out of interest into another drama in here.

I made a mistake.

Just forget it

Why? It was you who tagged me. All I'm asking you is to be clear with what part of Ro-Co's article you believe I disagree with. :stern look

 

[Donkey Chop]

Rohan Connolly, from http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-competition-framework-is-better-than-ever-so-can-we-stop-the-fiddling-for-five-minutes-20170423-gvqix8.html. A reasonable, positive article.
So how are North Melbourne going? Depends who you ask. My suggestion on Twitter on Saturday evening that the Roos had been stiff this season certainly drew plenty of scorn.

There was the usual "chokers" label regularly applied indiscriminately to any team which loses by a kick after leading. And in North's case, the increasingly regular "Brad Scott must go" lines.

I wonder, though, how many people throwing those tags around expected much more from the Roos this season than they're getting? Not many, I would have thought. And if those that did were unrealistic to expect more, I reckon they're also being a bit harsh now.

This is a team that has calculatedly taken the rebuilding route, with the departures of five veterans at the end of last year shedding close to 1600 games worth of collective experience to do so. This year was never going to be smooth sailing, most people consigning the Roos to the bottom four, where with a 0-5 scoreline now, they're every chance to wind up.

The question now is whether the focus, after three losses by under a kick, should be on the five-goal leads North have given up each time, or the effort in getting to those winning positions. I think it's the latter.

Two of the defeats have been to a reigning premier and a preliminary finalist of last season, both in pretty decent form again. The other, on Saturday, was against a clearly revitalised Fremantle in Perth, the most difficult of road trips, where North have won just twice in their last dozen appearances.

It's true the Roos under Scott have issues in the tight finish. In his eighth season as coach, North have lost 21 games decided by single figures, and won only nine. Then again, how many expected them to be that close to those three teams this season anyway?

The effort can't be questioned. And the gains have been considerable, the Roos already using 29 players and handing six their AFL debuts, all of whom have had some sort of impact when given a chance.

Senior recruits Nathan Hrovat and Marley Williams have added plenty, Trent Dumont has improved out of sight, Mason Wood is now back in the mix, and while senior types Jarrad Waite and Ben Jacobs are still several weeks away, there's more good kids ready to have a crack in Ryan Clarke, Sam Durdin and Corey Wagner.

If there's one thing Scott should look at harder now, it's playing even more of their like and having the courage to drop some under-performing veterans. But this is a team playing much, much better than a 0-5 win-loss record would indicate. And while it's easy to parrot lines like you're only as good as the scoreboard, in North's case right now, that is patently untrue.

Good article. The bold line in particular is spot on.

 

[Boozeroo]

Luke Darcy- "Gee, look at the atmosphere in the crowd".

 

[Gasometer]

Luke Darcy- "Gee, look at the atmosphere in the crowd".

'AFL...never fails to disappoint '

 

[Jimmy's Hot Dogs]

Did Luke Daaaaaaaaarcy say something about a handball being a good hand job in the call or did I mishear it?

 

[kangaspurs]

Rohan Connolly, from http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-competition-framework-is-better-than-ever-so-can-we-stop-the-fiddling-for-five-minutes-20170423-gvqix8.html. A reasonable, positive article.
So how are North Melbourne going? Depends who you ask. My suggestion on Twitter on Saturday evening that the Roos had been stiff this season certainly drew plenty of scorn.

There was the usual "chokers" label regularly applied indiscriminately to any team which loses by a kick after leading. And in North's case, the increasingly regular "Brad Scott must go" lines.

I wonder, though, how many people throwing those tags around expected much more from the Roos this season than they're getting? Not many, I would have thought. And if those that did were unrealistic to expect more, I reckon they're also being a bit harsh now.

This is a team that has calculatedly taken the rebuilding route, with the departures of five veterans at the end of last year shedding close to 1600 games worth of collective experience to do so. This year was never going to be smooth sailing, most people consigning the Roos to the bottom four, where with a 0-5 scoreline now, they're every chance to wind up.

The question now is whether the focus, after three losses by under a kick, should be on the five-goal leads North have given up each time, or the effort in getting to those winning positions. I think it's the latter.

Two of the defeats have been to a reigning premier and a preliminary finalist of last season, both in pretty decent form again. The other, on Saturday, was against a clearly revitalised Fremantle in Perth, the most difficult of road trips, where North have won just twice in their last dozen appearances.

