Half Year Review

Jay-Z

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#26
I can understand people being a bit annoyed at the inconsistency but I just can't cop people coming in here and saying they are disappointed with a 7-4 record. Consider this:

On average the bookies rated us a 41% ($2.46) chance of winning the games we have. i.e. Our AVERAGE win has been less than a 50% prospect. Now I get that we have lost to some poor sides (avg odds in a loss is 67% or $1.49) but surely (Shirley!) that is made up for with wins over port (otherwise undefeated), Freo and Sydney (both seen pre-season as impossible tasks).

Overall, we have won 7 of our 11 games (64%) when according to the bookies we should have won 5 (47%).

This time last year we were 4-7 and 13th on the ladder. I'd much rather be where we are now
 

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Jay-Z

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#27
I think I pretty much agree with you except I have a feeling Freo will secure the 4th spot at ours and Geelongs peril.

I also think have a feeling that the Suns can come on a bit if they sort out their Fwd set-up, they were not far off Swans in the on-ball department and had similar about of forward entries. Prolly Buddy and Parker being the differences in Fwd performances. Definitely wouldn’t surprise me if they finish 5th 6th.

I suppose the only real issue is who has home finals in the wash-up. as the comp 1-4 and 5-8 appears very close. Can Port keep this tempo up all the way into the finals?

For my money i have a bad feeling we are gonna draw the Suns in the first final. prolly would prefer we draw them at the MCG as both Etihad and Metricon havnt been great hunting grounds against them recently. This would have Collingwood and Geelong in the other elimination final.
Agree that Freo will get 4th spot. But I would love to draw GC in the first final. Would be much better for us than a finals hardened Geelong or Collingwood IMO
 

archereleven

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#30
With the draw we have remaining, its top 4 or die imho. The hard yards have been done, its time to get consistent with our effort, application and intensity.

Adelaide away will tell the story. We beat them and we could see a 5-6-7 game winning streak.

Good write up by the OP. Im happy with the season so far, but would of been tremendously disappointed with it had we lost against Shitmond.
 

Jay-Z

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#31
With the draw we have remaining, its top 4 or die imho. The hard yards have been done, its time to get consistent with our effort, application and intensity.

Adelaide away will tell the story. We beat them and we could see a 5-6-7 game winning streak.

Good write up by the OP. Im happy with the season so far, but would of been tremendously disappointed with it had we lost against Shitmond.
I disagree, but only because this could be one of those rare years where 16 wins doesn't get you top 4 and I think it would be incredibly harsh to say if we win 8 or even 9 of our last 11 games we have still failed.

I said at the start of the year we should finish top 6 and win a final. This is still the pass mark for me
 

Hearts to hearts

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#33
With who North has been drawn to play so far, and where we have played them - and with the injuries we've had - and with the general impression that the team has barely, rarely really hit its straps with the defence/attack balance - I think 7-4 is a very strong place at the half way mark.

No idea where the club will finish - we are only a game behind the top 4 group that is nestled behind Port, but would need to pick up a game and percentage or two games against some pretty good teams which also have fairly attractive runs coming up - but that matters less than how North goes on and attacks the next eleven games. If we can get that balance working more consistently well, and get closer to our best 22 out there more often, there's a good chance of hitting the finals in a good spot and in good, confident form.
 

archereleven

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#34
I disagree, but only because this could be one of those rare years where 16 wins doesn't get you top 4 and I think it would be incredibly harsh to say if we win 8 or even 9 of our last 11 games we have still failed.

I said at the start of the year we should finish top 6 and win a final. This is still the pass mark for me
Dont get me wrong, i dont mean itll be a failure if we dont make top 4. Im just saying its well within reach if the boys play to their potential and commit to the brand of football needed to win finals, which imo we are now playing

We can beat every team from here on. But will we?
 

Only Forwards

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#35
Wild Bill

Where we sit right now is a pass.

We have improved defensively since last year. We have won on the road where we could buy wins previously. We have done this without having our best team on the park, depth has stood up pretty well to this point and it will be interesting to see if we can really push ahead when we have close to our best team on the park and playing together for a month. It would be great to hit finals like that.


Where we can improve;

There have been times this year where we have had opportunity in front of us and completely cocked it up. There are games that we could have won but we were just not where we needed to be mentally.

The Gold Coast game 7 goals to 1 in the first quarter is no where near good enough.

The Geelong game, if they are using the corridor to score heavily defend the f***ing thing, and just compete. There was an example from the weekend where Nahas spoiled Maric, just compete, make the opposition earn their possessions. We've had lapses where we have allowed the opposition to have the game on their terms. We are better than that.

In the back half of the year, I want us to be come more opportunistic. Where it is in this area we really have the ability to improve.

At the start of the year top 6 was a pass for me and we should be able to get there. I want us to seize any opportunity that is laid in front of us and push beyond that if we can.
 

abby

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#36
I can understand people being a bit annoyed at the inconsistency but I just can't cop people coming in here and saying they are disappointed with a 7-4 record. Consider this:

On average the bookies rated us a 41% ($2.46) chance of winning the games we have. i.e. Our AVERAGE win has been less than a 50% prospect. Now I get that we have lost to some poor sides (avg odds in a loss is 67% or $1.49) but surely (Shirley!) that is made up for with wins over port (otherwise undefeated), Freo and Sydney (both seen pre-season as impossible tasks).

Overall, we have won 7 of our 11 games (64%) when according to the bookies we should have won 5 (47%).

This time last year we were 4-7 and 13th on the ladder. I'd much rather be where we are now

See 7-4 as a figure I am not disappointed with, I'm very happy but when you look at who we have beaten and some of the loses we have had (* and GC) we should be sitting higher, but alas, would much rather have beaten the teams we have and lost to the teams we have then vice versa.

Adding Wells, Taz, Jmac and Grima back in will be huge, just the question is who drops out for them...

If we can get the mix between defence and attack right, we could go deep into September, out of our 3 danger games, Geelong wouldnt scare us at Etihad and neither would the Hawks, this weekend could be anything. I'd also say the game against Melbourne will be very important too, its our last game at the MCG and since we are in a position play finals, we need to perform there.

Off topic a bit, if by round 17ish, we are in a position to play finals and it looks likely all if not most our finals are going to be at the MCG, should we be relocating training to a bigger ground? I know we used Highgate when Arden street was being redeveloped.
 

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#37
If going by a scorecard approach i'd give a B-.

Some impressive wins combined with some inexcusably bad losses.

Tigers game probably fitted in with such a rating by being D for a half and A for the rest.

Certainly in a good position to capatalise for second half of year....if we are good enough.

Consistency still seems to be a major issue, but when we are on we are a force to be reckoned with.
 

Only Forwards

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#47
Yep, it's of biblical proportions.

Our players will need to do their best Moses impersonation against the GoDees.
It'll be scrappy. They will make it that way.

Roo's has made them competitive by making them defend as a 22.

The game will be ugly, we will have to be harder for longer to win it. I expect we will, but it'll be turgid viewing.
 

Heaps of fun

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#48
It'll be scrappy. They will make it that way.

Roo's has made them competitive by making them defend as a 22.

The game will be ugly, we will have to be harder for longer to win it. I expect we will, but it'll be turgid viewing.
Surely can't be any worse than Sheedy dropping 10 men behind the ball during the GWS game last year?
 

Only Forwards

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#49
Surely can't be any worse than Sheedy dropping 10 men behind the ball during the GWS game last year?
There is a difference in maturity levels between the teams. At the moment Roos is coaching them to not lose games by much.

The godees fans must be loving it. after years of watching their side get violated week in week out it must feel like christmas to not get blown off the park.
 
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