Horace
Premium Gold
North Melbourne - 2024 Hugh Greenwood Player Sponsor
Veteran
North Melbourne - 2023 Ailish Considine and Bella Eddy Player Sponsor
North Melbourne - 2023 Aaron Hall and Flynn Perez Player Sponsor
10k Posts
North Melbourne - 2022 Aaron Hall and Flynn Perez Player Sponsor
North Melbourne - 2021 Taylor Garner and Flynn Perez Player Sponsor
North Melbourne - 2020 Taylor Garner and Flynn Perez Player Sponsor
don’t spend much time here these days, partly because of work matters but mainly to try to divorce myself from the increasingly hysterical ranting about our club and our coach.
That doesn’t mean that I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about our current predicament and so in the following, I have provided my analysis as to maybe why we currently sit second bottom on the ladder with a 1/5 win/loss ratio.
I will start by saying, that while I am as bitterly disappointed as everyone eIse, I am also not that surprised and here are my reasons.
To provide some perspective let’s go back to season 2017. We finished that season with a 6/16 win/loss ratio. In round 23 we played Brisbane in Brisbane in the battle for the wooden spoon and the 1st pick in the draft. We won the game and Brisbane won the coveted 1st pick, subsequently taking Cam Rayner with that pick while we took Luke Davies-Uniacke with pick 4. That draft was, as I recall, regarded as one of the lesser quality drafts, with Jaidyn Stephenson so far appearing the best of the top 10 that year. So far that draft is in my view view living up to its fairly ordinary expectations.
But perhaps the thing that stands out most from 2017 is that many pundits believed our list was such that we were at best a bottom 4 side and on that form, many tipped us to take the spoon in 2018.
Many posters here thought we were a good chance for the spoon too in 2018 and indeed the (in)famous “Tankin’ for Rankine” thread was born early in the 2018 year
Of course we did much better than that finishing 9th with a 12/10 win/loss ratio. But why did we do so much better in 2018 than expectations and why has that not carried through to this year? I think there are many reasons.
Firstly, as we all know the uneven nature of the draw offers an easier run to the bottom 6 sides from the following year. Perhaps we are seeing this again already this year with 4 of the bottom 6 from last year exceeding expectations, being Fremantle, Brisbane, St. Kilda and Gold Coast. Whether these teams will continue in this vein remains to be seen. In my opinion Fremantle has improved their list through some astute trading, while Brisbane, I believe, have been building really well through their consistent access to some very good draft picks. In other words it is not the draw alone in their respective situations, but also perhaps already having in place a better than expected list
Secondly, 3 names stand out to me, being Majak Daw, Ben Jacobs and Jarrad Waite. In my opinion their absence this year is a huge factor in our fall from grace, way bigger than perhaps many realise.
Majak had a break out year last year, influencing so many results through his intercept marking in defence. Suddenly Taz and ScottyT had a great deal of extra assistance in foiling opposition attacks, so much so that at one stage we had the stingiest defence in the competition. Maj is a huge loss, make no mistake.
But perhaps something else that I don’t think has been mentioned anywhere is the possible psychological impact his fall has had on the playing group. I would defy anyone to not be shaken, some significantly so, when the news of the Bolte bridge incident broke. I know I was, and I know I have been in the past when people I have known, have suicided or attempted suicide. Events like that force us all to re-examine our own feelings and vulnerabilities and can adversely impact on our behaviours, attitudes and performance.
In the case of Benny J, until he withdrew from the team in the second half of last year through his supposed concussion problems, he was playing wonderful football, shutting out some of the most damaging midfielders in the competition. And we were also winning a lot of games. In my opinion he is, when fit and playing easily the best tagger in the business. And he also contributes through winning a number of possessions himself, unlike some taggers who just shut down their opponent. We miss him big time.
Equally Jarrad Waite is a huge loss. Benny B is nowhere near the forward he was last year, because Waitey when fit, though he never kicked as many goals as Benny, was far more dangerous both as a goal kicking forward and for his hard work all over the ground. How often we saw him go down back and lend a helping hand when our defence was under pressure.
Thirdly, we have been unable to snare a highly rated free agent in the last two years. The club I believe recognised in 2017 that indeed our list was not the greatest list and targeted Kelly and Martin. What a difference one or both of those would have made last year and again this year if we’d got them. (We certainly won’t ever see either of them in North colours now.)
Last year we targeted de Goey and Gaff and again missed out on the chocolates. Jared Polec is a very good footballer but he does not have the game breaking talent that those other 4 we targeted so hard in 2017 and 2018 have.
Which means, in my view, we have come into season 2019, through the absence of Daw and Jacobs and the retirement of Waitey, with a list that on paper is of inferior quality to that of 2017, which so easily could have won the spoon that year.
Throw in the under preparation of Taz, the most unfortunate ACL to EVW, the continued inability of Garner to play a game and I think it is very fair to say that we are at best a bottom 4 side. Our depth has also been tested by having the equal highest injury list with Melbourne and St. Kilda, being 14 players each. Brisbane, the Bulldogs and West Coast have just 5 players on their injury lists.
We can blame the coach, the coaching staff, the recruiting staff as much as we want and obviously none of them are blameless.
But my view is that we are in the position we are in, more than anything else, because the available talent on the list to choose from, is not all that great and dare I say it, we have an available list of wooden spoon quality.
