How far can North Melbourne go?

[Handsome.B.Wonderful]

Will lose to Adelaide away, beat Melbourne, 50/50 with the Lions and then lose to Hawthorn.

Cushy draw should see them knocking on the top 4 but don't have the talent to do it. Will finish 5/6 and get knocked out first round of finals.

50/50 with Brisbane?

North beat Brisbane by 87 points 3 weeks ago, if not for poor kicking it would have been 120 points.

 

[clivenator26]

All the way to Gold Coast would have been good.

 

[FrancisX]

Top 4? You seen how easy Collingwood's draw is? They will have to take Geelong's spot to get top 4 and beat Collingwood there too.

They do look like a threatening side and they are starting to live up to what the pundits expected. Hard to imagine Sydney, Port and Hawthorn loosing their spot. Think North can beat any team ontheir day and signs are starting to look good but still haven't proved they have gone past inconsistency.

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Top 4? You seen how easy Collingwood's draw is? They will have to take Geelong's spot to get top 4 and beat Collingwood there too.

They do look like a threatening side and they are starting to live up to what the pundits expected. Hard to imagine Sydney, Port and Hawthorn loosing their spot. Think North can beat any team ontheir day and signs are starting to look good but still haven't proved they have gone past inconsistency.

All it shows is it looks good on paper Pies will drop a game they will be expected to win just like other sides will, who knows by round 23 we could be looking at a completely different top 4 than now.

I mean 2nd to 8th is decided by one game! although Geelong percentage is quite peculiar for a team in 4th.

 

[Plugger35]

Yeah, certainly can't see them beating Port, Sydney or Freo.....you know, again........this year.

Port in Adelaide, Sydney and Freo will be a lot tougher to beat in finals. All have improved since you beat them and have more finals experience.

 

[Macca19]

They've got the best draw of any team in the league. 2 games left against top 9 sides. Melbourne x2, GWS, St Kilda, Dogs, Brisbane. They'd start favourites against Carlton and Adelaide at home. Could easily beat Adelaide this week.

They've got probably minimum 7 wins in them. Puts them on 14 and knocking on the door of top 4.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

They have a soft draw, so they should make the eight and might even challenge for top 4. But teams that have had a soft draw in the past usually get found out in the finals, like Adelaide in 2012. I do think they're a top 8 quality team, but not a top 4.

 

[Benno_900]

They just aren't that good. Is their midfield better than that of any of Geelong, Hawthorn, Freo, Sydney, Collingwood or Port?

You tell me ...

Swallow, Cunnington, Greenwood, Ziebell, Wells, Dal Santo, Gibson, Bastinac, Harvey, Adams + sub (usually a running type)

If you don't rate it, you're underrating it.

Sydney have the best midfield in the league easily. But I'd back ours against the rest.

EDIT: I'd also rate Gold Coast as one of the best in the league and you've completely omitted them.

 

[hcd199]

Finishing top four would require not only a strong enough consistency from North, but also for us to dislodge one of the other competitors. Not impossible, but all of the teams right at the top end look hard to displace...

I'm a lot more comfortable going into away games against Adelaide and Brisbane knowing that we've overcome Sydney, Fremantle and West Coast at the SCG and Patersons already: typically we struggle in all of these match-ups, but we've played well in all three so far. The draw gets easier from here on in, and we've come out 7-4 with wins over the Dockers, Swans and Power (each of whom we only play once), so we have every opportunity to take it, but we can't play the way we have in all our losses this year and get away with it, so it really is a question of consistency.

 

[Adam H]

They can go all the way with the umpires in their back pocket like last night.

Correct last night was more umpires than North.

 

[Bomberblitzer]

Their players just don't stand up under intense pressure. Remember what happened last time? If they have to travel to Adelaide, Perth or Sydney, they will get demolished come September. Yes they've beaten some good sides during the season, but finals are a completely different beast.

 

[van peebles]

Thomas and Wells to come back in,ive got em in a prelim this year.
The biggest problem i can see is the slow midfield on big grounds in september.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Week 2 of the finals at the furthest, can't see them beating the top 4 teams.

Plus, they're up and down. Good one week, poor the next. No way they can win 4 weeks in a row in the finals against better opposition.

 

[DarwinRoo]

Thomas and Wells to come back in,ive got em in a prelim this year.
The biggest problem i can see is the slow midfield on big grounds in september.

We've won twice on the biggest ground in the league

 

[FrancisX]

They have a soft draw, so they should make the eight and might even challenge for top 4. But teams that have had a soft draw in the past usually get found out in the finals, like Adelaide in 2012. I do think they're a top 8 quality team, but not a top 4.

Adelaide made a prelim and almost won

 

[FrancisX]

Thomas and Wells to come back in,ive got em in a prelim this year.
The biggest problem i can see is the slow midfield on big grounds in september.

Don't they move the ball by foot quickly though

 

[van peebles]

We've won twice on the biggest ground in the league

Don't they move the ball by foot quickly though

No arguments from me.
ive got em prelim or better.
Just they have some slow mids,thats all ,nothing disgraceful just some slow mids.

 

[Leatherpoizoned]

Yeah, certainly can't see them beating Port, Sydney or Freo.....you know, again........this year.

I think North like a good up and coming team get the wins they need to ie. wins in different states, wins against bogey teams etc. The question is can they do that in September? At this stage I'd say no. I'd back Sydney or a Ross Lyon lead Fremantle over North any day of the week in a final.

 

[rocker_oz33]

They have a easy run of games coming up> inc before finals.


13
Adelaide
AO
.

14
Melbourne
MCG

15
Brisbane
G
16
Hawthorn
E

17
St Kilda
BA
.
18
Carlton
ES
.
19
Geelong
ES
20
GWS Giants
SO
21
Western Bulldogs
ES
.
22
Adelaide
BA

23
Melbourne

 

[Jack Bradley]

Might make the finals but i doubt we can make an impact

 

[Thewlis Dish]

Correct last night was more umpires than North.

Which free kicks weren't there? The only one that resulted in a goal which was contentious was the Dea holding the ball, and by the letter of the law that was correct as a second Richmond player held the ball in.

They lost their discipline, particularly in defence. Nothing more than that.

 

[Kcrack]

Would hope for a finals win, anything more is a bonus. Hopefully next year is our year.

 

[SterlingArcher]

Semi finals for mine. Can't see them making top 4, as it will be hard to dislodge 2 of Port, Syd, Frem, Haw, Coll, and can never write Geelong off. They don't play consistent enough footy either to get all the wins they should imo, they will drop 3-4 in the second half of the season.

 

[Crawb]

North = Top 6 at best this year. Port, Swans, Hawks, Cats, Pies and Dockers are simply better on a normal day.

 

[CharlieMortdecai]

I think North like a good up and coming team get the wins they need to ie. wins in different states, wins against bogey teams etc. The question is can they do that in September? At this stage I'd say no. I'd back Sydney or a Ross Lyon lead Fremantle over North any day of the week in a final.

That's a fair assessment. It will be good to get some finals experience, hopefully one win, but they seem unlikely to be able to scalp one of the more seasoned teams.

As others have said, we do have a soft draw from here on, so it would be good to exploit it and sneak in to top 4, but that will also depend on the other sides currently in the 8.