Happy with the pies win

[The Dutchman!]

I notice that the Age is suggesting we were below par today and will have to improve. Obviously that's true.

However, not a bad win when you consider:

1. We were 4 goals down at one stage:
2. We were 9.19 at one stage
3. McVeigh, Bolton, Fraser, Robran, Denham were in the side instead of Barnes, Hird, Mercuri, Hardwick and Wallis who will all be back next week.
4. The game meant nothing to us (other than winning more H/A games than anyone ever before) - but really 5 or 6 games clear on top = who cares?

Hats off to the pies. Good effort. IMHO they are getting rid of the right players and provided they draft some talls and key position players they may be ok next year.

Dutch

PS. Congratulations to the Cats (ie: GOCATSGO) and Bomber Thompson on a very impressive transitional season - they will be very good next year working off a strong foundation.
PPS. Commisserations to the Swannies (Ie: BSA) - brave performance that.

 

[RICE80SF]

G'day Dutchy.

Don't really know how I feel about this win, hard to know what was going throught the guys heads. I agree with those points you listed, I forgot all about Hardwick being out while watching the game (sacreligious).
Also we never play well against the pies (no matter how far apart on the ladder we are), for some reason. It was their G.F. with Gav. & Gav. bowing out.

It was a bit of a worry the amount of over possessing they did though. They looked like the Dons of '98 NOT '00. It took a bit of hard running by Mark Johnson, breaking the lines, to jolt their memories on how they should be playing. I'm glad their getting their shit kicking for goal out of their system now, you can't afford to do that in the finals.

Allessio is a real worry, he does some good things but doesn't present himself at contests, nearly enough. Robran might acctually push his way into the side at his expence, he's shown he wants to be part of finals, Steve is just floundering. Really missed Barnsey's run, he could acctually be our most important player now.

Still think we will be alright though, unlike the week to week media guys who reckon we look shakey and Carlton look awesome following their win over a shattered Richmond (this was after 3 losses on end). I'm glad we're playing the Roos and not Melbourne this week, they'll beat Carlscum.

I'm confident against the Roos, we have their measure at the moment and their not playing at all well. I think we'll play Carlscum in the preliminary again and beat them, then go on to play the Dees in the GF.

Cheers




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BOMBER BLITZ IN 2000!

 

[Shinboners]

Time to grasp at straws, so here goes.

1. North and Essendon will start the game with 0.0.0 each.

2. If Pike gets back from his hamstring, then we'll have a full list to choose from for the first time this season.

3. Well, it's the finals, so apart from the usual players who play their guts out each week (okay, I'll name them....Carey, McCartney, Blakey, Pickett, King, and Bell, plus Stevo, Archer, and Martyn who are all back from injury) , the rest of them might start to look a little bit interested in actually playing competitive footy.

4. The Allan Jeans "every player just has one pair of legs and one pair of arms" theory, and well, there aren't any X-Men-ish genetic mutations amongst the Essendon team, so they must be human.

Hum. Okay, here's my prediction. There will be biffo before the first bounce. North will line up with three tall forwards in Carey, McKernan, and Colbert. McCartney will take Lucas, Martyn will take Lloyd, and Blakey will be keeping Hird company. Simpson will follow Mercuri around and Pickett will take Long. In the centre square, we'll start off with Burton in the ruck and Bell, Stevens, and King trying to feed off him. And for North to win, we have to be within 2 goals of Essendon by three quarter time. Any margin greater than that and we'll lose. Finally, if by some freak of nature, North are leading by 40 or 50 points by half time, I'm going home because I know they'll let Essendon back in and I can't take the stress of another close game this season.

Last point, and this is the time for my stupid theories. The best result for North is an honourable loss. A win for North would put them straight to the prelim, and they'll be so cocky about turning on the form when required, that they'll lose that game. We haven't been playing with any fluency all year and North's best hope is to emulate Adelaide '98...that is, a first week loss to let the players know where they're at (a reality check) before getting momentum by winning two finals for a shot at the Grand Final. The thing is that players like Martyn, Archer, Stevens, and Colbert have been out for between one month and half a season, so they will be the keys. In the last few years, when North got to preliminary final week, many of the players looked exhausted, but over the last few weeks, they haven't looked tired.....just apathetic and not hungry. But, and this is the last straw, players like Martyn, Archer, Stevens, and Colbert are hungry...add in those players mentioned beforehand and perhaps they could lift the second tier players (Makepeace, Lange, Motlop, Clayton etc.) to a level required to match Essendon, Melbourne, and Carlton. We have the players, they just need the hunger and momentum.

Okay, you can stop laughing now. Bring on the Dons.

 

[Grendel]

Didnt laugh Shinboner. I dont think any (well not the clever ones, and they know who they are) Dons fans would be either. Good post.
I dont think you will win though, but by the same token I wont be surprised if you do. Good luck on the weekend.

 

[The Dutchman!]

Good posts guys

Certainly should be North best line up for a while. Same can be said of Essendon sans Rioli and Jacobs.