Finally, I think we all need to be realistic, accept the facts of where we are at and why we are at it, and get behind the club, especially those who have decided not to buy memberships or suggest they have lost interest in the club. If you want the club to remain unsuccessful then do that, but if you want the club to turn its fortunes around, then get behind it and back it in.
Just my opinion.
That doesn’t mean that I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about our current predicament and so in the following, I have provided my analysis as to maybe why we currently sit second bottom on the ladder with a 1/5 win/loss ratio.
I will start by saying, that while I am as bitterly disappointed as everyone eIse, I am also not that surprised and here are my reasons.
To provide some perspective let’s go back to season 2017. We finished that season with a 6/16 win/loss ratio. In round 23 we played Brisbane in Brisbane in the battle for the wooden spoon and the 1st pick in the draft. We won the game and Brisbane won the coveted 1st pick, subsequently taking Cam Rayner with that pick while we took Luke Davies-Uniacke with pick 4. That draft was, as I recall, regarded as one of the lesser quality drafts, with Jaidyn Stephenson so far appearing the best of the top 10 that year. So far that draft is in my view view living up to its fairly ordinary expectations.
But perhaps the thing that stands out most from 2017 is that many pundits believed our list was such that we were at best a bottom 4 side and on that form, many tipped us to take the spoon in 2018.
Many posters here thought we were a good chance for the spoon too in 2018 and indeed the (in)famous “Tankin’ for Rankine” thread was born early in the 2018 year
Of course we did much better than that finishing 9th with a 12/10 win/loss ratio. But why did we do so much better in 2018 than expectations and why has that not carried through to this year? I think there are many reasons.
Firstly, as we all know the uneven nature of the draw offers an easier run to the bottom 6 sides from the following year. Perhaps we are seeing this again already this year with 4 of the bottom 6 from last year exceeding expectations, being Fremantle, Brisbane, St. Kilda and Gold Coast. Whether these teams will continue in this vein remains to be seen. In my opinion Fremantle has improved their list through some astute trading, while Brisbane, I believe, have been building really well through their consistent access to some very good draft picks. In other words it is not the draw alone in their respective situations, but also perhaps already having in place a better than expected list
Secondly, 3 names stand out to me, being Majak Daw, Ben Jacobs and Jarrad Waite. In my opinion their absence this year is a huge factor in our fall from grace, way bigger than perhaps many realise.
Majak had a break out year last year, influencing so many results through his intercept marking in defence. Suddenly Taz and ScottyT had a great deal of extra assistance in foiling opposition attacks, so much so that at one stage we had the stingiest defence in the competition. Maj is a huge loss, make no mistake.
But perhaps something else that I don’t think has been mentioned anywhere is the possible psychological impact his fall has had on the playing group. I would defy anyone to not be shaken, some significantly so, when the news of the Bolte bridge incident broke. I know I was, and I know I have been in the past when people I have known, have suicided or attempted suicide. Events like that force us all to re-examine our own feelings and vulnerabilities and can adversely impact on our behaviours, attitudes and performance.
In the case of Benny J, until he withdrew from the team in the second half of last year through his supposed concussion problems, he was playing wonderful football, shutting out some of the most damaging midfielders in the competition. And we were also winning a lot of games. In my opinion he is, when fit and playing easily the best tagger in the business. And he also contributes through winning a number of possessions himself, unlike some taggers who just shut down their opponent. We miss him big time.
Equally Jarrad Waite is a huge loss. Benny B is nowhere near the forward he was last year, because Waitey when fit, though he never kicked as many goals as Benny, was far more dangerous both as a goal kicking forward and for his hard work all over the ground. How often we saw him go down back and lend a helping hand when our defence was under pressure.
Thirdly, we have been unable to snare a highly rated free agent in the last two years. The club I believe recognised in 2017 that indeed our list was not the greatest list and targeted Kelly and Martin. What a difference one or both of those would have made last year and again this year if we’d got them. (We certainly won’t ever see either of them in North colours now.)
Last year we targeted de Goey and Gaff and again missed out on the chocolates. Jared Polec is a very good footballer but he does not have the game breaking talent that those other 4 we targeted so hard in 2017 and 2018 have.
Which means, in my view, we have come into season 2019, through the absence of Daw and Jacobs and the retirement of Waitey, with a list that on paper is of inferior quality to that of 2017, which so easily could have won the spoon that year.
Throw in the under preparation of Taz, the most unfortunate ACL to EVW, the continued inability of Garner to play a game and I think it is very fair to say that we are at best a bottom 4 side. Our depth has also been tested by having the equal highest injury list with Melbourne and St. Kilda, being 14 players each. Brisbane, the Bulldogs and West Coast have just 5 players on their injury lists.
We can blame the coach, the coaching staff, the recruiting staff as much as we want and obviously none of them are blameless.
But my view is that we are in the position we are in, more than anything else, because the available talent on the list to choose from, is not all that great and dare I say it, we have an available list of wooden spoon quality.
Finally, I think we all need to be realistic, accept the facts of where we are at and why we are at it, and get behind the club, especially those who have decided not to buy memberships or suggest they have lost interest in the club. If you want the club to remain unsuccessful then do that, but if you want the club to turn its fortunes around, then get behind it and back it in.
Just my opinion.
