How is everyone feeling now?

spurs

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 2, 2003
5,880
2,919
Perth
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
THFC, Claremont Tigers
After reading all the posts of the recent trade period, I get the feeling people are more positive now than when we lost Shaw as a coach to mental illness. It was a bit of doom and gloom around the place with Shaw, Brown and Higgo leaving on top of the 11 delisted players who we have loved/hated for many seasons, and we finished 17th.
With a talented core of young players coming to the club with the existing group, I can see they will grow together like we did in the 90's. We have enough experience to help nurture the young group to lead by example, so I get the feeling we are building something sustainable for the future, and challenge in the next 3 years. I'm hoping we secure David Noble as coach. He was at Adelaide when they finished 1st and 2nd as an assistant coach, then he was head of football until 2016 when he left the place and Brett Burton took over and turned it to hell. Meanwhile Noble lands at Brisbane as GM of football and their whole club turned it around.
Personally I'm excited for what the future holds, and we get back to playing finals on a regular basis which is where we belong.
 
After reading all the posts of the recent trade period, I get the feeling people are more positive now than when we lost Shaw as a coach to mental illness. It was a bit of doom and gloom around the place with Shaw, Brown and Higgo leaving on top of the 11 delisted players who we have loved/hated for many seasons, and we finished 17th.
With a talented core of young players coming to the club with the existing group, I can see they will grow together like we did in the 90's. We have enough experience to help nurture the young group to lead by example, so I get the feeling we are building something sustainable for the future, and challenge in the next 3 years. I'm hoping we secure David Noble as coach. He was at Adelaide when they finished 1st and 2nd as an assistant coach, then he was head of football until 2016 when he left the place and Brett Burton took over and turned it to hell. Meanwhile Noble lands at Brisbane as GM of football and their whole club turned it around.
Personally I'm excited for what the future holds, and we get back to playing finals on a regular basis which is where we belong.
Pretty positive to be honest. Brown as much as I rate him I don't think his body would have been in great condition by the time we were pushing hard again (for me 22 at the earliest), Higgins hurts because I loved him as a player but we had already pushed him out of his best position to enable others time to grow. Corr will be a big help, McKay was rock solid this year and has barely scratched the surface of his ability - Thomas barely got going this year and to be honest I think we missed his creativity on field very quickly. Stephenson could be a big win for us as well given the price. There is no doubt plenty of work to be done but I personally think resetting with a younger core and going with a more flexible forward line will be the right move for us in the medium term. Very positive about next year being a marked improvement (which will no doubt upset the #1 pick hunters) but I just struggle to see how we can do worse than this year - admittedly Adelaide would only have to be slightly better and us the same for that to happen.
 

spurs

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 2, 2003
5,880
2,919
Perth
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
THFC, Claremont Tigers
Pretty positive to be honest. Brown as much as I rate him I don't think his body would have been in great condition by the time we were pushing hard again (for me 22 at the earliest), Higgins hurts because I loved him as a player but we had already pushed him out of his best position to enable others time to grow. Corr will be a big help, McKay was rock solid this year and has barely scratched the surface of his ability - Thomas barely got going this year and to be honest I think we missed his creativity on field very quickly. Stephenson could be a big win for us as well given the price. There is no doubt plenty of work to be done but I personally think resetting with a younger core and going with a more flexible forward line will be the right move for us in the medium term. Very positive about next year being a marked improvement (which will no doubt upset the #1 pick hunters) but I just struggle to see how we can do worse than this year - admittedly Adelaide would only have to be slightly better and us the same for that to happen.
Yep, agree on everything you said apart from next year. I think we'll be bottom 3 unfortunately, but that will enable us to go hard at the draft again and grab a couple more guns. IMO 2022 is when we will improve out of sight.
 

Egga

Cancelled
North Melbourne - 2018 Luke Davies-Uniacke and Paul Ahern Player Sponsor North Melbourne - 2016 Daw & Anderson Player Sponsor North Melbourne - 2015 Daw & MacMillan Player Sponsor North Melbourne - 2014 Daw, Black, Gibson Player Sponsor North Melbourne - 2013 Daw, Black and Gibson Player Sponsorship
Nov 10, 2009
3,418
8,489
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Taking a dump (which is when I do most of my posting) and quite frankly I’m a little backed up.

Football wise, optimistic. There’s going to be some big losses next year, but we’ll be looking for potential from our youth and coaching staff.

My thourthes tell me that the club are really excited about the combo of Snoz+Blakey+New Coach. We have most of the pieces of a premiership forward line, we have a strong midfield core requiring a couple more quality additions and a lot of work to do on our backline. Most of the draft talk has not yet acknowledged how big a hole Tarrant will leave behind him when he retires. In my view he has been our most important player for the better part of a decade and we are going to continue to leak goals over the next 3 years.

But all of that can be solved through a couple of good drafts and we are well placed for that. We are the start of a new area and, whilst some patience will be required, it will be fun to watch the progress over the next few years.

.....aaaahhhh. Feeling better now.
 