It's true the Roos under Scott have issues in the tight finish. In his eighth season as coach, North have lost 21 games decided by single figures, and won only nine. Then again, how many expected them to be that close to those three teams this season anyway?

The effort can't be questioned. And the gains have been considerable, the Roos already using 29 players and handing six their AFL debuts, all of whom have had some sort of impact when given a chance.

Senior recruits Nathan Hrovat and Marley Williams have added plenty, Trent Dumont has improved out of sight, Mason Wood is now back in the mix, and while senior types Jarrad Waite and Ben Jacobs are still several weeks away, there's more good kids ready to have a crack in Ryan Clarke, Sam Durdin and Corey Wagner.

If there's one thing Scott should look at harder now, it's playing even more of their like and having the courage to drop some under-performing veterans. But this is a team playing much, much better than a 0-5 win-loss record would indicate. And while it's easy to parrot lines like you're only as good as the scoreboard, in North's case right now, that is patently untrue.

The entire premise of this article seems to be 'everyone had low expectations of North this year so why are you surprised that they're s**t?'

And that's why I strongly disagree with it. Personally, my expectations certainly were not of a bottom 4 finish as I believed, and still do, to an extent, that our losses, despite being experienced, weren't irreplaceable and few of them were having a massive influence in our excellent run of form at the start of last season anyway, after which injuries played a role, among other things, in our run of losses. IMO our list is much better than an 0-5 start and 3 wins in the last 18 (or whatever it is), but it's hamstrung by the coach and the team selection.

In any case, if I'm wrong and Connelly is right and we are s**t and rebuilding/resetting, then why isn't there more criticism coming from the likes of him about the team selections, which don't reflect the reset rhetoric and precedent established by and after the retirement of those 4 experienced guys, and adopted by Connelly in this article? Picking a debutant and then dropping him after a week is paying lip service to a rebuild, not committing to it. Neither is consistently having the 8th or 9th oldest team and losing to others which are less experienced. What's the point of having 6 or 7 debutants if most of them are getting dropped after 1 game while the coach persists with senior players who are either unable to contribute anymore or terribly out of form? That's not a rebuild.

We're either rebuilding or we're going for finals like Scott and the players said, but which is it? Because right now various decisions are contradicting themselves, as if we're trying to do both, but in the end achieving neither.

 

[Orange Peanut]

The entire premise of this article seems to be 'everyone had low expectations of North this year so why are you surprised that they're s**t?'

And that's why I strongly disagree with it. Personally, my expectations certainly were not of a bottom 4 finish as I believed, and still do, to an extent, that our losses, despite being experienced, weren't irreplaceable and few of them were having a massive influence in our excellent run of form at the start of last season anyway, after which injuries played a role, among other things, in our run of losses. IMO our list is much better than an 0-5 start and 3 wins in the last 18 (or whatever it is), but it's hamstrung by the coach and the team selection.

In any case, if I'm wrong and Connelly is right and we are s**t and rebuilding/resetting, then why isn't there more criticism coming from the likes of him about the team selections, which don't reflect the reset rhetoric and precedent established by and after the retirement of those 4 experienced guys, and adopted by Connelly in this article? Picking a debutant and then dropping him after a week is paying lip service to a rebuild, not committing to it. Neither is consistently having the 8th or 9th oldest team and losing to others which are less experienced. What's the point of having 6 or 7 debutants if most of them are getting dropped after 1 game while the coach persists with senior players who are either unable to contribute anymore or terribly out of form? That's not a rebuild.

We're either rebuilding or we're going for finals like Scott and the players said, but which is it? Because right now various decisions are contradicting themselves, as if we're trying to do both, but in the end achieving neither.

RoCo said in several different places at the start of the season that he didn't buy the general perception that North was in for a crap year.

From my perspective he's saying we are nowhere near as bad as you would expect from a 0-5 team, and when our tough onfield efforts are combined with the fact that the bulk of the list management pain has been taken already, the future is pretty bright.

 

[giantroo]

Robbo has turned up the heat.


JOEL Selwood’s brilliance against St Kilda cannot be overlooked, but North Melbourne’s ability to again snatch defeat from victory can’t be ignored.