I understand Robram has been very good the last two weeks (bit surprising hey Grendel and Pess)... can't see Cess being dropped for the reason that in these sort of games he exploits the lack of height across the board in Nth's back set up.

End of the day, I'm very glad we don't have the dees 1st week up - and frankly as we've got North I'm glad we've got a weeks rest if we win (these games are always very physical). With the side we should have available (ie: all our best backs, all our midfield, almost all of our forwards and our best ruck) I can't see us losing to the 2000 Roos who, IMHO, have done very well to finish 3-4 with the injuries and problems they've had on and off the field.

Essendon 20+ (fingers x'd on the straight kicking and injury front)

Dutch

PS. One kick forward to tall forward set up. North flooding - I'd like to see that!!

 

[Grendel]

Dutch, just a quick one on 'apples Robram'. Great to see him staying up in the side. Can be a very handy player if not 'locked down' in a defensive position. Given that we had Rawlings playing the same sought of role for us, that was the reason Jon was let go. Very happy to see him with a shot at a premiership medal.

 

[Shinboners]

Dutchman

After following the Roos for more years than I care to remember, I figure that I've got a reasonable feel for how the team is travelling. There are two bits of news, the good and the bad. Taking it from where you're looking:

The good news. This is the first finals campaign since '93 where I feel that North don't have the form to win the premiership. Even in '95 when we faced up to Carlton in the preliminary final, I thought we could win. But in this campaign, I'm with Pagan....North are about 6 to 8 goals behind the top sides.

The bad news. Getting a feel for a club is one thing, but throughout this season, I haven't been able to read North's form. Heck, I haven't even been able to read their quarter to quarter form, let alone week to week. The only thing that has been consistent is that everytime I've felt that we're finished, they've come out with a good performance. Everytime I've thought that they're about to embark on a winning run, they play like duds. Go figure. I reckon they'll play hard on Saturday, but one poor quarter will cost the Roos.

 

[Pessimistic]

Yes, I liked Jon Robran too. I wish all the 'migrated hawks' well

D Jarman (Legend)
Matthew Young
Marcus Baldwin - got in at geelong - Ironic if he helps to beat us this weekend
Guy Rigoni - Never got a chance
Tim Hargreaves - Doing well in the country - May get picked up again.

 

[RICE80SF]

Yes Shins I'll certainly be pleased if we get off to as half as good a start as we did last time, might just break your guys. Then again I don't want our guys to think they can coast to line if they get a good start either. Should be a good tussle though.

The Blues Dees clash will be a cracker, esspecially if the Blues get done. Might shut John "Jabba the Hutt" Elliott up for the rest of the finals.

Talking of migrants Pess, it's really sad that Bazza Young has had a shocker of a year, he deserved better after getting the flick from us. Felt really sorry for him, even though he probably would've struggled for a game this year with us.

I think he was one of the guys who turned us around mentally last year, with his hardness in the midfield. He taught some of the younger guys how to go about it without being pushed around. Even though he over did it a bit and wasn't the greatest skillfully, he gave us that hard edge in the middle.

Cheers.



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BOMBER BLITZ IN 2000!

 

[sainter]

Pessimistic,

Regarding Matthew Young, I fear he has played his last game for St Kilda. He has been an excellent acquisition from the hawks and along with Spider was a very big loss from our 1997 Grand Final side. However, despite finishing second in the best & fairest last year, his form this year has been very poor. Sadly, he has been unable to even perform in the VFL side this year. We need to make changes and he may very well be one of the players traded/delisted in a few weeks time.

Another player we received from the hawks who I wanted to mention was Stewart Loewe. It is no surprise at all that Hawthorn did not require him because of the immense talent you had in the mid 1980's, not only across the board but also in his position of Centre-Half Forward like Dermie. Stewie's field and goal kicking was atrocious. Because of the sorry state of our team in the 1980's, we were able to give him a chance and he has proven to become one of the strongest and prodigious marks that the game has ever seen. Not necessarily the best, but on sheer weight of numbers has been sensational. Early next year he will bring up 300 games for the club, only four years after turning down one of the most lucrative contracts of the time to play at Freo at the end of 1996.

It is good to know that with some of the disgraceful trades we have made with Hawthorn such as Russell Greene (whose son not surprisingly has chosen Hawthorn before St Kilda as the club to go to under the father/son rule later this year), that guys such as Stewie has been given a chance and been such a legend.

Sorry, I didn't realise how much I was babbling on then.

 

[Shinboners]

Rice80

I have no doubt that North at their best can match and beat Essendon. The only problem is that a team needs 22 players playing 4 quarters of footy and North have not done that at all this season. There's nothing in the past month that indicates to me that North are about to start doing it this week. Naturally a win for North is something I'd love to see, but I'd be content to see two teams trudging off the MCG at 5.30pm absolutely exhausted.

Anyway, I've got my ticket. Southern Stand, ground level, North reserved section. Where's everyone else sitting?