Game Day Community Series. North Melbourne v wc Saturday 1/3/25 Bunbury WA

[The Nostradamus]

I thought in that second quarter the defenders and mids were lazy getting in the hole and double teaming

Got better after that, chom, stephens and tucker in particular worked hard to come across and cut the leading lane

Need more of that
Don’t want to ever see Sam Darcy one out on Saturday round 1

 

[DarwinRoo]

I just don’t get the point of playing L-Mac yesterday. We rest Parker but not Luke?

You have a WA boy who you assume is part of the future and you don’t play him in front of family and friends?

If the club isn’t that worried about the result then you have nothing to lose by playing him and absolutely nothing to gain by playing McDonald.

Also Luke has a young family, why not keep him at home rather than take him away for a few days when it’s not required at all.

If you are worried about leadership then use the opportunity to challenge Harry, Larkey and the other senior players in their leadership skills.

 

[Sphynx]

I thought in that second quarter the defenders and mids were lazy getting in the hole and double teaming

Got better after that, chom, stephens and tucker in particular worked hard to come across and cut the leading lane

Need more of that
Don’t want to ever see Sam Darcy one out on Saturday round 1

I have no idea what it is.

If it’s Corr getting lost in transition, if it’s instructions by Clarko to push up and play so far off your man. Comben is guilty of it on occasion but does impact contest more often than not when he does it.

No team gets more Joe the goose or knife through butter open leading targets than this North back line and it’s invariably because the last key defender is caught about 20m out of position time and time again

 

[rickety]

I just don’t get the point of playing L-Mac yesterday. We rest Parker but not Luke?

You have a WA boy who you assume is part of the future and you don’t play him in front of family and friends?

If the club isn’t that worried about the result then you have nothing to lose by playing him and absolutely nothing to gain by playing McDonald.

Also Luke has a young family, why not keep him at home rather than take him away for a few days when it’s not required at all.

If you are worried about leadership then use the opportunity to challenge Harry, Larkey and the other senior players in their leadership skills.

 

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[apollo_creed]

I thought in that second quarter the defenders and mids were lazy getting in the hole and double teaming

Got better after that, chom, stephens and tucker in particular worked hard to come across and cut the leading lane

Need more of that
Don’t want to ever see Sam Darcy one out on Saturday round 1

He will be. Prepare yourself.

Our defensive unit are the best cheek spreaders in the AFL.

 

[WesternRoo]

I just don’t get the point of playing L-Mac yesterday. We rest Parker but not Luke?

You have a WA boy who you assume is part of the future and you don’t play him in front of family and friends?

If the club isn’t that worried about the result then you have nothing to lose by playing him and absolutely nothing to gain by playing McDonald.

Also Luke has a young family, why not keep him at home rather than take him away for a few days when it’s not required at all.

If you are worried about leadership then use the opportunity to challenge Harry, Larkey and the other senior players in their leadership skills.

Agree with this DRoo.

I think all you can make of it is that Luke is playing for his spot and Parker isn’t.

Not playing Hardemann is ridiculous and if Luke could have stood aside and didnt to give him a go, it’s also quite selfish.

I’m not sure Clarko has the stones to deal with this massive elephant in the room.

 

[big_e]

Are they putting Stands around that ground like what was behind the goals left of screen?

And how’s the lads on the roof just outside the fence

Tipping that will be moved by the first game there

Short answer is yes. Capacity yesterday was 8,000, it'll be 13,000 in June. And there'll be temporary grandstands around a lot of the ground.

It was very much a test event yesterday. They did a decent enough job and would have learned a lot.

 

[Liam Boy]

To be fair, his kicking was only poor at the times he had the ball.



Ok, it's a joke. He is normally a very accurate kick but he was off target by miles on at least a couple of occasions yesterday. Glad if he's got the bad kicks out of his system now.

Yeah, that was our side's worst performance in front of goals in years. Everyone missed shots they would normally make easily and it cost us the game. If we had to have one game like that I'm glad it was in a meaningless practice match.

 

[Jeremy Jordan]

Wow, almost ticked off all the excuses in one post. You forgot to mention the players we had out as well.

So it wasn’t hot and we didn’t kick inaccurately?

 

[Uncle_Leo]

So it wasn’t hot and we didn’t kick inaccurately?

You forgot to add windy

I hope it’s not too humid at Marvel for round 1 as these conditions only affect us

 

[Roosurgence]

Then stop quoting 1 ****ing preseason game in gale force winds like it’s gospel for the next 15 years.

He had both 80% kicking and 80% handball efficiency last year from a 16 game sample size. Which is miles better than any other midfielder in the side.

Sheezel had 71% and 82% the year prior playing exactly the same half back role if you want to get really technical.

He turns it over occasionally, but so does everybody.

Sheezel averaged over 2 more turnovers a game than McKercher playing exactly the same role…

It’s not one game. His decision making has been poor since he has been at the club.

You are seriously trying to make a comparison against Sheezel that is ultra creative and takes on difficult options to McKercher butchering the simple?

 

[DuckYeah]

My ol mate reckons we run out of legs and west coast run over the top because they are used to the heat and we arent.

I suggest that a few degrees means **** all in the scheme of things but was absolutely adamant, weather/climate had a massive impact in the game

 

[Masked Avenger]

It’s not one game. His decision making has been poor since he has been at the club.

You are seriously trying to make a comparison against Sheezel that is ultra creative and takes on difficult options to McKercher butchering the simple?

Lol.

Seriously mate.

Without any hesitation, struggling to think of a better debut year from an 18 yo except Sheezel and you're hanging him out to dry on a practice match.