His dislikes:

2. NORTH MELBOURNE

THE Kangaroos have lost 22 matches under Brad Scott by less than 12 points since 2010, the third-most by any team behind Carlton and Port Adelaide. More frustrating is the Kangaroos have been in front for 53 per cent of game-time this season and Saturday night’s loss was the third this season by less than 10 points.

So, who is to blame? From what I’ve seen of the kids this year — Jy Simpkin, Trent Dumont, Ed Vickers-Willis, Kayne Turner, Taylor Garner and, this weekend, Mason Wood — it’s hardly the fault of the youth. No, the coach and the leaders have to accept responsibility. You can’t be unlucky so many times. In big moments, the leaders don’t stand up, which, in part, is a reflection of the coach.

Lindsay Thomas is out of form. Picture: Getty Images
3. THE DELIBERATE DEBACLE

CRAZY umpiring at Subiaco on Saturday night unquestionably had an effect on the result. In the third quarter, with North Melbourne 29 points up, a blatant deliberate kick out of bounds by Fremantle’s Garrick Ibbotson was not paid. Who knows what would have happened if North had won the kick. Another goal and the game over? We’ll never know.

Later in the quarter, Marley Williams was pinged for deliberate when he tried to curl a kick back into the field of play, only to see it bounce out. That, too, changed the game. The problem was one was paid and the other wasn’t and the match was reset after both decisions.

4. COSTLY ROOS MISTAKES

BUT, Kangas, don’t blame the umpires for the loss. Yes, the umpires were inconsistent and they made mistakes, but so did the North Melbourne players. In the final part of the last quarter, Williams turned it over, which led to a Tom Sheridan goal, Lachie Hansen put his forearm into the head of Brady Grey and conceded a free kick downfield and the Dockers kicked the goal, Garner missed a goal from 35m and Johnson got on his own to kick one late.

Who was on Nat Fyfe at the stoppages and who let Shane Kersten go at the death? The review won’t be good viewing, especially Hansen’s hit on Grey.

5. THOMAS AND SWALLOW

WHAT does Brad Scott do with Lindsay Thomas and Andrew Swallow? At 0-5 it’s not all doom and gloom because close losses are better than beltings, but the team has to change. Thomas is in a slump and thus his confidence is low, and he was diving for free kicks against the Dockers. Swallow has hit the wall and his position is under threat. Scott has to decide, as one of the older teams at the weekend, does he stay with the veterans or bring in more kids?

6. SYDNEY

WHAT about Sydney? The expectations on the Swans were greater than they were on North Melbourne, yet the excuses for them and the confidence in them are out of whack. They are 0-5, the same as North, and they are getting beaten at the contest, which has been their strength. Kieren Jack is their Andrew Swallow and John Longmire will have a call to make on him at some stage.

Luke Parker has dropped his standards and Dan Hannebery and Josh Kennedy aren’t getting their normal ball numbers. The Swans had their second-fewest disposals in a game (326) since the 2014 Grand Final.

 

[giantroo]

 

[Royal Flush]

Hate to agree with Robbo, but he was spot on.

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Groucho]

Hate to agree with Robbo, but he was spot on.

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

Yeah it just doesn't seem right but Robbo is spot on here. Must say that blaming the umpires hadn't even occurred to me (which is unusual!) I guess you just expect it to be bad over there.

 

[Gasometer]

Robbo gets his content from Big Footy.

 

[Orange Peanut]

I disagree that LT was diving for free kicks. The rest seems about right.

 

[Orange Peanut]

Robbo gets his content from Big Footy.

I'm becoming more convinced. I reckon he has a "researcher" do it so he has plausible denyability.

 

[Royal Flush]

Yeah it just doesn't seem right but Robbo is spot on here. Must say that blaming the umpires hadn't even occurred to me (which is unusual!) I guess you just expect it to be bad over there.

Yes I wonder who exactly was blaming umpires ? I generally don't watch post match conferences as it adds further nausea to an nauseating end to the game .
I hope it wasn't BS?

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Harris 10]

I disagree that LT was diving for free kicks. The rest seems about right.

Not sure why he put this in, must've need to fill content because it's just wrong.

Rest is spot on and is only saying what everybody else has been saying for at least the last 2 weeks if not the last 12 months.

 

[Gasometer]

LT missed two frees and one should have been a reward for an awesome chase.

 

[SonofSamsquanch]

He even pointed out that both players chasing the ball were wearing #2, yet still called him Mullett.

Yeah. Heard that! Must have been Marley Mullett.