Psicosis

Brownlow Medallist
May 7, 2012
13,165
58,685
Bird Rock
AFL Club
North Melbourne
“We want to have the best group of kids in the league” - Luff

“We want everyone to be talking about how exciting Norths kids are” - Clayton

I think the outcome of trade period followed by the Q&A yesterday really helped.

Amarfio sounds like an amazing operator. Hard to not be excited about where we are at off field.

List Management’s quotes above really say it all. They want an elite group of kids coming through together to build our next flag tilt. No short cuts. We’ve missed this for 20 years.

Coach wise, we cannot lose with Graham or Noble. Blakey is already showing his value.

I can’t remember a more exciting time as a north supporter bar the 90s.
 
Apr 27, 2008
2,437
6,012
Brisbane
AFL Club
North Melbourne
How am I feeling?
Well it’s Saturday morning so I’m a bit hungers although the pepper steak pie I just scoffed has me firing on all 8 cylinders!
Also, I feel better now about our forward line.
Still worried about a coach. We don’t just want a great tactical coach, but one that can also connect, develop and motivate a young list.
They don’t grow on trees
 

speedy

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 5, 2001
7,232
9,014
Melbourne, VIC
AFL Club
North Melbourne
I like the balance of this list now. It looks quicker and potentially more skilled.
The backline s looking super solid and the strength of the team.
We are missing one experienced tall body up forward and another star midfielder.

I think the list is flexible enough to take on a range of game plans which is good for the incoming head coach. Hopefully the kick-it down the line game plan is long gone.
 

AnEmptyChair

Premiership Player
Nov 12, 2020
4,136
16,758
AFL Club
North Melbourne
I was gutted a few weeks ago at the prospect of losing Brown and especially Higgins, but all the chat from the list management and football staff has convinced me that they're not focused on having a good team next year, but being the best team three years from now. As a result I've come around and I'm now really optimistic for the future.

Next year is going to be fun without much in the way of expectation. I do think we're capable of surprising the wider competition and winning around 10 games, but even if we don't I'll be satisfied with watching our youth develop because we have so much talent in that u/23 group.
 

spurs

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 2, 2003
5,880
2,919
Perth
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
THFC, Claremont Tigers
I was gutted a few weeks ago at the prospect of losing Brown and especially Higgins, but all the chat from the list management and football staff has convinced me that they're not focused on having a good team next year, but being the best team three years from now. As a result I've come around and I'm now really optimistic for the future.

Next year is going to be fun without much in the way of expectation. I do think we're capable of surprising the wider competition and winning around 10 games, but even if we don't I'll be satisfied with watching our youth develop because we have so much talent in that u/23 group.
Agreed, it’s been a full 180, and don’t have high hopes for next year. I just want development from the kids and get 10+ wins in 2022. It’s 2023 that has me excited and the guns of the competition will want to join us.
 
Internationals week so no 2am Sunday get up :) It's another day. We waved farewell to Higgo, nodded to Benny Brown then welcomed aboard some new kangas. Collingwood has given us all a good old belly laugh, the cats will be able to waltz straight into Masters football in a year or 2 and that annoying Higgins went to his rightful spot at Moorabbin. Had to confirm for my best little mate that the new Stevo wasn't the same as the old Stevo and that The Fox is staying at the Storm for another year. It's been a mighty long week, and I am as sleepy as 3 old dogs laying out in the shade. Later on I will visit a mate who has run aground mentally and see if I can relight the candle in his window. We've had a good week as kangas, imo, and next week, we'll push our socks back down and look forward to a bit more good news :cool: Thus, I am feeling content, with a hint of both mirth and mischief 🙃
 
Oct 16, 2004
11,075
39,403
The Gasometer
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Kangaroos
We're well advanced in the rebuild - McKay, Simpkin, Zurhaar, Larkey, Stephenson, Bonar, Xerri, W.Walker, Young, Hayden, Davies-Uniacke, Thomas, Taylor, Scott, Bosenavulagi, Perez, Mahony and this year's draft crop makes a pretty handy bunch of <23s. Like Snake though, I find it it too hard to get too excited until we know who the coach is and how he wants us to play.

I'm anticipating a more enjoyable and competitive 2021, but don't think we'll move up the ladder much, if at all. And frankly, we did a 1-year rebuild in 2017, and it threw is further into the pit in the long run. Wouldn't hurt to shed more dead-weight next October and hit the draft hard again, so another bottom-4 finish wouldn't be the end of the world.
 
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After how s**t the media has been to us over the journey.

I was honestly blown away by the heapings of praise for our kids and core midfield by those who actually know their s**t. (ex)List managers, draft gurus and players. It was a really nice change and honestly it makes me far more excited for next season, especially with a player coming in at pick 2!

Bringing in Stevo, Atu, Corr and Young is a great haul, we targeted what we wanted, and we got it.
 
Way more positive than the low point, when Rhyce left.

Fully onboard with the deep rebuild.

My concern is that there might be more to come out about whats happened. Hoping its just onward and upward from here though.

This type of things hasnt happened in my time supporting the club.
 
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