He'll be a special player.

 

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[ohmygewd]

The problem is that our 1 v 1 defenders are terrible 1 v 1. Except archer. Logue is ok and hasnt played for 18 m basically - the wrist injury was very bad after an ACL. So he gets a pass. But corr and lmac are liabilities in a contest. And turn it over on top - but also weirdly seem to massively overrate themselves with ball in hand. Chom who we love needs to learn to defend - ill back him and he has other elite qualities to work with. Corr and lmac have none. We dont go forward with them stealing game time from others. FOS already looks better. Way better.

Corr's is serviceable until the likes of W.Dawson or Whitlock are ready to take that FB role - at 30yo and returning back from injury, he's better for the run.
Chom - often said he is a forward pretending to be defender but that doesn't mean he can't play defense just only when we are desperate like last year - l'd prefer to play K.Dawson as the 3rd defender when we play against a more agile forward line but Clarko doesn't rate K.Dawson high enough, imo. TBH, l question why they haven't experimented with Maley as KPD in the VFL as another option?
LMac - I think Clarko's paying him more respect for his seniority and leadership rather than his performance and like Corr, when the younger players show more substance than just promise..Clarko will keep playing him.

He got called McTorcher, fact is he did torch it yesterday and is prone to it atm. His role is important as you say and he'll improve, but i dont mind throwing him a challenge to keep that nickname off the boards as much as possible. Seems a straight forward fix, stop torching it.

I'm not as harsh as Roosurgence on McKercher but I do view him in a greater light being a overall no.2 draft pick in 2023 and maybe playing with LMac and D.Stephens has hampered his decision making by hand. But to me the skill he needs to really improve is his stationary kicking - he can hit a target on the run with almost pinpoint accuracy but on a stationary mark, he does miss the target with some regularity.
I'm sure as a 2nd year player, it should be something he will work on but he should be viewed harshly because he's no 2nd round or late 1st pick, McKercher is a No.2 pick as was Sheezel, so he should be held in the same light and same scrutiny imo.
On the WilPhil thing, the fear that he could be next Paddy Dow is what l think drives supporters in being very critical of him...which l hope he isn't a bust.

 

[DuckYeah]

He got called McTorcher, fact is he did torch it yesterday and is prone to it atm. His role is important as you say and he'll improve, but i dont mind throwing him a challenge to keep that nickname off the boards as much as possible. Seems a straight forward fix, stop torching it.

I called him a slightly above average kick and people wanted my head

 

[DuckYeah]

Harsh on Comben. Was not great yesterday but has been good for us since back on the park.

 

[Rod Stroker]

Bagging Philips based on yesterday is football illiteracy. He was everywhere in the first half.

he'll be gone when Wardlaw is ready. Weakest link in the middle

 

[LB2Snake]

We could have at least given Hardeman and Teakle a run in the last Q

Yeah that was strange wasn’t it. Why not play them?

 

[Spud11]

I didn’t see the game but reading on here has me concerned that they haven’t worked on many of the glaring issues from last year and the years before (eg forward entries, leaking multiple goals, poor defence, skills).

 

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[DunderHead]

I didn’t see the game but reading on here has me concerned that they haven’t worked on many of the glaring issues from last year and the years before (eg forward entries, leaking multiple goals, poor defence, skills).

If you look at the stats scoring shots and inside 50s we did much better than we have done the last two years.

 

[MinistryOfMajak]

Just watched the game. Lots to like, a few things to dislike.

Liked Xerri, Sheez, Powell, Phillips, FOS, RHJ and JD and our general control of the game.

Didn't like how vulnerable we looked on the counter at times. Didn't like our forward entries for the most part. If we were cuter in this area we probably win by 5 goals or more.

Overall I feel encouraged by the performance.

Jy and Parker coming back in should add a lot to the forward structure and pressure too.

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[Roosurgence]

Lol.

Seriously mate.

Without any hesitation, struggling to think of a better debut year from an 18 yo except Sheezel and your hanging him out to dry on a practice match.

He'll be a special player.

It was the same last year. Run and take the wrong option or run and then turn sideways and crab kick.

But that’s ok. Let’s bag every other player on the list for making mistakes or the odd turnover, and give this guy a pass mark when he butchers it based on some notion he is super talented.

 

[Roosurgence]

Yeah that was strange wasn’t it. Why not play them?

Especially considering we wasted minutes on Stephens, Tucker and McDonald. Who shouldn’t be anywhere near best 22 if we are serious about improving.

 

[kool kangas]

It's interesting reading everyones point of view on the teams performance and players individually. While it is only a practice game we needed to see progress from last season and l think we did. Others no doubt disagree.

Our defence l thought while, not great, was ok . 11 goals with 4 in the last 1/4 and WCE kicking and utilizing a strong wind wasn't our main problem. Inaccurate kicking was the main reason we lost. Our forwards kicking for goal was attrocious with Darling, Larkey being the main culprits. We should have won by at least 3 goals....

While other dont agree l thought Tucker played a good game and hope he will be there for RD1 but so might Stephens and McDonald unfortunately.

l still cant work out why Hardeman and Teakle never got a run because McDonald and Corr could have sat out the last quarter.

Our first game against the Doggies will show where we are at and no doubt give posters on here ammunition to let fly on their thoughts.

 

[ansonholt]

Jy and Parker coming back in should add a lot to the forward structure and pressure too.

Jy especially. He's been dominant during the preseason and we saw what he did in the IAS game surrounded by some highly accomplished team mates.

If he can recover from his illness and have no effects he'll make a huge difference.

Parker as well. Had a very good pre-season. Not sure why he was left out of this game.